So if you are on this blog, that probably means that you want to find out more about what I’m doing come November! On 3rd November 2012 I will be moving down to the (not so) foreign land of Watford to be starting a 10 month course called Soul 61. How did I decide on a gap year in Watford and not somewhere a little… sunnier? I hear you ask.. In all honesty, I don’t myself know WHY I am going to Watford, but hopefully this will give you a little bit more of an insight..
I thought I would start this blog with how I came to get the place on Soul 61, which is quite a long story really!
It all really started before the summer, when Sixth Form started to ask people to start writing their UCAS forms and start to think about applying to uni, I went along with everyone else and started to look at all the courses that I thought would suit me, and at this point none of them did, but I still said to myself that I was going to go to uni.
So I just left that thought and went into my summer holidays, thinking that I'd be coming back to Sixth Form and doing what everyone else would be doing, and sending off my UCAS application. But God had another idea for me! I got to Soul Survivor in August and he completely changed my life plan, any ideas I had about what I was going to do after sixth form were completely gone. And I had another plan I was going to follow! Whilst at Soul Survivor I heard God speak in the most amazing way, he told me that I didn't have to conform and do what felt most natural to do, and to offer all of my plans, hopes and dreams to him, and also to give him the desires of my heart. And one desire I have had for years, is to be in full time Christian ministry, but I pushed it off because I didn't think I was good enough to work for God all the time, so I just hid that desire from God and didn't tell him about it, but this time at Soul Survivor I offered it to God, a long with the rest of my life, and the summer was only the start!
I got back to sixth form and they started to push for the UCAS applications, and I had various meetings with my headteacher where he would go through a list of courses he thought would suit me, and eventually after a few weeks, he accepted that uni wasn't where I was going to go (the first of many answers to prayer!). So after a lot of prayer and looking at various courses that didn't seem to suit me, a friend of mine recommended Soul 61 to me, and after hearing about it at soul survivor I went straight to the website to check it out, and as soon as I started reading it my heart raced and I knew this was where I needed to go. So I printed off the application form and spent days praying over answers to the questions and eventually sent it off.
About 5 weeks later I got an email... I had an interview! But in the run up to that email, I began to doubt whether this is what God wanted me to do, but everytime I prayed and asked God if it was right still, he would basically say a huge YES to me! And even after I had the date for the interview I doubted that God really wanted ME to do his work! Then it got to the Sunday before the interview and we had a guest speaker come to our church, and he said as he was praying for what to say, he felt that there was one person who God was calling to be a full time Christian worker, and that this would mean moving away from home, even if they doubted what God was going to do, he was going to use THEM. At this point I think everyone heard my jaw drop to the floor as he went on to explain exactly how I was feeling about it all, and i'd never spoken to this guy before! Think this was God screaming at me that this is what he wanted me to do, so eventually I listened and accepted that he did think I was good enough!
Then when the interview came, I travelled over 8 hours in one day (thanks to my lovely Dad driving me all the way down to Watford and back!) and had my interview, knowing that whatever happens after, this was all part of God's plan. Cutting a long story short, less than a week after I had my email, which gave me the good news that I had a place on Soul 61! God had once again showed me that he DOES stick to his promises, no matter how much we doubt, or whatever we have done in our past, he will use us regardless, as long as we are willing to serve him!
Since receiving that email I have seen God bless me in so many ways! I've seen my fair share of attacks come my way too, but I know it is so worth it!
Sorry that this has been so rambly and probably very badly written! But it's a start, and i am looking forward to putting more and more updates on here about how I'm going!
9 Months to go!
I thought I would start this blog with how I came to get the place on Soul 61, which is quite a long story really!
It all really started before the summer, when Sixth Form started to ask people to start writing their UCAS forms and start to think about applying to uni, I went along with everyone else and started to look at all the courses that I thought would suit me, and at this point none of them did, but I still said to myself that I was going to go to uni.
So I just left that thought and went into my summer holidays, thinking that I'd be coming back to Sixth Form and doing what everyone else would be doing, and sending off my UCAS application. But God had another idea for me! I got to Soul Survivor in August and he completely changed my life plan, any ideas I had about what I was going to do after sixth form were completely gone. And I had another plan I was going to follow! Whilst at Soul Survivor I heard God speak in the most amazing way, he told me that I didn't have to conform and do what felt most natural to do, and to offer all of my plans, hopes and dreams to him, and also to give him the desires of my heart. And one desire I have had for years, is to be in full time Christian ministry, but I pushed it off because I didn't think I was good enough to work for God all the time, so I just hid that desire from God and didn't tell him about it, but this time at Soul Survivor I offered it to God, a long with the rest of my life, and the summer was only the start!
I got back to sixth form and they started to push for the UCAS applications, and I had various meetings with my headteacher where he would go through a list of courses he thought would suit me, and eventually after a few weeks, he accepted that uni wasn't where I was going to go (the first of many answers to prayer!). So after a lot of prayer and looking at various courses that didn't seem to suit me, a friend of mine recommended Soul 61 to me, and after hearing about it at soul survivor I went straight to the website to check it out, and as soon as I started reading it my heart raced and I knew this was where I needed to go. So I printed off the application form and spent days praying over answers to the questions and eventually sent it off.
About 5 weeks later I got an email... I had an interview! But in the run up to that email, I began to doubt whether this is what God wanted me to do, but everytime I prayed and asked God if it was right still, he would basically say a huge YES to me! And even after I had the date for the interview I doubted that God really wanted ME to do his work! Then it got to the Sunday before the interview and we had a guest speaker come to our church, and he said as he was praying for what to say, he felt that there was one person who God was calling to be a full time Christian worker, and that this would mean moving away from home, even if they doubted what God was going to do, he was going to use THEM. At this point I think everyone heard my jaw drop to the floor as he went on to explain exactly how I was feeling about it all, and i'd never spoken to this guy before! Think this was God screaming at me that this is what he wanted me to do, so eventually I listened and accepted that he did think I was good enough!
Then when the interview came, I travelled over 8 hours in one day (thanks to my lovely Dad driving me all the way down to Watford and back!) and had my interview, knowing that whatever happens after, this was all part of God's plan. Cutting a long story short, less than a week after I had my email, which gave me the good news that I had a place on Soul 61! God had once again showed me that he DOES stick to his promises, no matter how much we doubt, or whatever we have done in our past, he will use us regardless, as long as we are willing to serve him!
Since receiving that email I have seen God bless me in so many ways! I've seen my fair share of attacks come my way too, but I know it is so worth it!
Sorry that this has been so rambly and probably very badly written! But it's a start, and i am looking forward to putting more and more updates on here about how I'm going!
9 Months to go!
