Hope

Sometimes all you can do is cling onto that glimmer of hope

Life isn't always uphill

Sometimes I think life is like cycling the hills of Sheffield. Up, down, up, down, very rarely straight. That’s how much of life is isn’t it? At least it seems mine is. So often it feels like the times when I’m cycling up that massive hill, and it seems I’ll never make it to the top. My legs are screaming at me to stop, I’m too tired. And that’s when I start to think what’s the point? Why am I making myself do this, why am I making myself go through this pain when I could so easily turn around and go back down? But I don’t, because that’s not the point. I have to keep going even when it’s hard, life is never an easy ride. Sometimes I do stop, I get off my bike and I look behind me. And I can see where I’ve come from, but it’s not where I’m going. I regain some energy, I get back on and I keep pedalling; because there is a goal, there is a destination. I’m going to get the top and I’m going to conquer that hill, because there’s a reward: I get to go down! I get to the top because nothing can quite compare to that freeing feeling when my body can relax and I’m sweeping downwards. And when the air is cooling my hot face, and the world is whizzing past I know it was worth it. And that’s what life is about. It’s persevering even when the task seems impossible, when your life is too messy and difficult to make sense of. Because with God’s help you will make it, and that’s the hope that you need to take grasp of. That you will overcome the difficulties, and when you do, you’ll be free to fly, gravity no longer pulling you back.

Refreshing the soul

Cycling out to the peaks with Fi yesterday was amazing. It was hard peddling up those hills, but for all the effort it was truly worth it. Just to be able to get out of the city and escape the busyness and demands of life was so refreshing. It was so beautiful, so still and quiet. I think its good sometimes to remember that God has created this world for us to see, to experience and to enjoy, and we should make the most of it.

Made me think of this song:

The Beauty of Your Peace

Your voice has stilled the raging storms

The wind and waves bow down before

Your still small voice brings hope to all

Who wait on You, we'll wait for You

To lead us to the place where You'll restore our souls

And all our earthly strivings come to cease

Take from our souls the strain and stress

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Your peace

The beauty of Your peace

Bright skies will soon be overhead

We'll enter in to Heaven's rest

There'll be no death, there'll be no pain

The things of old will pass away

You'll lead us to the place where

You'll restore our souls

And all our earthly strivings come to cease

~Tim Hughes~

A hopeful one of many

I am not usually one to write stuff down or document my life, but having been inspired by my friend Fi to start journaling and now blogging, I'm giving it a try.
It may prove to be a useful way of updating my various friends spread over the world, or a place to improve my writing skills, or simply a way to voice my thoughts and feelings of everyday life. Who knows, we'll see, but I hope to keep it up.

In exactly 5 days I will atlast be able to call myself a proper medic. After having survived a year doing premed, I will now be entering the realm of medicine, which has only just dawned on me to be a rather scary prospect! Hospitals, lectures, dissection, patients, essays, exams and who knows what else is about to be thrown at me, but I am nevertheless very much looking forward to it :) I can see that having a years worth of university experience under my belt will definitely be an advantage. I have a house, friends, church, cell group, so the only newness of this yr is starting medicine, so really I have everything to be thankful for.
Since I am likely to have more spare time this yr then I will ever have again, I hope to use it to my advantage; not wasting my time watching stuff on the internet, but investing time in people, reading, painting, journaling, and spending time getting to know and understand God better.

So this is my first, a little bit about me and my new phase of life ~*