Jehovah-Jireh.

So, I was struggling for a fair while, economically. I was proper broke for a little bit there, which was not fun. But during that time, I was getting help all over the place from different people that I didn't expect, which was really great and really helpful.

But now, God has come through :D Which is muchly awesome. And in more ways than I expected. And better ways than I expected. And all this sort of thing.

So, Centrelink payments just started to come through, I got my first one yesterday. Thought they would still be a couple of weeks away, so that's pretty cool :)

I also got some work from last week - which isn't great work, it's doing cold calls from a call centre (not as bad as I thought, but still not great) - so that's giving me some money as well.

But, more interestingly/importantly, I got some more work just this week, with a charity - someone had posted up about it on a page that I was following, and they were looking for creatives. So I thought, sure, why not. I met the guy this week, and he's pretty enthusiastic, and he wants me on board :D At present, it's not paid - though he's given me a little money to start off - but we're working towards a musical (yes, you read that right, a full-blown musical) in July (yes, this July), and after that I'll start to get paid. But it's pretty much awesome. It's using basically all of what I know and have learned, and lots of my different skills and passions, which is awesome. And I'm working from home - at least at the moment - so it's really flexible. And it's all going towards something that really matters. So it's a bit of a dream job, you could say. :)

It's made me realise that when you're in a fix and you cry out to God, he doesn't want to just get you out of that place. He wants to bless you, and put you in an awesome place. And yeah, he's really done that for me right now. So I'm pretty happy, as you might be able to tell :)

Yet Another Level.

A little while back, in the middle of last year, I did a post on my analogy of the well. If you didn't see it, you can find it here. Essentially, the deal is that when you're telling someone about struggles in your life, I was saying that there are three levels you can go to.

The first I like to call the lookout; it's from a distance, you can see that there are wells out there, you might have an idea of how many there are. This is where you tell people that you're struggling with things.

The second I call the tour; you take people around through the wells, and they can see down them. This is where you tell people how much you've been struggling with things.

The third I call the descent; you get out the ropes, carabiners and harnesses, and take someone down right to the bottom. I don't think that needs too much explanation.

Since then, though, I've realised that there's actually a fourth level, beyond that. It's what I call deconstruction.

Here, you need to imagine that the well is made of bricks. And in this one, you're not just taking someone down to the bottom and shining a light down there - you're taking out each individual brick and showing it to them. There's nothing they don't see. Absolutely nothing.

This is the sort of thing that you won't see happening too often; and it's also something that can really take a lot of time. Obviously, depending on how deep the well goes. I'd say that this is usually something between husband and wife, or that you might do with your mentor.

But for me, it's just challenged me again in how radically honest and open I am with people, particularly people that I trust and care about.

At The End Of The Rope.

I've heard lots of stories before from friends, who have been through really tight situations financially, and God has come through for them - often in unexpected ways, and when they didn't anticipate it.
Now, it's me who's hoping that God will come through.

I have a lot to be thankful for. I don't have many expenses, and I still live with my parents, so I have food and a place to call home. Which is really nice. And people is nice too. People are good.

But yes, money is very tight. It's not a position I've ever been in before. I've been close, but I've always had money coming in soon. This time, there's no guarantee; nothing that I know is happening. I've applied to heaps of things, thrown my CV around a fair few places, but nothing has really come good for me yet. It's not a fun feeling.

There's a bit in the Bible that says you're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. I can certainly see a lot of ways in which I've been blessed - and keep being blessed. Unfortunately, not too many involving finances. I've had some bits here and there that have been really great, but nothing that's really going to pull me out just yet.

Funnily enough, I just spoke on courage the other week. And I'm about to speak on faith in just over a week. They do say that before you teach something, you have to learn it. Looks like I'm learning it, all right. Hopefully, the lesson finishes in time so that I've got the other half of the story to share....

That's all from me for now. Hopefully there will be more before too long - maybe detailing a new job, for all I know!

Feeling The Summer.

Sorry that I haven't been posting much lately, folks. I've been quite busy! And that's actually a bit of what this post is about, in a way.

Last year, I got the opportunity to hear my then-mentor do a sermon on the Seasons of Life. It was about how we have different seasons in our life, and looking at how we can work with that rather than trying to fight it or not being aware of it. The seasons can be grand-scale, and over all of your life, but they can also be over particular parts as well, like in work, ministry, family, relationships, etc. And they always go in order as well, though not always for the same length of time.

In essence, the seasons are:
Spring - a time of new beginnings, of learning and trying new things. Starting afresh.
Summer - a time of work, of growth and making things happen.
Autumn - a time of harvest; of reaping what has been grown in the Summer. The peak period.
Winter - a time of cutting back, of letting go of some things. A fallow period, as such, to get ready for Spring.

To hear them in a bit more detail, you can listen to the sermons on each different one here.

Last year for me, I had a lot of different seasons operating at different levels. But overall, I think it was Spring; it was the start of something new, something fresh, something different. It was a time of learning and new growth.

This year, though, is coming in to a time of Summer. And that means work.

And I'm not just saying it's Summer because Summer is after Spring, so that must be next. I'm saying that because based on what I'm seeing and what's happening, I know that this is a Summer season. Historically, I have not been fantastic when it comes to Summer seasons. I'm not a fan of summer in general. It's very hot, and I don't like hot. I like warm, but not hot. Thankfully, this summer (actual summer, not what I'm talking about above) has been quite moderate - and even a bit wet and cool, so that's been nice.
But come Summer, I've often just rested on my laurels and sailed through fairly easily. Didn't need to do much to get by; and it only started catching up with me (as it inevitably does) at the end of high school.

And this Summer season, I know, is going to be quite important. I don't know exactly what it has in store; but I know it's going to be busy. I know there's going to be effort, and work involved. And I know that if I don't put in that effort and work, come Autumn, there won't be anything to show for it. And I'll have only myself to thank for that.

For those worrying that I'm going to overwork myself - I don't think that's possible. I'm a little too good with giving myself breaks. Which is good in some senses (means I don't get overworked), but not good in others (means I can get a bit pressured with deadlines).

So yeah, that's what this next season is looking like for me. Thought that you folks might find that interesting.