what a week!

last week was hectic to say the least. I'm still recovering. It's funny, it was a week that influenced a lot of my thinking and planning for the summer, especially when i was thinking of travelling and not staying and working in Brighton. Why? Because this week had 2 wedddings, 1 graduation, 1 open day for stuff i want to do next year, and a camp with the youth group that I've been helping out with this year. SO... quite a lot! At first I'd been prepared to miss them all, but then felt it was actually really important to celebrate these important life events with people that i love. So i booked the week off work, started thinking about the dresses i'd need to pull out the wardrobe (!), began planning games and a talk for the youth camp and tried to get my head around where I'd need to be when (made more difficult by the fact I'm kind of living in 2 places at the moment!).



First wedding was lovely, Becky Beaumont - a friend from school and church in Oxford married Jared Carr, a tall funny American man that she met several years ago doing a DTS with YWAM. a lovely day!



Next day was the Cambridge trip and then on Monday a full day at work which left me feeling like I'd had no weekend, and no time to rest at all. Which is where things began to get difficult. The week hadn't even begun and I already felt like i just wanted to collapse in a heap. I wasn't just tired but also overwhelmed by several people around me going through hard stuff at the moment. It felt like the very most I'd be able to do was just survive THE WEEK. Which is not quite what I'd had in mind. i knew i needed to fight in order that JOY WOULD NOT BE STOLEN from the upcoming events, but felt like the last thing i could do or wanted to do was fight.



SO what can i say? except

'thank you'

thank you for friends who put their arm around you and pray and get you to read Psalm 23....

even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death

STILL you are with me

thank you for parents who give good hugs and encouragement



but most of all, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that He IS Mighty to Save. That He answers our prayers and gives strength to the weary. Thank you that there is always Hope because He defeated death.



It wasn't all easy. My bike was stolen on graduation day, i found the DNA open day really really hard, friends are still struggling, and i did feel pretty exhausted most of the time.



BUT. I got to saturday morning, the day of the second wedding and the sun was shining and i had had a good sleep on friday night and i could look back and say IT WAS GOOD.