A week of wonderfully crazy weather

Dear church family

It has been a funny few days weather wise with the Aurora Borealis sneaking up again for the second time this year, freezing cold weather for the Givaudan run day on Sunday, torrential rain non-stop on Monday and then on Wednesday 21 degree heat throughout the day and even high teens into the evening and then thunder, lightning and storms...!

Why am I talking about the weather you may ask?! Well, aside from it being something which I have grown up with being the norm as I am British (!), it also reminds me of how different our days with God can be within just one week... We can go from the highs of feeling incredibly close to God to feeling super far away from him within 24 hours. On the flip side, we might sometimes have a more stable week where we manage to have more consistent quiet times, less rushed days generally and more space to allow God to fill our hearts with joy and peace. This is not actually unusual in our walk as Christians - even David, "a man after God's own heart", went from high to low extremely quickly, and also enjoyed those times of stability from time to time, and I am sure God must have needed just as much patience with him as he does with me (and maybe even you?) Often we go through valley seasons and peak seasons - some are longer than others - but I want to encourage you that whichever of those you may be in, God is with you, he loves you and he is standing with you each and every day.

This week in Freedom in Christ, we have been learning about the fleshly person vs the spiritual person - each group I have either been with or heard from have had really interesting discussion around this... In one of the groups I am involved with leading, someone's very honest assessment was "I think I mostly fit into the fleshly person, but maybe ten minutes a week I am living as a spiritual person". I loved this - not because this is what we are aiming for, but it reminded me that over the course of a week we can be different people depending on how much quality time we have spent with God, how much time we have spent playing video games or scrolling on facebook, or even how much time we have spent focussing on other things generally which are not God - whatever those things may be. I just love Steve's illustration of the elasticated toggle getting stuck and maybe things such as road-rage, distractions, bitterness, idols, unforgiveness, comfort-eating, grudges, pride, habitual sins and maybe even apathy (not being bothered enough at all), being footholds - holding us back from moving on into whatever God has planned for us. I don't know about you, but doing this week's session has made me more determined than ever not to get my "toggle" caught on anything unnecessary and to do business with God when these things come up and to ask him to help release them!

Freedom comes when we give all these things listed above to God - when we choose not to give into road-rage, freedom can come with a significantly more peaceful journey. If we choose not to hold onto bitterness, we can be free by choosing to replace it with forgiveness and a "presume the best" attitude. Even choosing not to hold onto apathy brings freedom in having a sense of purpose and fulfilling the calling God has given you.
So - whatever your week has looked like - whether spiritually it's been like torrential storms, beautiful Aurelia Borealis, cold but bright, unusually hot followed by stormy weather - or a mixture of all of these - God loves you, he is with you, and he is standing with you each and every day.

Every blessing and much love, as always,

Izzy xxxxx


SUNDAY GATHERING - 10:30AM Join us this Sunday as we continue our sermon series 'The Book of Daniel - Resilient Faith'. For those who are unable to attend in person please join us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/efol3pdjSIU





AGM NEXT MONTH - Join us for our Annual Gratitude Meeting! We will be meeting as a family on Thursday 7th November at 7pm. Please make this meeting a priority




JOB OPPORTUNITY EXTENDED DEADLINE Our Preschool is looking for an Early Years Educator. If you are interested in the role or know someone who might be, you can apply for the role or get more information here: https://www.willesboroughbaptist.church/jobs





Power Hour 24th October | 8-9pm | WBC
Immerse 27th October | Sunday Evening Service | 7pm | WBC
AGM 7th Nov | 7pm | WBC




Sparks / Flames / Firestarters | Sunday mornings | Side Hall & The Well | Age 0-3, 3-6, 7-10
Blaze | Sunday mornings upstairs in The Well | Years 6-8
Ignite | Friday | 7-9pm | Main worship space | Years 7-13
Furnace | Mondays | 7-9pm | Katie's manse | Years 9-13
The Well | Open Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays | 9-12
Crafty Cuppa | Thursdays every other week | In The Well | 2-4pm
Brabourne Craft Group | Fourth Thursday of the month | 10am-1pm | Brabourne Baptist Church
Renew Wellbeing | Tuesdays in The Well | 2-4pm
Prayer | Before our Sunday service | front of church | 9:45am
Early Morning Prayers | Thursday mornings | 6:30am | Join here: www.willesboroughbaptist.church/prayer