Glitter?

17 Jun 2017 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in action, c reation, equality, generation, God, love, pride, reflection, religion, respect, Shaming, Transformation, Uncategorized

Anyone who knows me, also knows my love for all things beauty and all things glitter. I love make up and how creative and artsy we can be with it and the confidence it can create. It is the subject of many quips within my family over the amount of make up I have accumilated over the years! Ahem…. there may be a fair bit, but I am not owning up to anything!!!

It also saddens me to still see in 2017 body and makeup shaming towards both men and women. This is a seriously outdated and extremely old fashioned way of thinking, and needs to be stopped. No one has the right to condemn or judge anyone for looks or body shape. It is nasty, horrible and very disrespectful.

I am happy with how I look and me in my own skin. I love my face, my eyes, my nose, even my brows which seem to be unrelated to each other! I do not use make up to conceal who I am, but to create different looks which mostly work, and sometimes dont. Thats the beauty (pun intended!) of makeup. And I belive it is ungendered.

How can we love our neighbour when we cant love ourselves? How can we love ourselves when we are putting each other down all the time? How can society learn to love each other with disrespect and hate for what is different to others everywhere we look? How can the church be a welcoming place when we accept that this happens within our buildings? Are we blind enough to think its not happening around us?

I have wanted to bring my boys up with respect for all, and I think we have acheived it as a whole. I dont want to hear shaming of anyone near me, and my house is a body shaming exclusion zone. We are all created equal, and in Gods image, so who has the right to call another? No one thats who. Not one person has the right to pull down another. Not one.

I hope this subject is brought to the front more in media and social media circles so it can be made unacceptable. Because it is.

I am not going to stop wearing makeup, and neither should anyone else who wants to. I am beautiful in my husband and Gods eyes. Thats all that matters to me, not any unjustified and undignified comments from people who have an opinion of what they think they should be seeing.

God loves all for who they are right now. So why dont we?

Genesis or science?

23 May 2017 3 Comments

by Minstrels wife in c reation, children, Christianity, Church, God, Jesus, religion, Uncategorized

Its so easy to listen to the media, social media, newspapers and everywhere we get our information and believe it with blind faith. They tell us something, we listen and take it as fact without using our own initiatives and checking out the things that make a difference to our belief systems and how we view the world and those who live in it with us.

Genesis has always been a touchy subject, splitting the world of science and religion. Have you took it as fact that the scientists have it right, faith in the actual words in the first book of the Bible without checking it out so you are fully informed?

I’m not here to say what you should or should not believe, noone has the right to do that. I have spent a few years making sure that what I believe about scripture and the world CAN be backed both with science and the Word. It then isnt just a blind faith in what I am told, but it means I can make more sense of it in my head.

I was brought up in a brethren church, so as a young girl was discouraged from asking questions within a church setting which was very frustrating. This meant that as an adult I find things out for myself and prefer to make my own views and own research. With the internet, we have it all available so easy, and all the answers are there to be found. I encourage my own children to do the same, even if it is different to my end answer. Thats what makes us human and gives us the free will to believe what we want to. I just want to make sure that what they believe has been fully researched and they are completely informed in those choices. Thats one of the best things I can do for my boys as they grow up into men. Informed and completely understanding their belief and faith in the world and God.

Looking at the research, science and Genesis can be allies and I dont believe that when it comes down to it that one disproves the other. But thats just me.

The Perfect Body

03 Sep 2014 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in c reation, God, remember Tags: , , , , ,

Reasons for living

29 Aug 2014 2 Comments

by Minstrels wife in c reation, Christian Worship, generation, God, Jesus, remember

There are many reasons why God made us who we are and gave us the characters we have. We are all different and the experiences we go through change us and mould us into even more intricate and unique people. We all have a soul and a spirit which need to be filled by God, otherwise we are left feeling that there is a gap in ourselves which we try so hard to fill with anything we think will help.
God wants us to be shaped more like Him. To see us becoming more like Him as we grow and continue our walk with Him over our life. We do change and we do become more Christlike even if we can’t see the change. Others will see the difference in us, and the changes in behaviours. This is a big influence on those round us. If we act more like Christ, they will be pulled into better behaviours and actions as we take more of a stand with how we act. It has more of a impact than we may realise. We need to be constantly checking our actions and words to make sure we do not lead others astray. We are accountable for our actions towards each other and how we influence those who are not believers. We might be the only thing about Christianity they see, the only part of the Gospel they witness.
The very best part of us lives on well after our death, but also the very worst in us. What we do now will be carried on to the next generation and possibly the generation after them also. It is so important that only the very best of our actions and behaviours are left after we have gone. How sad is it that so many are only remembered for the bad things they did, the mistakes they made and then didn’t correct. I don’t want my kids or grandkids to only know when I did something stupid. I want them to remember that I followed my Lord with all my heart and to know that I did my best, I took my stand on what I believe, and for them to be proud of what God did through me.

Creation and expression

24 Mar 2014 4 Comments

by Minstrels wife in c reation, Christian Worship, God, Jesus, Prayer, worship, worship leader, Worship leaders

Is it just me, or is creation an amazing thing? I don’t care if it was made in the Biblical week, or over millions of years. My opinion is that it is wonderful and a miracle however God made it. I don’t get into any arguments about it, because there is no need to spend any time debating the idea. When I get into eternity, He will tell me Himself how He created me, and that is good enough for me.

I love worship that is based around thankfulness, which those around me know already. I love to thank my Father for who He is and what He has done.

Alongside my love of creation, is a love of creativity in how we worship and the creative side of being human coming out in the various forms to praise our Father. This can express itself in many ways including backdrops, media, pictures, new songs, old songs which are new to your congregations and many other ways. I feel that creation itself is so expressive, that we can use it as a praise and worship also. The mighty waves of the sea. The calm of a forest with the sun shining through the trees. The wonder of childbirth and hearing the new babys cry. The beauty of a sunrise or sunset. Many things can and do glorify our God.

If we are just beginning to try to be creative in worship, we all need to be able to be uplifting and encouraging. Bad criticism can knock a young worship leader back for sometimes a long time before they even start trying to be creative again. Then we can get stuck in a rut that doesn’t take us any further forward in our worship. God made us to be creative. He made us expressive. We are not robots singing on a Sunday or during our services. Creativeness should be encouraged and allowed to  grow within set boundaries that the leadership of the Church agree with you on. Allow mentors to be there for the people to be able to go to for advice and prayer.

If we can’t be creative within the Church, where else can we be creative? If we can’t worship our God in a creative and expressive way, how can we worship