God is the excitement of loving life!!! #howtobehappy

 ^"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

John 10:10 

There's a desire to find happiness in everyone but these days I see so many people striving for happiness in so many areas of life except God. I know from experience, you're never going to be happy unless you look to God. You can try and think you'll only be happy if you have new clothes, the latest gadget or even when you reach your weight loss goal. The truth is... If you keep thinking the only way you'll be happy is when you're the next size down, you're never going to be. Because when you reach that goal there will always be a new aim, trust me..

I had to learn just that. I had to learn that no matter how hard I try to reach happiness, I'll only be making myself miserable by trying to reach something that isn't of God. I was so focused on reaching my goal, I lost focus on my one true aim, getting closer to God. As my focus shifted from God I was finding myself in a place of confusion and feeling unhappy.

The enemy comes to try to "steal and kill and destroy". The main aim for the devil is to steal, to steal  us away from having a relationship with God. To kill our focus from God to anything else but Him. To also destroy the purpose God has for us.

I thought I was fine, I was going to church, doing everything a "good" christian girl does, but slowly and surely my focus was being shifted from God. Without me realising I was getting further and further from God. I was starting to question myself, wondering why I was feeling this way. Yet it wasn't till later on, I realised I was trying to find my happiness by the way I looked. Striving to look specific way.

These days I see so many girls who have eating disorders, depression, living with hatred and so many more struggles. Thinking that the only way they will find happiness is if they have a flat stomach or a thigh gap. But living that way you're just going to make yourself miserable. When you don't love the person you are now, how are you going to love the person you will be in the future? And if you don't love the life you are living now, how are you going to love life in the future? Now is what will make your future! So if you keep striving to be something, you will never be happy.  

I love going on Jesus Dates!! Just a time where I go to a cafe (One of my favourite things to do) and spend time with God. I get to relax, get into the word, to also look over my life and see where I am with God. Spending time with God and talking to Him gets everything in perspective. It's one way I love to spend my days. I find those fun things I like to do and do them.

I'm writing this post because I want to tell you young ladies to enjoy life. Enjoy the years you are living. Every moment be thankful and look for the fun in everything you do. Be more spontaneous and go out, create those moments that you will never forget. Live your life to the fullest, live while your young, live it for God staying fixed on Him. I encourage you to have a Jesus date and go to your favourite place and just spend time with God.

Stop striving to find happiness in other things!! We need to know that our excitement comes from God! Joy comes from God and when we live life for Him alone we discover our purpose. We are called to be a light, to shine God's love and to live this life he has given to you. Live it to the fullest! Delight yourself in God! It's through Him that you'll find your joy. So enjoy life, enjoy it because this is living now!!

"God is the excitement of loving life"

I'm happier then I've ever been... Because of God. Because I've come to realise more and more over the years that this life is a blessing. I'm blessed to be so free and have so many wonderful friends who also love Jesus. So why shouldn't I enjoy it??!? Why do I need to keep striving when Jesus already gave me a way to to find happiness by just getting closer to God.

So enjoy life! I enjoy life! I really do! I enjoy every aspect of life, the good and yes, even the days that just aren't working out for me. I mean it's not the end of the world if those favourite pair of shoes brake. 
So I encourage you to just laugh, dust those shoulder and walk in the joy of the Lord.

3 Ingredient Paleo Ginger Snaps

 You have an event to go to and no time to bake something for it?? Well here is the perfect recipe for you. It's super easy and 100% paleo, gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free. And wait... It gets even better... It only has 3 ingredients. "Say What??!?" 

Paleo Ginger Snaps

• 1 cup of almonds
• 1 cup of dates
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

Preheat your oven to 180 (350F) degrees Celcuis. Grab a tray and line it with baking paper.

Place the almonds and dates a food processor and blend until combined. Add the ginger and blend more.

Next scoop a tabblespoon of the mixture into your hands and shape into balls, flattening it as you place it on the tray. You do this as it helps the cookies gain their shape.  Continue to do until mixture is all shaped into small balls. Bake the ginger snaps for 10 minutes. The cookies will come out soft, so just allow them to cool as they will begin to harden over time. Enjoy!!

This recipe can also be "Chocolate cookies" by just replacing the ginger for raw cacao or cocoa with a tsp of rice malt syrup or honey, depending on taste. 

Improve Body Image

I talk a lot about body image on my blog and you know if you ever talk to me face to face, that topic may just arise. This week I thought I'd post some tips and ways on how to feel more confident by boosting your self-esteem.

 

• STOP comparing yourself.... Stop focusing on what others have and what don't you have. No one is alike and as I've stated in others posts (click here to read), no one is the same. We are all different and were created to be no one else but yourself. 

• Focus on what you have... Focus on your blessings. That you do have legs to run in the morning or arms that work perfectly to lift things and to feed yourself. I'm serious!! There are people out there that can't feed themselves, that have lost legs or weren't even born with one. And that leads me onto...

• Start being thankful.... You may be thinking "Sara, how is this going to help?"... But by being thankful to God and for what you have, brings an atmosphere positivity and can help change your mood for the better. Appriciate all that you do have!

• Every morning complement yourself.... One thing that I've found to really help me with body image is to look at myself in the mirror and tell myself "You are beautiful". It may seem "weird", but trust me, It's not until you start telling yourself that you are beautiful, that you start to believe it also. 

• Don't focus on your appearance... In 1 Samuel 16:7 it says 

"Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 

 God cares about our heart. I love the  saying "The best makeup a girl could wear is a smile." - It's so true!!! Finding pure joy in God by seeing things the way God does.

• Go to God... God created you right!?!! And he knows you, he knows how you think and how your body works. So when you start to feel those negative thoughts coming in your mind, give them to God. Get them out of your mind and replace them with God's truth. The only way you're going to get to know God's truth is by getting to know God. 

• Surround yourself with positive people... I know when I have friends who are alwasy encouraging me and are positive in the way they look at life. Then that encourages me to also enjoying life and to love God.

• Stop negativiy... Girls, please please please stop this negative talk. Towards others and espesially towards yourself. Stop putting down who you are. Don't say anything towards yourself that you wouldn't say to your bestfriend! Would you call you best friend fat?

• Love life!!!... Can I ask you a question? Do you love life?? Do you wake up in the morning excited to face the day? With that feeling of just loving who you are and just loving life? You know, it hurts me when I see so many girls hating themselves. They are hating life becasue they have so much self-hatered towards themself.  When you don't love yourself its hard to love life... It's hard to love anoyone for that mater. So... Enjoy being a girl!! Look at life as an adventure, ready for whatever may come.

• Love yourself... This is the number one way to improve your self-esteem and I've said this many, many times here. Love yourself the way you are, not by what or who you could be.

God bless 
Sara-Jayne xx 

You are altogether beautiful, my darling.....

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you."

Songs of Solomon 4:7

This bible verse shows how God truly loves us and sees us  flawless as it's through Jesus that our sins have been washed clean. You my dear, are beautiful!!

Listen to this girls amazing voice!!

I came across this girl by listening to her cover of Taylor Swifts blank space/style. Which may I say is absolutely unbelievable!!!  I started watching her videos and now I've seriously become obsessed.

God bless <3 br="">

I'm not 'skinny'

She awakes every morning ready to face the day. 
Yet as she awakes feelings of doubt dismay
Feelings of hatred towards herself and confidence only depending on how she looks.
Ignoring the knowledge of the writer of the big book
As she walks, she sees herself in the reflection of what was staring at her the night before.
And what is constantly haunting her every thought
Again she looks deeply at the person that she once saw
and knew as her worth was something more.
More than her mornings that would always start off the same. 
"Am I skinny yet?" "Has my body changed?"
The girl in the mirror told her that she was heavy
And if only she change, she will be happy 
But it wasn't until her thoughts were consumed 
that she started to see what she believed, wasn't true 
She was in fact made with such care and love
that her beauty and design was from above 

Poem by Sara-Jayne

I wrote this little short poem to simply describe the way I use to live and the way so many girls live today. It's honestly sad when I think about it. The lies the enemy plants in our minds. The belief of thinking that we will never truly be happy unless we look a certain way. Waking up in the morning constantly thinking of ways to get 'skinnier'.To get to this false belief that health is what skinny is. Where that is most definitely not true!

So many of my days were wasted looking at myself in the mirror, trying to see if my stomach was flat. To see if my tummy has shrunk and if I'm looking anything like the girls I followed on instagram. I was in this trap of staring at myself in the mirror every morning. Judging myself by the way I looked and by what I ate. That if I ate something I believed as 'unhealthy' I would instantly think I am not good enough. I'd look at the mirror and let that dictate the way I felt about myself.

One thing I needed had to learn was that everyones body is different! No one is the same!! We were all made to be different and not one of us are the same, look the same or will ever be the same. In Psalm 139 tells me that I was made with such love and detail. I am wonderfully made by a God who loves me and took time to create me. I am his creation and so are you! So why do we keep comparing ourselves when we were born to be different?! 

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."

Psalm 139:13

Above everything else we need to learn to love our bodies the way they are. To number 1, STOP comparing yourself to everyone else. You were made to be different! To be the best amazing you that you can be! This belief that this world lives in, that we need to try to be skinny, is a lie.We don't need to try to be anything more, becasue you are more than enough. No matter how much I try, I will never reach a skinny goal that will make me happy. Because as cliche as it is, happiness is not found  by the way you look or things of this world. True happiness is found when you start loving the person that God made you to be. The source of my happiness? All comes from God! As when I spend time with God I know the truth of who I am because He tells me.

She awakes every morning ready to face the day. 

The feelings of doubt she tells to go away!!!

DIY Memory Jars #twentyfifteen

Happy New Year!!!! It's now 2015 and 2014 has now passed.

Last year (Wow I can now say "twenty fourteen last year") I wrote down a bit of a resolution slash prayer. A resolution saying all I want to be, to be more loving, inspiring, generous, hardworking, kind, selfless, patient, compassionate, joyful, faithful, fearless and perseverance young women of God. Now looking over all I listed, I can now see the areas I have grown in by just getting closer to God. I prayed that my heart would become more like Ruths in the way of serving. Just like Ruth served Naomi, I want to serve God and others with that kind of selfless heart. I'm so grateful for how much growing and learning I have walked through over 2014.

This year I've decided I'm going to create a memory jar. I'm so excited as I've seen so many people create their own memory jars all over pininterest and instagram. I want to remember this year and what perfect way then to write it down.

Why not put together a jar that you can look back on. A jar where you can write down the joy and the amazing moments that made you smile in 2015. 

How to create a memory jar:

Step 1... Firstly find yourself a cute jar and why not decorate it!?!
Step 2... Place the jar, blank paper and pens ready to do step 3
Step 3... Every week or even everyday write down the best moment from that week/day. You can even add a little momentum to the jar, something you found that day.

Pin and share!!!

By reflecting over the week you'll realise how grateful and blessed you'll become. Taking a moment to list your favourite memories from that week you see the positive in your life. Even listing what God does in your life you will later see how much you have grown.

So why not take that moment in life to write down your memories?! To appreciate those little things in life and take a snapshot by writing down your memories.

You've been crazy but you've been good... Twenty Fourteen!

If there's one thing I've learned in 2014 that is trust. Trusting God in the times when I'm in the great unknown and trusting him with even the little things in my life. All through my studies at YWAM, God was teaching me that he just wants relationship with me. He doesn't just want to be involved with the 'big' dramas that happen in my life, but he also wants to be involved with the little things, because he cares. Little things like going to get a cold drink on a hot summers day, even while I'm with my friends to even just watching a movie. By me realising how great His love is for me, I've become so much more closer to God.  My relationship has become stronger and now I know I can talk to Him all the time. Seriously! It's great!! I can have this constant conversation with God about absolutely anything.

But the biggest thing over 2014, especially over the last three months is my heart. My heart has grown so much towards God's children. I've seen God give me the heart to love those whom most people would just find it easier to walk past. God really relieved my heart one night as I was walking with a group of friends and we passed a homeless girl on the street. She looked my age which broke my heart. As I walked past her I really felt a tug on my heart. To walk back and give the food we had to her. So I did just that! I walked up to her and when she noticed that I was about to give her the food, the biggest yet most gentle smile was on her face. I sat with her for a few minutes. I really just felt to bless her and pray for her, so I did just that. By me just taking that step out from the crowd and turning back to where people were just passing this 19 year old girl by. I stopped and took time to show her the love of God. 

In that moment, that moment of just giving my attention to this beautiful girl, God started to do something in my heart (I also believe she was touched and continue to pray for her). It was then that God told me this was my destiny. To help those who society pushes to side. To be that encourager to girls and young women. To stand against the crowd, against the 'flow of life' and start to make a change. 

Now that twenty fifteen is just around the corner, I want to challenge myself to continue to dig deeper into God everyday. Because where I find God I find true love and it's God's love that this world needs. This life I'm living, I'm living for God and with Him. So bring on 2015!! I can't wait to see where God will take me next. 

I encourage you! Yes you! The one who is reading this. To live life with God and grow in the love God has for others. 

Sara-Jayne x

Goodbye Philippines

San Fernando is beautiful! It's one of those little towns filled with beautiful friendly people. And so close to the beach!!... But bellow all that there's still so much hurt and brokenness. By being here I can see God's heart for the people here.

We've been working a lot in schools and universities, performing songs, telling our stories and just encouraging them to live life with God. We've had such great opportunities to really speak life into their lives.... And of course with us being foreigners they want many photos with us.

For the school we did ministry in, it was actually the first time they let YWAMers in. Usually they are very strict on who they let into the school, but God opened the doors so we could really impact the children and encourage them to have a relationship with God.

Saturday night we went to a red light district close to where we are located. We mostly felt to walk the streets and pray, declaring God over that place. Yet spiritual we could feel a heaviness over that place.  My heart was heavy and broken for those girls who haven't seen God's love. 

"I don't want to leave this place the same and not letting what I have seen God do change me."

So now it's time I get some sleep.  4 hours (4 am) and we will be leaving for Manila to head back to Australia. 
Outreach has been an amazing experience.  Seeing God move not just through ministry but in my life personal.  He has taught me so much about His love for me and for the nations.  So farewell Philippines! It's been lovely chilling in your country.

I heart Philippines

Wow its been awhile since I've posted on my blog. Oh I've missed you guys!!

So if you haven't figured out now, I'm actually not in India anymore.  Nope! I'm now in the Philippines.  "Say what Sara?!? When did this happen?" 

Haha... Well... it's now been about a week and half being here at the YWAM base here in Manila.

The Philippines is so beautiful.  The people,  the weather and the food. It's just all so amazing. I'm loving it here! The children are adorable. As we walk down the street kids come running up to us wanting to just talk and play with us.

Children waiting for their food. 

We do a lot of ministry at smoky Mountain. Which is a big slum with houses on top of a dump. The slums were also cleared to make housing for 30,000 people that make their living from picking through landfill's rubbish. 

We also been working with children and mothers who live there in their one room small apartment. During the day, twice a week we have been able to run a mothers bible study. We've been working with many children such as children services and feeding programs. 

"I'm loving every moment of being here!"

At the end of this week we are taking a 8 hour bus ride to San Fernando to continue our ministry.  This will be our last place before heading back to Australia.  Goodness gracious,  it's gone quickly!!!

On our days off we've been able to see the rest of Manila.  The city is beautiful with markets on every Sunday,  which most of you know markets are my absolute favourite.

Trying the food would have to be my favourite experience,  especially in a new country. I mean, who doesn't like magical flavours jumping all around in your mouth?? There food is so colourful here and even though it may look like the strangest thing I have ever seen, It always tastes delicious.

I'm so sad about leaving Manila as my heart has grown so much towards this place,  but I'm also excited to see how God is going to move in San Fernando.

Please keep my team in your prayers as we spend our last two weeks of outreach here in the Philippines.  Pray for protection,  health and that God will really use us to touch people's lives.

Remember God made you different to be a difference!

God bless!

Another India update

I can't believe how fast time has gone by.  We only have over a week until we leave India.  What!?!!

Last week we had corporate which is where we meet up with all the other teams that are here in Kolkata. It was really good hearing from the other teams about what God is doing in their region. After reporting back and worshiping our great God together....  We went out and did a bit of evangelising. 

We've been out doing a bit of evangelising around our region in Kolkata.  In train stations, at a uni and in little villages. We're just able to bless people,  give out bible tracks and pray for people, even though they don't always understand us. They still love how we come and 'try' to talk to them, but they especially love it when we perform a few songs. 

Last Friday we went to a rehab Centre where there were 58 men and women who struggle with many addictions including drug and alcohol.  We were able to share our testimonies and perform a few songs plus a drama. I was able to share my story and pray for many of the women who are finding it really hard. At the end we did am alter call and all 58 of the men and women gave their lives to the Lord. 

The Saturday after, we spent the day going to a girls and boys hostel.  We spent time at each hostel playing, talking and performing for the children. At the boys hostel there were two boys, on with a sore foot and the other with one with a broken foot/fever. God came through and totally healed them both.  Not long after they were running around the room.

It's been so great to see God work through the team. 

 

This week we went to a uni to help run one of their Christian meetings/gatherings they have. 

Every week we go to a girls home where we play with 6 young girls. It's really just a time of blessing these girls and just having fun with them. Showing them that they are valued and loved. 
There is also a boys home that we go to once a week. We also play games with them, sing songs and dance with them as they have so much energy.  

Every Sunday after noon is my favourite time of the day because thats when we run our youth seminar. Its a place where we share with them about a topic we had during lecture phase.  This week was on lordship.  We also have small groups which is my favourite part.  I love the group of girls I have.  Even though it's sometimes hard to understand each other, they are always smiling and laughing. They always have questions whether it's got to do with the topic or not.... But I live seeing the hearts that they have for God. Actually that's been one of the most amazing things here in India. Seeing how the children worship and pray.  It seriously challenges and encourages in my walk with God.

God is so good! It's been surreal seeing the heart that he has for the people in this city. Having the opportunity to bless people and love on them has been amazing.