Photos From My England Adventures So Far!
By Vicky Beeching on Apr 11, 2008 in Uncategorized
Hello again from the U.K.!
Its been a great few days… just finished another night of worship here at the Spring Harvest conference down on the coast. Here’s a few photos to make you feel like you are right here with me!
Loved reading all your ‘favorite three course meal’ comments…made me hungry! I featured a photo of a fish and chip shop above, as this week that’s the meal Ive most looked forward to as I’ve missed british fish’n'chips! havent had it yet…am saving it as a reward for the end of the conference, as the calories intake is probably worth about a week’s allowance!!!
One thing that’s really struck me being home in the UK, is how honest and raw British people are. In a good way, that is. They just ’say it like it is’. My grandad used to say english people "called a spade a spade". Thats a well known english saying, which means that you just say things as they are. I like that! Sometimes it offends people and hurts feelings, as brits dont usually dress up what they think! But in Christianity I think its a really powerful thing… God wants us to draw near to Him with total honesty and tell Him how our hearts are doing, without pretending or trying to be happier or more victorious than we really are.
David in the Psalms shows us that worship and prayer should be gut-level honest and real. He yelled at God through tears, as well as singing praise at the top of his lungs. He doubted God, was frustrated with Him, asked ‘where ARE you??". David’s worship lyrics would make most churches uncomfortable
today…. we need to embrace just how real God invites us to be. He says "come as you are!" and He loves it when we share the deepest, realest parts of our hearts with Him.
Question for you, my friends:
"How do you find being totally honest, raw and real with God? Is that
the way your prayer-conversation with Him is, or do you - like me -
sometimes slip into trying to put on a brave face and pretend all is
well?"
British hugs!
vb
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Cool pictures! Makes me longing back for the UK as well
As to honesty to God, i talked with my teengroup about that. I compared psalm 40 with the passion with which Glenn Hansard is singing in ‘Once’ (the movie you mentioned as well) I can totally imagine David singing his psalms as Glenn sings his songs. (the red hair also helps, haha) If you look at ps 40 in the Message, David writes:
“And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it, you got what it takes - but God, don’t put it off.”
In being open to God and say things as they are, our relationship grows and becomes stronger and more apparent to the people around us. Like Jacob: here is someone who battled with God. Do we still have the guts to battle?
Martin | Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
hey vicks!
do you know, i dont think i’ve ever struggled with being honest with god. i dont think ive ever put on a brave face with him. i guess i figure that he knows my heart already.
glad youre enjoying being back in the uk
as you said, david had huge moments of faith in god, and then massive doubts. he shared his heart with god 100% and god called him a man after his own heart. i guess i want god to call me a woman after his own heart. with honesty comes imtimacy, and intimacy with god is what i desire the most!
being honest with god is hard sometimes though. i struggled with really bad depression a couple of years ago when i was doing a-levels, to the point where i took an overdose. but knowing that god was in it with me, and that i could tell him my deepest, darkest thoughts and fears was the comfort that got me through and to where i am today!
being open with god builds faith and a deeper personal relationship with jesus, and gradually we will start to show the family resemblance
Lucy Geale | Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
I bet it is a wonderful feeling to be home. I heard a bible teacher say that God made the garden of eden like heaven with the river and two trees and so on because “there is no place like home” She said that we have a yearning for our homes on earth that is really a yearning for our eternal home that we have not yet seen.
I have never been to England but I would love to go. My mom’s fav. show when I was little was Are You Being Served. I think I watched more British tv than American.
I do sruggle sometimes to be real. It always seems so dumb afterward, after all God knows. Sometimes I wait to take things to Him until I have it under “control”. Of course that doesn’t work because He is my Rock. I have had some times of brutle honesty with Him also. It is definitely a balm. David gives us such a good picture of how it is ok to be real no matter how we feel, but only if we take it to God. If we don’t take our feelings to God they fester instead of heal. We could all learn a lesson from the call a spade a spade saying. Maybe there would be less tension in our churches if we were more honest with each other, and with God.
Meghan | Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
Dear Vicky,
a) congrats for your great Songs
b) the “Twitter updates” column has a typo in your myspace “Demo” area (missing a “n”).
c) do you have german “translations” of your songs? In our church we sing from time to time your “At all times” and “beam” the words, however not everyone knows English… and those which do not sing at least want to know what the “others” are singing …
I thank G-d for your salvation and for the gifts he gave you to praise Him.
Luca | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
You’re right! There’s something great about calling a spade a spade. I’ve always preferred to be transparent with people whenever possible. Of course this can be overdone, but speaking the truth with kindness and love is generally much more constructive than obscuring what’s going on in your mind or your spirit. Of course, timing can be important as well; being sensitive to when someone is able to hear clearly and be open and receptive.
I wasn’t absolutely certain how to answer your question, so I checked a couple of my recent journals entries just to be sure. After a quick look, I don’t think I have any trouble being honest with God… provided I’m able to be honest with myself! :o)
I think sometimes it’s actually more difficult to be totally honest with other Christians than it is to be totally honest with God. Maybe that’s because (whether or not this is true) we probably feel that it’s more likely that we’ll be rejected or looked down on by other Christians than it is that we’d be rejected or looked down on by God. (That’s sad, but given that God is perfect and we are not, this might be true in some cases.)
Anyway, this talk of being completely truthful with God brings to mind your most recent demo. I love these lines in particular:
Even in the darkness
I will lift Your name up
Though my heart is breaking
Still I will sing
The resolve to praise with a breaking heart is beautiful! I love that you go beyond honesty with God to a place of determined steadfast trust and praise through the pain. Thanks again for sharing with us! I can’t wait to get the album once it’s done!
…hope you enjoy your end-of-the-conference reward of fish and chips! :o)
Jonathan | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
P.S. And thanks for sharing the pictures; they’re great! :o)
Jonathan | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
I don’t think prayer truely became real to me until I started being real with God. I’m talking about being gut honest with how I was feeling, what I was questioning, and what I needed from God. There have been times when I’ve reverted back to a ‘traditional’ prayer, but I’ve found that I couldn’t focus on that type of prayer. In order for prayers to come from the heart, they must indeed come from deep down inside us; raw and jagged as they may be.
Blessings,
~*Melody*~
Melody | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
Hey there Vicky,
I just wanted to let you know I love your music and to answer your current question .
I’ve always be honest with God and it helps me to be honest with myself and with others.God already knows everything so why not be honest and specific with him when we talk to Him or pray to Him.
In Christ,
Rebecca
Rebecca | Apr 13, 2008 | Reply
Hi Vick(y),
Just catching up on your blog. Saw the pix, and a bit of melancholy set in. I was headed to Wycliffe for summer school, finally making that long-dreamed of pilgrimage to the land of Tolkien, Lewis, etc. But life happens, and so do July airfairs to the U.K. Oh, and my wife and I agreed it probably wasn’t a higher priority than sending our five kids to college.
This digression brings up the question you asked: I have found being honest with God helps be face being more honest with myself. In times of disappointment, trying to be like David with holy complaint, I’ve tended instead to whine. Part of growing up in Christ, for me, was learning the genuine humility that being brutally honest with God requires. Praying such prayers as Ps. 51, for example, strips us to the core of our being, where we find out who we really are. Sometimes it’s not all that pretty.
But the freedom that comes from KNOWING God sees it all, unvarnished, and loves us with a determined, steadfast love, is worth the risk of putting away all religious pretense and learning to sing in the modes of the psalms, from lament to loud praise.
My laments over missing England yet another summer are over, for now. Have some more fish and chips for us Yanks.
Bill Martin
Bill Martin | Apr 13, 2008 | Reply
It’s interesting as you cannot be dishonest with God. Granted you can lie but he’s not fooled. We cannot deceive God. I cannot put on my super spiritual face on a Sunday morning and worship God and hide my real heart. He sees it all. So really if I am anything but honest with God I am really dishonest with myself. Which does impact what happens in my life. I am really kidding myself.
My bigger struggle is not honesty with God in terms of how I am doing, but rather with other Christians. My temptation is to give the impression I have it all together and that I don’t struggle with things in this life etc. That’s where my pride kicks in..
On a side note. I am happy that today I heard from GOA that my Vicky contract is in the mail and the dates are good! YIPEE! See you in September Vicky.
Matthew | Apr 14, 2008 | Reply
Hey V!
You are now in my Top 5 (blogs)!
Keep it up. Be safe.
C
Chad Jarnagin | Apr 14, 2008 | Reply
hey vicky
thanks for a fantastic time at spring harvest i loved what you did for everyone in i-scape!! woooo!!
i really loved the cd it was great!!!
thank you again
gem xxxx
gemma bealey | Apr 15, 2008 | Reply
So I had some thoughts about this… and right now I am living it. Living the moment where I’ve got no energy to sugar coat anything, or to make myself feel better with eloquent words…
I just found out that one of my best friends, someone I served and roomed with for years in the ministry just lost his wife in a car accident. He was driving when a pipe from a semi-truck came loose and flew threw the window.
Her father was my mentor for years before recently taking a senior pastor position in South Bend. They are as much my family as my own.
I can’t even imagine what he is going through and I’m so frustrated to be stuck in Washington while he’s sitting alone in a hospital in Colorado. I don’t even have words to speak to God… all I have is raw. Even though these can be the worst moments, they are also the best moments because all we have left is to trust God. But I’m broken right now…
Nathan | Apr 16, 2008 | Reply
Oh, Nathan! I’m so sorry to hear that! That’s terrible!
I’ll be praying for you and your friend and all of his family on both sides.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.
Jonathan | Apr 16, 2008 | Reply