So Mother's Day...

There are a few differences to get used to when living in a different country to where you grew up. Some of these are easy to adapt to (driving on the right or using dollars instead of pounds for example). Other differences are much easier to forget...like when Mother's Day is.

In the UK, Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent (March 14th 2010) and is traditionally the Sunday where people would meet in their "Mother Church", the cathedral of the diocese. More recently, it has adopted the name and nature of the US equivalent.

This year in the US, Mother's Day is May 9th. So my usually dependence on Greeting Cards advertising is not helpful.

So inspired by Allison's recent blog post, I have purchased a belated UK Mother's Day gift (or an advance US Mother's Day gift) from Charity:water.

I'm not asking you to give, but I would encourage you to poke around their website.

So the result of my musings...

I have posted very rarely over the past few months. One of the reasons for this is that I have felt the need to process what God is saying to me before I can really develop some answers to my previous posts. Below is an overview of where God led me as I thought and prayed through the questions...Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?

Purpose

My purpose is to glorify God through my thoughts, words and actions, to maintain and develop a deep personal relationship with Him and share His love with the world.

Values

Identity: spending quality time with God

Integrity: maintaining God’s standards in life and leadership

Growth: continual learning and developing

Leadership: being an effective steward in ministry

Discipleship: nurturing others

Fellowship: sharing life with others

Encouragement: empowering others

Appreciation: showing gratitude towards others

Awareness: being aware of the needs in my immediate surroundings and the wider world

Advocacy: supporting and standing up for the broken, the needy, the hurting

Action: more than just thought and reflection, being someone of action, making vision a reality and meeting needs head on

Vision

As I continue my walk with Christ I dedicate myself to the following six principles:

In my life I will honoUr His authority

(by nurturing a deep relationship with Him)

In my service I will glorify His name

(by working selflessly and sacrificially to lead others to Him)

In my witness I will declare His grace

(by outwardly expressing my faith to the world)

In my leadership I will fulfil His mission

(by steering people towards His purpose)

In my relationships I will reflect His love

(by generating opportunities for fellowship, accountability and discipleship)

In my community & world I will be someone of action

(by turning vision to reality, plans into programs and by meeting the needs that God places on my heart

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