This week, I want to share with you a new song that I have written in this short post.
‘All for you’ is about giving your life to God, accepting that we don’t know what He has in store for you or me, and being at peace with that thought.
Since actively deciding to give my life more readily to God, I have felt an inner sense of peace – even though, at times, my road hasn’t been completely clear to me. But things have also happened that I could have never have imagined and for that, and so much more, I am continually thankful.
Imperfectly I come before your throne
Longing to be more than this world I know
I lay my life down here at your feet
So you can use all of me
I don’t even know your plans for me
Strip it all aside what do you see?
Broken and in need of love so strong
I need you ‘cause you are good.
Here’s my heart, I empty it before you;
Lay it broken down.
Won’t you fill it with your love joy and compassion perfectly,
That I might be…
All for you.
Last Saturday was the big day! Just over 4 months of training had led me to this point alongside 21,000 other runners.
Growing up, I had never been particularly sporty or gone for sport in a big way & while a marathon is a huge undertaking for anyone, I don’t feel that running is something that has come naturally to me. To run just over 42km (26 miles) was my aim…
My goals:
- I wanted to complete the marathon in under 5 hours.
- I wanted to run the whole way, without giving up & walking.
And I can happily say that I achieved both of these things!
So here’s the breakdown of how it went for all my runner (& non-runner – if it interests you) friends out there.
Kilometres 1-21
As strange as this might sound, I really enjoyed the first half of the race & I ran it in a really good time for me.
Kilometres 21-27
Fairly non-descriptive. At this point, I was in motion & just had to keep going.
Kilometres 27-38
Just awful. This was hard. A lack of energy & motivation hit at this point & as you can see from my results, I slowed quite a bit.
Kilometres 38- Finish
By this point, the crowd is just willing everyone to keep going & when you pass people who have given up & are walking, you fell that the end is definitely within reach. At 4 hours, 51 minutes & 51 seconds I crossed the finish line!
Completion:
I don’t really have a bucket list, but running a marathon is definitely a life achievement & I now feel a huge sense of relief (as well as pain, aches & blisters) having completed it!
Throughout my training, I decided to run for Compassion UK, a charity that sponsors children in extreme poverty. Due to such generosity (& I don’t say that lightly) from all the wonderful people that I am so blessed to know, together, we have exceeded my original target, and for that I am so grateful.
You can view my Just Giving page here.
I’m not sure when my next run will be…but as I’m still hobbling around the place, I’ll give it a while.
Thank you for all your support, love, comments & donations…it means a huge amount!
Almost a year ago, we decided that we were going to move to Sweden to pursue God’s calling on our lives. So we did: we stepped out in faith & 4 months ago, we arrived on Swedish soil.
Music
This week, we released our first single as Salt of the Sound, entitled It must be hope, which is also our first release since our debut album in November 2013. We feel hugely blessed to have already received fantastic reviews, with Jesus Wired calling the song, ‘Evocative & Beautiful’.
We have also been working on a lot of brand new material, new sounds & ideas & will be bringing you an EP of all new material in late Summer 2014. All of our music is available on iTunes, Spotify & bandcamp.
Inspiration
We are also using the Salt of the Sound website to bring you the best that the Christian music scene has to offer, from Songs about Hope to a 90 minute Spotify playlist of meditative Christian music . In our latest post, we bring you The Best Worship Songs in 2014 – definitely worth checking out (if I do say so myself)!
Ministry
It has become so clear to me recently that God really does call us to where we need to be & we are excited to have recently joined the team at Immanuel International Church in Stockholm, to focus on their youth ministry program. Even in the short time we have been here, it has become clear how blessed we are to be surrounded by such a welcoming & loving new church family here in Sweden, and for that, we are ever thankful.
The unknown
We are also thankful for this time in our lives. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying everything has been rosy for us…moving countries is hard. Going from full-times jobs to working freelance & trusting that God will provide is hard. Not being a native language speaker is hard. Knowing that family & friends are going through difficult times of illness, worry & loss, when you are a thousand miles away, is really hard.
But we are taking these new experiences & running with them. We don’t know exactly how our future looks right now. We don’t even know where we are going to live after July at the moment. But I’m not worried…
“Where God guides, He provides.”
Ok…so that’s easy to say & I don’t know where you are in your life journey, but if I’m completely honest, God’s provision has been overwhelming for us at times…and the mystery of not knowing where life will take us is an adventure in itself.
So right now?
I’m ok with not knowing.
Last night (30th April), I experienced yet another Swedish tradition which I had no idea about. Valborg (pronounced Valbory) is essentially bonfire night with your local community & involves fireworks & even fire dancing!
A four & a half day weekend…
As Valborg fell on a Wednesday this year, people finished work at lunchtime & Thursday (May Day) is a bank holiday…& in true Swedish style, they see Friday as an in-between day (Klämdag – literally: s squeezed day), so they take the Friday off as well – what a good idea!
A bit of history about Valborg…
Dating back to the vikings, historically Valborg is derived from fertility celebrations that took place around the end of April, where the arrival of spring was celebrated with bonfires at night. Apparently, the fires were traditionally lit to scare off witches and evil spirits, as well as predators such as foxes before the livestock were let out to graze on May 1st. In the Middle Ages, the pagan Spring ritual became associated with Saint Walpurga who was declared a saint during this time of the year.
Valborg today…
Nowadays, however, I think that Swedes just relish any opportunity to celebrate the lighter evenings & enjoy Spring after a long winter. And I’m not going to say no to a free bonfire & fireworks…
One thing I am embracing, living here in Sweden cultural differences. Even weeks before Easter Sunday, the different cultural traditions have been apparent.
It is an extremely colourful time & these feathers are everywhere. (Errr…not really sure what their about but it brightens up the place up so we’ll go with it!)
Some places try to be classy and have colour schemes for their feathers – but I’m all about the multi-colouredness!
And when I say they are everywhere – I’m not kidding – they even decorate 20+ft trees like it’s Christmas – so in Sweden we seem to have Easter trees!
Swedes often use cardboard hollow eggs and fill them with chocolates! They come in all sizes & designs and you can even buy them in second hand stores.
And they even have their own Easter drink…’Påsk must’ (which tastes suspiciously like their Christmas speciality ‘Jul must’ – well, they didn’t fool me!)
Swedish Easter food traditions? Well, I might not share in some of their choices such as pickled herring, but I think I might be able to make my peace with cured salmon, spiced Schnapps & roast lamb.
For many Swedes, Easter is more about family celebration & holiday than it is about Jesus. In fact, similarly to Halloween, the children dress up as Easter witches and will visit their neighbours’ houses, presenting them with paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in return.
While I love the bright colours that come with this Easter season here in Sweden, for me, Jesus is the centre of this Easter celebration & I am looking forward to sharing this season with our new family at Immanuel International Church.
—
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
– John 16:33
