Month: September 2009

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A Gentle Reminder

As you may remember – when I (finally) turned back to God, nearly 18 months ago now, the parable of the Prodigals Son was one that really spoke to me and I genuinely felt that moment of the Father welcoming the Prodigal back by running to meet him (me!) and giving him (me again) a great big hug. (Note: If you don’t remember, or don’t know the details, you can catch up on the story here: http://hartleyweb.co.uk/?p=99 )

Last night was a corporate prayer meeting at Kingsgate Community Church in Peterborough. Now these are great times and tend to happen 3-4 times a year and involve everyone descending on Kingsgate for 2 hours of real good Worship and Prayer – and usually with Communion as well. The session last night was packed – I’ve never seen so many people at a prayer meeting – and boy, was it a good time.

During one of the periods of prayer there was a real sense of Gods Love for us all, accompanied by a huge sense of peace, acceptance and belonging. During this I really felt God saying to me that He was still there for me – that He wasn’t just there when I came back, but that His Love for me was NOW and ALWAYS and that His arms of Love were always around me, holding me in a huge bear-hug.

It’s always good to remember that God is interested in us. He cares about our lives and isn’t just there as a doorman or as a ruler on a throne – but He’s there for us every day, every where and in every circumstance.

I’m fortunate to have grown up in a loving family and now have a loving family of my own – but even with all that love in my life, Gods Love still knocks me off my feet (quite literally as you may have noticed if you were there last night!)

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HELLO WORLD!!!

Yes, I am alive! And, yes I know it’s been a lifetime (or several if you are a Mayfly) since I last updated – in fact the last you all knew I was about to enjoy 2 weeks holiday before starting at a new job.

Well, we’ve had the two weeks and I’ve also had 6 weeks at the new job – and you know what? I am LOVING it!

Since there is no way I have the time, or space, to fill you in on the last 8 weeks here is a quick potted history of my rebirth as a new life of use to society once more đŸ˜‰

Week 1 – nice break… pottering around including doing Cadburys World and Duxford – great time, although my waistline didn’t enjoy the calories!

Week 2 – Bit of a “long-long-weekend” at the folks enjoying places such as Crich Tramway Village and the totally awesome and magnificent Magna at Rotherham – if you haven’t been there you have GOT to try and get… it is totally superb and a great time.

Week 3 to 8 – THE NEW JOB! Wowsers… what a change. For the first time in goodness knows how long I actually go to work and feel like I can leave having achieved something. I am busy. I have jobs to do, a task to perform and targets to hit – and it feels sooooo totally GREAT!

My new job is with a small startup so the workload varies as we all take on whatever needs doing which means one day I can be setting up hardware, then next I could be documenting processes, the next I might be on the phones. Now yeah I know that there is always a honeymoon period  in any new job or situation but this job is really enjoyable and challenging and I actually feel like there is a use for me and that I have room to grow and learn new skills and methodologies.

To totally ice the cake, and put a cherry on the top, the site I work at is right in the middle of nowhere and we go out for daily walks into the glorious countryside and through the hills, woods and fields. I haven’t exercised for sooooo many years – and yet now I am walking at least 2 miles a day and starting to lose some of the “unfitness” that has taken hold in the past few years.

The big Glory of this whole situation – and is only last simply so that you can understand why – the full Glory belongs to God. He was the one who opened the door, met our needs and led me to a place of fulfillment. So many answered prayers this summer and such abundant blessing!