🌿 A Little Faith Everyday 🌿

In the rush of everyday life it’s easy to forget about the importance of sharing your faith with others, so here are some ways to incorporate a little faith everyday!

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Commit yourself to doing one act of kindness that is completely selfless each day, whether it be for a stranger or someone you love. Something small or something big, it doesn’t matter – just make a point of taking the time to do it, and remember that faith is about loving and accepting one another no matter what.

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Download faith apps on your phone such as Echo – which helps you remember when and what you want to pray for! Hopefully every time you unlock your phone and see the apps you will be reminded to think and act on your faith.

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Bake some faith into your day! We all enjoy different things and if baking happens to be something you love why not incorporate some faith into it by putting a new twist on an old recipe. You could do anything from baking shortbread to give to the neighbours, to  trying out these bible verse fortune cookies or piping biblical designs on cupcakes.

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An easy way to add some faith time in every now and then is to buy some worship music, or save it to a Spotify playlist, and listen to it when you’re commuting or working from home. Take some time to really listen to the lyrics or melody and immerse yourself in the feeling of serenity.

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Leave your bible open on your desk and flick to a page each morning, then pick a passage to read and highlight one line that either resonates with you or you want to look up. Add some annotations in the margin, if you don’t mind writing in it, or in a notebook nearby if you prefer – and then at the end of each week take a little time to go back through the notes and look up any questions you had, or just enjoy reading your favourite quotes again.

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Consider joining a project such as Postcrossing or Bookcrossing to spread some more love in the world, you don’t necessarily have to leave a religious quote with your book or on your postcard if you don’t think the recipient would appreciate it, although it would be awesome if you did! Maybe try writing something short about love or kindness and then underneath explain your faith and why it’s important to you. If you want to read more about Postcrossing and see what it’s all about you can take a look at this post for an overview, or one of these posts to see the kind of things people send: 1, 2, 3!

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Research bible study or worship groups in your area and join one, they usually only meet once a week or fortnight for an hour or two so you can probably find one to squeeze in and they don’t all just involve reading the bible. There are lots of group that meet for a meal or to do a craft of some sort where they also have a light discussion about faith. Hearing other peoples stories and ideas can be really helpful and enlightening.

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Do you have any ideas for how to incorporate faith into your day? Leave them in the comments below!

Also take a look at the other posts in this series here and here!

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💒 The Beauty Of Faith In Literature 💒

I think reading about faith is one of the best things you can do – and it doesn’t just have to be straight from a Holy Book!

Faith can be explored in many different ways but sometimes people seem to forget this and feel like the only way they can connect with their faith is by praying or going to Church. In reality there are so many fictitious pieces of writing that do a brilliant job of helping you take an introspective look at your faith and what it means to you. It’s also beautiful that there are so many people out there willing to share there personal feelings and connections with faith for us all to learn from and admire.

Up until recently, I have to say, that I wasn’t really aware about the vast amount of books available but once I found them I discovered that they are reasonably light reading and convey strong faith messages that are incredibly powerful. Some messages are more ambiguous than others – but they can all be extremely useful when applied correctly.

We all know books are great as you can read them just about anywhere, especially with eBooks, all you need is a spare five minutes to get in a couple of pages. Like any activity through which you learn about or express your faith, reading won’t be for everyone, but it’s definitely something you should give a try before you dismiss. If you don’t have the funds to buy new books visit your local library and see what they have on offer. To find what’s right for you do a quick internet search first and read book reviews, you’ll be surprised how many are out there.

Recently I was inducted into the beauty of faith in literature through a book I was lent called ‘The Shack’. Although I was wary about what how it might differ from my idea of Christianity at first, I actually found it to be extremely interesting. It’s a book about a Father whose Daughter goes missing and… long story short; he somehow ends up in a shack with the Holy Trinity. Having never read a book that dealt with faith in any real way before this was hugely eye-opening for me and I ended up really enjoying it, although it took me a while to get into it. I think the most important thing is to go into reading about faith with an open mind, authors may well have different interpretations and beliefs to you but it can help you ground your own beliefs in the long run.

Now I’ve tried reading a book with a faith message in it I am eager to discover more as there is always room for my faith to grow, I’d be really interested to hear about any books you’ve read that might be of interest so please leave suggestions in the comments!

If reading really isn’t for you, there are also some well executed films about strengthening your faith and connection with God but I highly recommend trying to substitute the screen for a good paperback for a while, as I feel it allows for a longer period of reflection and self examination. The most important thing is that you are always growing and learning as there is no such thing when it comes to ‘knowing it all’ about faith.

This is the second post in my faith series, if you want to see last weeks introduction it’s here!

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⛪️ My Faith Journey ⛪️

I am a Christian. Just writing it down brings a smile to my face, but it hasn’t been easy getting here. Finding God took me a while, but it happened, and now I want to share my journey with you. I have lots of stories to tell about the particular path that led me to where I am in my faith today, so each Wednesday I’m going to share one with you. Today lets start with an overview.

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When I was younger my Nan would take my siblings and I to church each Sunday and whilst she sat through the services we would attend Sunday school, for me this is where my journey into faith began for the first time. I was so young that I didn’t really have a solid understanding of what being a Christian meant, but I attended a Christian school during the week, and I knew that it was a term that was often used when we said Grace before lunch, and when we sang the Lords prayer in assembly. Although I was unaware of it at the time, these seemingly unimportant, everyday activities, would have a huge impact on my life as I grew up and I’m incredibly grateful for them now.

Neither of my parents are particularly religious so gradually as we got older my siblings and I stopped attending church, instead we would go to sports practice on a Sunday morning. We all also moved to different schools as things in our lives changed and they were no longer Christian establishments. Then as I got even older I stopped going to the sports practices too, and my Sundays became spare time. I did enjoy those Sunday morning lie-ins but then about a year ago Daisy approached me, saying she would like to go to church to see what it was like.

In case you aren’t a regular reader of this blog I’ll fill you in on some details about Daisy – she’s my oldest friend, having known each other practically our whole lives. Our houses are across the street from each other and before we were even born out parents were friends. We’ve been through and done everything together at some point; we’ve laughed, cried and fought (a lot), we’ve been on holiday together, built forts, filmed youtube videos, climbed trees, had many, many birthday parties and eaten plenty of pizza.

But before that day I’m not sure we’d ever really discussed faith or religion together.

It didn’t matter that we hadn’t discussed it before though because that day we started the conversation, and since then, it’s never really ended. I agreed to go to church with her, so one Sunday we attended the service at my old church – there’s a feeling of safety and peace during services that I’ve never been able to replicate anywhere else. I suppose it’s because it’s when you’re closest with God and closest with others who are close to him too.

Although I can’t speak for her, I assume Daisy must have felt something, or discovered something, whilst we were there too, because we’ve been attending weekly ever since. The day Daisy spoke to me was the day my journey into faith began for a second time, I’d say it continued on from where I’d left off – but it didn’t, because this time I was older, more receptive and truly ready to find God.

There are lots of people I have to thank for introducing me to all that my faith has to offer, the most obvious are; Daisy, my Nan and the teachers from Sunday school and my original school. Also though as people began to recognise that Daisy and I were showing up every week we began to become part of the churches congregational community, it was actually pretty easy for us to talk to people because my Nan goes with us and has been attending the same church for a long time, so she already knows everyone and could introduce us. One of Daisy’s other friends and her mother also sometimes appear at services so before we even began we had people we could direct any questions towards. But, even if we hadn’t had those connections when we started, I don’t think it would have mattered, because there’s such a welcoming atmosphere at our church and I hope that’s the same everywhere, I’ve heard it is. God brings us together and that’s very powerful – it bonds us and creates a tether of love between us.

Faith now has a huge impact on both of our daily lives, we don’t just go to church on Sunday mornings anymore, we also became involved in a youth group called ‘Highlight’ on a Friday night – where we spend two hours reading Bible passages, playing games and praying. It’s run to by two lovely youth workers and it’s really interesting to explore our faith in this way because it’s so different to the weekly services, in fact – it’s one of the things that helped show me that those Sunday mornings aren’t the only time to learn about faith, every second of everyday is an opportunity to learn more. Sometimes those learning curves are steep and at other times they are tiny steps forward but each one has an impact whether it comes from listening to someone else’s views, watching a program, reading or just realising that you want to start living your life differently so that others can see your faith in your words, in your actions and in your heart.

Last year we were both Baptised and Confirmed, cementing our ever-growing love for our faith. I’m realising each day how blessed I am and how much I have to be grateful for, now I want to share those blessings and my gratitude with all of you.

If you would like to see some photographs of our Baptism it’s this post!

Daisy and I made fortune cookies with Bible verses in them, I wrote about it here!

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