Christmas.

This month, I've been following a Christmas bible plan. It's been awesome. I've been directed to Isaiah (which I still find really difficult to spell) quite a bit, and have discovered all these incredible Old Testament prophecies that point straight to Jesus. My mind has been well and truly BLOWN.

Today, I was told to dive back into the gospels, with a passage from Luke. For anyone who doesn't know the story of John the Baptist's birth, go look it up now! It's found in Luke 1, and is another one of those mind-blowers. The Bible is well and truly packed with them. The passage I read today tells of the priest Zechariah (again, tricky spelling) prophesying over his newborn son John. 

"And you, my little son,
      will be called the prophet of the Most High,
      because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
    You will tell his people how to find salvation
      through forgiveness of their sins.
    Because of God’s tender mercy,
      the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
    to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
      and to guide us to the path of peace.”    - Luke 1:76-79

Now I've read this passage before, quite a few times I think, but I'm not sure how I just skipped over it. "Because of God's tender mercy" <- How amazing is that? Because of God's tender mercy, he sent us Jesus. Not just his mercy, but his tender mercy. He is loving, he is kind, he is our Father. 

For me this was a reminder, that Christmas is about God having tender mercy on us, sending us Jesus. He freed us from sin, from judgement, he gave us an escape to something glorious. God was so lovingly merciful that he intervened, he came down to Earth in his own creation (again, MIND BLOWN) so that he could be reconciled to us. That's our cause for celebration, the reason for the season. The morning light from heaven has broken upon us!

And that's so stupidly exciting, I had to write about it, end of. I've also been watching The Nativity on the BBC, it's still on iPlayer, and if you haven't seen it you need to! I've cried twice already and I still have the final episode left. But then, after all, it is the greatest, most important, most beautiful story ever told.

I hope you have an amazing Christmas.

p.s. Jesus really loves you

An Update, and Some Project 125 Stuff..

So once again I must start a blog post with an apology. I'm just not very consistent with posts. Some people update every other day, and I can only admire and be absolutely baffled by them. But hey, ho!

In case y'all hadn't noticed, IT'S CHRISTMAS! A very good time of the year. Yet, with my first AS exams looming in January, I get a feeling that this Christmas isn't going to be quite as care-free as previous years.
Nonetheless, I am determined to enjoy my holiday amidst revision. Two of my favourite people will be returning from uni, the tree is going up this afternoon, it's my second Christmas with Christ, family are coming to stay with us, the next few weeks of church, lots of giving and receiving of presents and, of course, the Dr. Who Christmas special to look forward to. I'm so excited that I may even try my hand at cooking again, having found a yummy recipe for 'Christmas Bread' by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, whose name is positively spectacular.

Also, come the new year, Beth Rutland and myself will be raising money for Project 125 in a Doctor Who related way. We will be competing to see which sucker lucky person will be able to eat the most fish fingers and custard. Yep, I wrote that right, fish fingers and custard.

For those of you, who aren't Doctor Who fans (although why you wouldn't be is beyond me), you will need to watch this clip for full understanding:



The idea is that hopefully kind people such as yourself will sponsor us, and we'll make a beautiful video as proof that we did indeed eat the fish custard. This is all for the girls dormitory in Serenje, so please sponsor us! If you want to, just leave a comment on this post, or donate on the JustGiving page leaving a comment of 'Fish Custard' so we know that's what it's for.

If I don't get a chance to blog again, although fingers crossed I will, HAPPY CHRISTMAS :)

p.s. You know you want to sponsor us

Seventeen

Okay, who was I kidding? I can't write a two part blog, my mind's already moved on.

Today is my 17th Birthday. I felt that deserved a blog post. Enjoy..


Seventeen things I've learnt in the past year:

1. Igloos are difficult to build.

2. Dubstep are not a band.

3. Doctor Who without David Tennant is possible.

4. My hair will not curl. After years of extra strength hairspray, trying to find the best curling irons, giving up on having ringlets and just using mousse and scrunching to get some sort of wave, I have accepted it. My hair is dead straight, and unless I do like prom, and spend two hours under one of those hair driers old ladies use, it's just not going to happen.

5. The time for panic is when you find yourself thinking in a foreign language- German Exchange of 2010.

6. I may not be able to cook, but I can bake. My kids are going to be fat.

7. No matter how far away he moves, you're never truly rid of Dave Hulme.

8. That people will bully you for having a butter tray, when you weren't even aware it was a weird thing.

9. Never leave a mobile phone in your pocket when you go on a roller coaster.

10. But don't worry so much if it's a Sony Ericsson W810i, in that case it will be still be working when the maintenance guys find it and return it to you.

11. That aeroplanes can't reverse (took me a while to get my head around this one).

12. The existence of Banter.

13. The existence of Church Banter.

14. Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates. They wanted to ransom him for 20 silver talents. Caesar laughed and demanded they ransom him for 50. His captors obeyed. Conclusion: Caesar was badman.

15. Microwave Popcorn- harder than it looks.

16. How to apply for a provisional driving licence and then stare at it wistfully for two and a half months until you're allowed to actually use it.

17. Things don't happen the way you planned them to, but it's more fun that way.


Year Number Seventeen - BRING IT ON.

What is Today's Subject?

Today's Subject is:

It's a good subject, don't you agree? Optimism (or blessing counting) is most definitely the best outlook for life. I can manage to be negative for perhaps a few days at most. On that rare occasion the sadness continues, I am blessed with great friends who will gatecrash my pity-party, eat all the cake, and burst all the metaphorical balloons. I don't know where I'd be without them.

Naturally, my friends are some of the most brilliant blessings in my life. But there are many more.
My college is a huge blessing. That I can study and learn and be educated is amazing. I love learning about new things, gathering up the knowledge, using it. And I get to do that every day. I'm also very aware of how fortunate I am. It is safe for me to go to school. Some teenage girls don't have that luxury.

In Serenje, Zambia, girls of my age leave their homes in the countryside to go to school in the main town. The only accommodation their parents can afford for them is in the slums. They are vulnerable and unprotected and taken advantage of by men. Only 2% finish schooling, the rest return home, often pregnant or infected with HIV/AIDS. That's a horrific statistic, what if only 2% of girls at my college completed their A-levels? And the only difference between us and the girls in Serenje, is that of birth. We are blessed, blessed, blessed and should never take it for granted, but help others to have the same blessing. Donate to Project 125, so we can build a girls dormitory and these girls can be safe. Do it now!

So now that you've donated to Project 125, as I'm sure you have, I can go to bed. I'm ridiculously tired and need to sleep now.I'll most likely do a part 2 to this "Count Your Blessings" thing, because I wasn't actually going to talk about Project 125, it just wriggled its way in. I'm surprised by how much I want to see it happen, and indeed by how much it's gone and planted itself in my heart. I never particularly wanted it, but God just went and stuck it in there. He's brilliant like that.

Count Your Blessings, Not Your Worries.



To be continued.. (or just written properly without any strange side-tracks about Zambia)

Sorry All!

Well, I know it's been a while since I've updated, but in my defence, my life suddenly got super crazy busy.
One day, I'll have time to sit and do a real post.
Until then, YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO (because I love it):



Blows me away. Every. Single. Time.
Hopefully I'll get a proper written post up soon, sorry!

Wordle

After seeing it on Simon Benham's Blog, I had to give this Wordle thing a try. Basically you feed it a load of words and it creates a cloud of them all, giving greater prominence to words which appear more frequently. I fed in all the text from every blog post I've ever written, and this is what it gave me..

(click on the picture for a larger view, trust me, it's worth it)

It makes me happy. I love how 'Buffy' and 'Aslan' snuck in there. But most of all, I love how 'God' is smack bam in the middle of it! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sorting Out My Priorities

Capture It

It's been such a long time since I really flexed my writing muscles. I'm slowly unfurling that part of my mind from where it's been cramped and squished into a corner of my brain.

I'm stretched across my bed, occupied in watching the sky through my window. If I stare long enough I can almost fool myself that there isn't really a pane of glass. That there's in fact nothing separating me from the beauty of the outside world. Yet, I can't believe it. You see, the air is distinctly 'inside air'; still and lifeless. Outside, air flicks about you in little whips and flurries. With outside air, every breath is a tiny delight as the freshness rushes into you, waking you from inside out. And that's not how the air in my room feels.

Just so you know, the sky I'm seeing, and am more than a little captivated by is white, a brilliant white, and the clouds are great grey smudges. Curiously, they're not ugly smears, but soft and lovely; dark at the centre then fading and blending at the edges into lightness. They're drifting right now, slowly and almost solemnly from left to right. They don't look quite ready to release their rain. But I can imagine that later in the day, a stranger will curse at the same clouds for depositing a whole lot on him. Or perhaps he will lift up his arms and receive the raindrops as a gift. His choice.

Was there a point to all this writing?
Not particularly. But as I let my little chewed biro scrawl across my favourite notebook, I had a good think. And I decided that if there has to be a point, then that point is beauty. We experience beauty and then we want to capture it. Some people paint and draw, but that has never been a talent of mine, not even a little bit. I could simply take a photo of the view, but then I wouldn't be able to share the full, layered beauty of this exact moment. Because the beauty is not only in the gloriousness of the sky, but in so many other things too. The way the light gleams across my mirror and reveals that it's actually speckled with smudges, from top to toe. Or the empty mug beside me, around which the faintest wisp of 'tea smell' lingers. Or the curious mixture of sounds that is my ipod on shuffle. Or the quiet nagging ache in my elbows from leaning too long on them whilst writing this. Or suddenly, in the midst of everything, realising that I've dumped a pile of freshly ironed clothes on the floor where they're merely going to become creased again.

This is being alive. And I'm just trying to catch an inch of it with words.
All that beauty.

Mary

I am a young girl, due to be married who loves and trusts in God. I am excited about my new life with my husband. I plan to be faithful to God and obey his laws in my marriage. Those are my expectations.

Then an angel turns up and tells me I'm going to have a baby who will be called 'Son of the Most High' and despite the fact that I'm a virgin, I'm going to get pregnant because God can do the impossible in me.
I think my response at this point would be a rather flabbergasted, "Excuse me?"

God doesn't give us what we expect. Mary probably had her own hopes and dreams for the future, her own gifts and talents that she had plans for. It is quite unlikely that what she expected was to be the mother of the messiah.

But here's the thing: God doesn't adhere to our expectations. He has crafted us futures that will be incredible and joyous and, most importantly, unexpected. Whatever I can dream up for my future will be ten thousand times weirder but more amazing in reality. Because when it comes to imagining we're all just amateurs compared to the creator of the universe, who imagined and brought to life everything, from brightly burning stars to little red ladybirds.

When God puts great big unexpected plot twists into our stories it can be simultaneously frightening and exciting. We can doubt whether this plan is really from God, whether God can really do it. What surprises me is Mary's reaction. "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." There's no "This isn't what I expected", "What if this goes wrong?" or even "Well, what if I don't want this?". Instead she trusts in God and obeys him. She trusts that even though what she is being told sounds purely crazy, it is part of God's plan. She has faith that God is always good and his greatness overcomes all obstacles.

Mary was totally prepared to let God rewrite all the plans she had for her life.
I think that is pretty amazing.

Emmanuel

These last few days have been pretty intense. It's like the rawness of grief has blown away all reserved politeness. The church family has been drawn together so closely; supporting and loving each other powerfully. God has been at work.

Take Friday night as an example. We run a Friday night event for young people called LIFE. Liam's preach about Annie's death affected so many people, from those who knew her to those who didn't. As a leader, I felt a whole lot useless. I've never lost anybody close to me and in all honesty I didn't know what to say. I hated seeing so many people so devastated, it has a way of weighing on your heart, like some of their pain gets deposited onto you. And I would gladly take some of that pain if it lessened theirs but it doesn't. One girl was in floods of tears but refused to let me pray for her. There was so little that I could do to help.

However, it wasn't about me or what I could do. It was about Jesus. As the worship started I saw grief turned into passion for God. I have never seen that many people worshipping at LIFE. I think, for some of them, this was the first time they had worshipped God. Their pain was poured into praise and singing and this was more healing than any kind words of comfort could ever be.

What's more, we do not serve a God who is remote and distant. Friday night I sensed the presence of God everywhere. The only time I have ever felt Him so powerfully was right before I became a Christian. I could sense Jesus walking among us. I felt Him standing behind the worship team as they sang, feeding His strength into them. I felt Him among those who mourned, mourning with them. It's difficult to explain how I knew it was Jesus but I just did. I was trembling, my heart was thudding. I was both overwhelmed and humbled by the fact that He chose to be here with us. One word has been resounding through my mind the last few days: Emmanuel. Emmanuel means 'God with us' and is one of Jesus' many titles. So often people ask 'where is God in our sorrow?' But I have seen where He is; He is here with us. He choses to be here with us, He choses to share in our sufferings, He chose that when He died on the cross for us.

I know now that the fact that all I can do at the moment is pray isn't something I should be frustrated by. God is forcing me to recognise my uselessness without Him and making me lean on Him in prayer, asking Him to comfort all who grieve, because if I could do it by myself then I would be God. And I'm not.

God is God, He is very good. And so we worship Him, whether we have pain or joy in our hearts.

A Year Ago Today

Today is my Christianniversary. Now, I realise that this isn't an official term, it's actually one that originated from a friend of mine, the beautiful Gabbi "http://love-beyond-life.blogspot.com" (that's her blog). She's not only a great friend, but she's my 'Christian twin'. On 5th July 2009 we both gave our lives to Jesus.

I've been thinking about this all morning. This is the first time that I've just sat and looked back over it all. This year has been a crazy one. I've had heartbreak and frustration. There's that time I threw my bible across the living room in a fit of childish temper and so many tears that I'm surprised my eyes continue to produce them.

However, these things are insignificant when I think about what this year really was. It was a year of hope and of healing. A whole other way of life was opened up to me; a way of faith and beauty and joy. It's like suddenly seeing the world in a thousand different colours and I am stunned. How did I never see this? And why was I so content with black and white?



'Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' - John 8:32
To all the people who thought I was being brainwashed: I say yes. I have had my brain washed. It's been cleaned of the rubbish and set free by new truths. When I first came to God I was broken. I didn't think that I was, but I guess it's only since I've been fixed up that I can see what a state I was in. I was insecure. I thought so little of myself. I hated what I looked like. The only part of myself that I thought was worth anything was my intelligence. And because this was the only thing I prized in myself, it became the only thing I valued in others. I was also broken-hearted and terrified that I was unlovable. Always scared that I annoyed my friends; that they would tire of me or see me as I really was and leave. Then I met Jesus and everything got turned upside down.

None of these things vanished overnight. It's been a journey (clichéd I know, but oh well). It's been long and painful and much counselling from Amy Mehta and various other peoples has been required. But God heals. What's amazing now, is that I can look back at who I was and look at who I am now and be blown away by how much God has done in me. And for that, I am so ridiculously grateful. God has shown me that I can have confidence that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am loved unconditionally. He sees the depths of my heart, the good and the bad, and loves me the same. He gives me joy. As for the other problem; 'He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.' - Psalm 147:3.
I most definitely agree.

I am whole and re-made. And to think that this is only the beginning. I am being filled up, learning to lean on my God, delighting in His word, seeking His presence, because He is everything. And I know that when the time comes He will reveal His plan for me. He will send me out.

He knows me,
He loves me,
He saved me.
I stand in awe because He died for me.

There is nothing more beautiful or more glorious than this.
The world has nothing to offer that could make me tear my eyes from Him.
One word engraved into my being; Jesus.
Let Your name always be there,
on my heart.

Cakey Shananigans

Anyone who knows me believes that I cannot cook. There was an incident a while back involving some packet cake mix, where the sponge cakes came out like biscuits, and since then everyone presumes that I'm a catastrophe in the kitchen.
But today, I have proved them wrong!

Look at the cupcakey goodness:



And now:



Now, I know they look beautiful, but that's not all. They also taste beautiful.
How do I know?
Because the world's fussiest person ate one of my cakes, and said it was yummy :)

Look at her go:



So yes, this is my post about cupcakes. I didn't really have much else to say, the cupcakes kinda consumed me..

What is written at 11pm when Charlee should be in bed and her brain is failing ..

Okay, so I am super duper excited right now.
I only have 4 more exams left and then.. I am free :)
Anyways, I've recently discovered Buffy. And I know, everyone else has loved it for years, but I'd never seen a single episode until last week. Procrastination can lead you to the most beautiful things. My initial delight has quickly blossomed into obsession.
"I laugh in the face of danger... and then I hide until it goes away." - Xander, season 1. Gotta love Xander.
Honestly, Buffy was the only thing that got me through my exams last week.

Charlee's Ultimate Plan For GCSE Success:
Come home after exam..
Watch Buffy/ Eat lunch..
Revise..
Watch Buffy..
Revise..
Watch Buffy..
Revise..
Watch Buffy..
Revise..
Sleep.

It's all become a bit muddled up really, I've began to associate staking vampires with the Vietnam War. I probably shouldn't have tried to multi-task. My head is so all over the place at the moment. I feel like I've just garbled onto my blog, so if you're reading this, could you possibly go back in time and not read it, that would be SUPER helpful.

However, if you're persevering in reading this gibberish I'm spouting, you should know that this song is amazing:



I go bed now <3

.

Broken by the fall,
I call, I call.
Arms lifted high,
I cry, I cry.
I know we must pay,
So I pray, I pray.

Silence; stretching and swelling. Suffocating.

Wait, I can breathe.
Jesus. Life. Oxygen.

Peace.

In the Beginning

Cupped in warm hands,
Folded in tender fingers,
Sweetly crafted,
From love.
He melded stardust,
Into soft pink flesh,
With glassy eyes,
Hollow inside.

Lips lean forwards, part slowly, breath of life from lungs past tongue and teeth, sighing out of mouth and into me.

I open curious eyes.
Alive.

A Story

Inhibitions have vanished under the smoky lights. Bodies pulse vibrantly, captured by the booming rhythms. They seem so free, I envy them. I want to see the world how they see it. A blur of colour and light and sound spinning before my eyes. I want to fly. Desire and longing shimmer in my veins, pulling me slowly but surely from my well-worn path of safety. A boy stands before me. Even in the shadowy light, I know who he is. His face is so familiar; it’s been the entirety of my thoughts for months. The curve of his smile consumes my heart and I am running, running into the darkness, trusting him to catch me.

But he can’t. And that’s when I realise. The people around me aren’t flying. They’re falling. My beautiful boy is just a broken soul who can’t even catch himself. I’m colliding with everyone. I smash into them with dizzying speed. I can feel my mind shattering and I’m scared. Control has crumbled. A bottle of WKD fuels the desperate screams of a girl beside me. A boy and a girl whip past me, clinging to each other with such fierceness as they fall. I can’t see, I can’t think, I can’t feel. Nothing. Then two words explode from my lips: “SAVE ME!”. I scream them to the sky.

He hears; He comes. With his sword of shimmering light, He obliterates the chains of my mind. I know Him. He feels like warmth on the first day of spring, like hope in a new beginning, like fire and joy.

I’m back on the dance floor and the world has stopped spinning. I’ve been caught by the true and everlasting God. Safe and loved, I breathe deep to calm myself. But all around people continue to plummet. Broken, lost, alone. I can see the pain in His eyes as he watches them, and His pain becomes mine. I have to help them.

Suddenly, a sword of light appears in my hands. It’s not as bright and brilliant as His, but it is there nonetheless. It comes from Him. And I know why He has given it to me. For one tiny instant, I am scared, but then love floods me. His love. It’s running in my veins, coursing through my blood. It gives me strength, courage and protection. I grasp the sword firmly and look up at Him. I am ready.

Love

Sometimes it can get to so easy to become caught up in the little things.
I haven't opened my bible in forever,
I just don't feel like praying,
I gossip,
I bitch,
I swear,
I am such a bad person.

We need to remember the big things:
"And Jesus answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands."

We need to plant these commands in our heart, and from that, all else will come. It will be so easy to follow the little rules once we are living out the big rules.

Keep faithful, love God, love others; NOTHING is more important than this.
It's not always easy, but it is always rewarding...

Mathematics

You know the basic rules of maths. 2+2=4 You never question that.
When somebody asks you a maths question you don't know, do you suddenly doubt the very existence of maths? No. You simply accept that you don't know maths well enough to know the answer.
A 5 year old gets that they just aren't able to do quadratic equations. So why can't we accept that we aren't wise enough to comprehend all of God.
We know that God is good but when somebody throws an earthquake or cancer or floods into the equation, suddenly we start calling the basic rules into question.
Why do we do this?
God IS good and 2+2=4
That stuff doesn't change.

Gloss

Lipglossed lips,
so smooth they shine.
Pink Perfection;
these lips of mine.

So how can it be
from their beauty spills,
words that cause
so many ills?

Words of anger,
born from pain,
they just come tumbling
from my brain.

I think there's something
wrong in me.
Left broken,
-not that you could see.

Lipglossed lips,
with much to hide.
What dark perfection;
these lips of mine.

Snow and Psalms

The snow makes England look like.... Narnia.
And it's so beautiful.
I'm naturally a summer girl, I adore sunshine. However I can easily put up with grey skies when a blanket of white snow settles.

I mean just take a look at what happened to the big tree
outside my house:


And the postbox:


However, many SILLY people grumbled about the snow, and how after five days of it, they would rather be at school.
I told these people, something a very wise friend once said to me, "We've had five days of snow, but we've had 12 years of school; I know which one I'm more bored of..."
However, now it has gone, melted away in the night and everything has gone back to normal. School returns.
Today, I was doing some bible reading with my friend Anna over Skype (which is awesome btw, if you don't have it GET IT) and we were going through psalms and realising just how awesome they are. The message versions in particular are so inspiring. I think psalms have a way a putting exactly how you feel into words, like prayers that you didn't quite know how to say. Anyway, this verse of Psalm 119 really grabbed our attention.

"Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised;
Then I'll be able to stand up to mockery
because I trusted your Word.
Don't ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I'll guard with my life what you've revealed to me,
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I'll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;
Then I'll tell the world what I find,
speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.
I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!—
relishing every fragment of your counsel."

The line "I'll be able to stand up to mockery because I trusted your word" really spoke to me. So often when people mock me, I let doubt flood me. I have prayed for God to help me and I've realised that what I need to do is spend time reading the bible, so that whenever I am filled with doubt, I will be able to recall God's words and his promises. My feelings change from day to day, but God's word is constant. I know which one I should put my trust in.

Also, I watched The Sound Of Music, and came to the conclusion that telling people about your favourite things feels good :)
Soooo, my favourite book this week was Lord Of The Flies. It was a birthday present from my parents and I hadn't had time to read it till now. It's amazing. The writing is just so brilliant, and the book is so compellingly dark and scary. I really wish we were doing it as our exam novel now.
Favourite song at the moment is I Choose You by Point of Grace, and I'm loving He Is We. They're a really good indie band, just nice to listen to. This is their page on PureVolume:
http://www.purevolume.com/HEISWE
Lastly, favourite TV show was, without a doubt, Glee! It just makes you so happy, and the characters are so funny and loveable. The music is ridiculously good aswell. Don't believe me? Look for the Glee cover of Don't Stop Believin on youtube, it kicks butt ;P

Another Attempt at Poetry :)

A broken heart,
A troubled mind,
These things were mine.
Sleepless nights,
Tormented dreams,
These things I knew.
What is this power,
That sweeps my soul,
From inside out?
He sets me free,
Smashes my chains,
I breathe his name
“Jesus”.
Joy, light, life,
And I am born again.

What Lies Hidden in Wardrobes

So yesterday I was doing some real deep thinking, what with it being New Years and a time for reflection and all that jazz. However my train of thought sort of ran away and ended up at C.S.Lewis and how very much I should like to meet him.
I was never one of those kids who climbed trees or rode my bike down hills. I was the quiet kid who sat in the corner reading, and reading, and always reading. There's something so magical about books, there's a whole world bound up in their pages.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. - From Matilda by Roald Dahl

My favourite place to travel, was undoubtedly Narnia. A place where animals talked, where the trees came alive, where children became Kings and Queens...

And then there was Aslan. I never quite knew what to make of him. He was terrifying and elusive, yet compassionate and loving. He quite literally boggled my brain.

"He'll be coming and going. One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down - and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion."

There's so much contained within the world of Narnia <3 Since I've become a Christian, people have been recommending C.S.Lewis books to me. Not only his fiction, but his Christian writing. And through these books I've been discovering his wisdom :) "You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body"
"A woman's heart should be so close to God that a man should have to chase Him to find her."
"I think that all things, in their way, reflect heavenly truth, the imagination not least."
I can't really explain why, but his writing clicks with me, it makes perfect sense. I feel like the voice of C.S.Lewis has been with me all my life. The author of my childhood stories, the inspiration behind my wild imagination. An imagination that has led to some truly epic daydreams during science lessons...
And now I'm looking over all his work with a new pair of eyes, reading his stories with the same belief he had, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for us. Just as Aslan died for Edmund, then rose again.

"If the witch understood the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the Deep Magic differently, for when a willing victim who has committed no treachery, dies in a traitor’s stead, the stone table will crack and even death itself will turn backwards." - Aslan

Looking back now, the message behind these words is so obvious, but I missed it.
There are messages scattered throughout the entire Narnia series.

"Aslan," said Lucy through her tears, "could you -- will you -- do something for these poor Dwarfs?"
"Dearest," said Aslan, "I will show you both what I can, and what I cannot do. ... You see," said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out." - The Last Battle by C.S.Lewis

Ahhh, it is because of stuff like THIS that I would very much like to meet Mr. Lewis, just to shake his hand and say thank you because even now, as I discover other books of his, such as The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity, his words help me so much. Help me to understand things I didn't realise I wasn't understanding...

So yes, essentially, this blog post was a gushing of how much I like the writings of C.S.Lewis. His words have been bouncing through my head the past few weeks and I needed to share them with people :)

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else..." -written by....C.S.Lewis of course =]