Ever done “Strip the Willow” in the middle of New Zealand? To the Proclaimers? In the middle of really nice restaurant? Well welcome to my birthday celebrations of last night! I would like to thank Erica’s family so much for givin me the best Kiwi birthday, your Scottish dancing is better than my Hakka! Oh my, the Hakka, have you ever seen it??!
Erica and I went to visit a Mauri Village two days ago, part of the visit was a nice welcoming show that the Mauri’s put on. Nice dancing, even nicer singing, but one of the main Mauri traditions is a dance called the ‘Hakka’. Some of you may have seen the All Blacks rugby team do it before matches to scare the opposition? Yup thats right, the dudes stick their tounges out and pop their eyes out in an act of defiance and intimidation to enemies. They slap their bodies to get the blood flowing and stomp to show their fiercness. Well….me and Erica were in the front row of the wonderful performance. At one point i forgot i was in the show and believed that my wimpy face and Erica’s paparazzi moment had stirred up the warrior action back into these guys, i thought that we had really upset them! Erica was gripping onto me and so excited with sticking her tounge out when the Mauri guys were doing it, i was gripping back onto Erica trying to roll her tounge back into her mouth in fear that we were disrespecting the Mauri’s! It was such a great show and at the end, these marvelous people invited us to take a photo with them, its a good one, and if we had figured out how to put photos on this blog them im sure that you would like it.I love Erica’s blogs, don’t you? I know, for me, the inspiration and the challanges that come from her posts just make me so hyped about what God can build into my life and where he can take me on my journey! I would like to share with you how God is using past stages of my journey, stages that i never thought would be part of my future and is bringing good out of situations that i just wanted to forget about. You’re on the footpath God has put you on too and i pray through my experience you will find encouragement and comfort knowing that God uses your struggles to be your strength.
I’m going to take you back to summer of 2006. That particular summer i was looking for something different to do. At that point of my life i guess you could call me a "jelly Christian". I call it "jelly Christian" because i was a wobbler, there wasn’t much too my christian life, i would mould to any situation that i was put in and i would melt when the times got too hot.
I decided that i had enough of working in the bank, and was going to bite the bullet and go into the youth working industry that i had always desired to be in (it is only now that i know that it was God that was pounding that desire to be in my heart!) So in great adventure style i signed up to do Camp America! Camp Wabenaki, New York, was the camp that they placed me in and it was a camp for disadvantaged youth.
Being a Scottish lass fresh out of her small town ways was big enough shock to the system when i arrived in New York but once i was placed on the camp i also realised that i was the only white girl surrounded by the "flyest" streetwise urban kids in New York. It was awesome. But i struggled. I was a haggis in the middle of all these hot dogs and it just didn’t mix, in any way or form! I didn’t know my R‘n'B music, I didn’t know how to play ‘B”-ball or know the street words that were flowing from everybody. I had to look after 6 young girls that only answered to screaming attitude and after my first week of camp, i was stressed and i had a stye on my eye! I didn’t know at that point that i could turn to God for help and instead, i tried to turn myself into Oprah Winfry. Which made me even more stressed. I was out of my depth, out of every zone imaginable, but i was jelly and moulded to the situation i was in.
So, i got through the 3-months at camp, at the end of the time at camp i was the whitest black person you would meet! I had a blast in America but not without much struggle. Through my time there i guess i had developed issues about my personality, my attitude towards life and the way i treated people to gain respect. I had accomplished my desire to work with youth but i had diminished my ability to use the gifts and qualities that God had uniquely given to me, leaving me feeling very weak and lethargic. I doubted if working with youth was my desire and i wasn’t sure if i would work with them again - and definately not in a different country!
Shortly after this trip, i gave my life back to God. Recognising my gifts and qualities that he had given me and realising that i couldn’t try and use someones elses gifts or qualities because it just wasn’t me and during our trip, God has put me in many situation where if i didn’t know who i was in him then i wouldn’t know my identity. He has put me on a trip where i have to work with youth from countries all over the world! And through one of the toughest times of my life, i now find peace and conifidence in my ability to work through similar situations because God has turned my struggle into my strength!
You may be in a situation right now that you are feeling out of your depth in, that is making you feel so run down that you are getting stye on your eye! Or is there is maybe a part of you past that still brings on a cold sweat? You might want to put this part of your life under the ground, make it so weak that it has no power but God wants to bring strength to this part of your life to glorify Him. He makes the problem your power. Let your backbreaker be your backbone!
And for today, me and Erica are getting prepared to go to the Parachute music festival! We have our tent and backpack packed. Our singing voices on, or its more yellin’ than singing at festivals right?! We are so excited! We will be sure to let you know how it all goes shortly……….
Much Love, Lornaxx
No comments:
Post a Comment