current obsession

These guys have my full attention and support...

Worship Central's album was released on Sunday. Get your copy here or here.

O come let us adore Him

Happy Christmas lovely people.
Not sure what you're doing or how you're celebrating this season but I want to go back to where it all started and be like the shepherds - surprised by the heavenly hosts and curious to run and see the new born Saviour. So thankful for Jesus, who He is and what He's done.
Sometimes On a daily basis I wish we would live in a less materialistic world and Christmas wouldn't always boil down to crazy shopping and stressed out people.
Hope that this year will be one to remember, filled with peace and you're friends and family xx

phone photos from last week

Last week was great, my parents came to visit, a 24-7 prayer room was launched at church (this takes me way back to Jam times in Vienna, more on that later!), we had our opening night and the loveliest Ruth sent me the best Advent calendar ever - a different tea for every day until Christmas :)
Speaking of Advent, I wrote a series about what we are anticipating when we celebrate Advent and promises that Jesus fulfilled when He came to earth. You can find them here.
Happy Monday everyone x

thankfulness

Three years ago (when this whole blog thing started!!) I got to celebrate my very first Thanksgiving with the lovely P family.
It's a celebration of giving thanks and I reckon we can all do with a little more thankfulness in our lives. Doesn't matter the circumstances, there's always something you can give thanks for, and even if it's being alive.

Here's a random list of things I'm thankful for right now:

• Jesus. He was and is and is to come. King, Saviour, solid rock
• family. most insane bunch of freaks and I love them from the bottom of my heart ha!
• besties - oh so crazy and beautiful inside and out
• Snowmanland, so grateful for my job and friends I get to work with!
• that my housemates arrived home safe and sound after their travels
• church and the power that lies in collective worship and going after God
• fresh air. nothing like coming out of our dungeon and opening stage door haha
• the view I get to see when walking out of the theatre
• Manuka honey.
• that this tough season will have an end some time. healing is on its way.
• the little gifts I get sent with every veggie box. Abel & Cole you rock
• one last early night before everything goes mental for the next 6 weeks. Hooray!

There is so much else I could list but I'll keep it at that.
I'm surrounded by wonderful people, hope you all are too xx

reality check

I found this written on the side of the river a couple of weeks ago and it fits the last few weeks perfectly.
There are so many great things happening around me and I'm thankful for so much in my life, but inside it's been horrible and tough. Emotional to say the least... I feel like I've burnt bridges and struggle with too many things going on in my life. To top it all off a very close friend is hurting and I'm a thousand miles away. Blaaaahhh  I've spent the last two days in bed due to feeling under the weather. Wish I could cry it all out, it would be so good.
One of the downsides of the nomad life is that others will do the same and move around just as much. London is the best place to do that. I've lived over here for quite some time and now that I keep coming back, most of my friends and especially the ones who I was closest with have moved away. I'm thankful for modern technology - emails, whatsapp and whatever else out there. It's not the same as sitting on the sofa with your besties and crying it all out but it helps.
So what do you do in seasons like this one. You cling to God and remind Him and mostly yourself of all the things He is able to do, that He has a plan for you, that His timing is perfect and that He loves you more than anything :) Never, never, never give up!
Hope you're weekend is great xx

Anti-Slavery Day

It is a tragedy of enormous proportions and to think that there is just one person who doesn't have the privilege to live in freedom, makes me sad beyond words. Maybe because I have never felt like I've been limited and even more because I believe that life is worth living and value should be placed on every single person this planet holds.
Today we read that more and more humans are trafficked into the UK but believe me this is just a small part of the whole story. It can seem so overwhelming but it's never too late and I'm so glad that there are multiple organisations out there who fight to free victims.
Let's be conscious of these things and pray for those held captive and support the people fighting on the front lines! 

a follow up on words

Last week I wrote about words and why they matter. How much hurt they can cause and on the other hand how much life they can bring.
With this in mind I started thinking about the words we speak over ourselves. I know it's got a lot to do with self image and partly that is sadly shaped by what others have said about us in the past.
All these things are so connected and we have to be careful not only about how we speak about others but also how we speak about ourselves.
The first time I ever went rock climbing was a scary endeavour. For a start: I'm afraid of heights. Anyway all my friends seemed to be climbing and as we all went camping in Italy it was a given that I was going to try it. It is nothing short of miraculous that I managed to climb up, I tried to give up several times but I owe a lot to Jetty for pushing me way out of my comfort zone and saying "You can do this!" over and over again. Let me tell you standing on top of that rock was amazing, but climbing up is the easy part. Trusting the person on the ground, that you can't even see anymore, but mostly trusting that thin rope to hold you is terrifying. So the whole way down was me telling my soul to be still, praying I'd make it down alive haha (Don't want to know if I would have told myself that I can't do this, having a melt down on the mountain... I'd probably still be there!!)
I guess David knew about this whole dilemma when he was writing the Psalms, he speaks to his soul and tells it to worship or stop being downcast.
There is so much power in the words we speak to ourselves. Maybe we have to scratch "I can't do this", "I'm not good enough", "why should this happen to me", "why try" out of our vocabulary. You haven't even tried! How in the world do you know if you're not good enough, can't do it, etc...
One of my friends is struggling to believe that anything good will come his way right now. Which is a mystery as it's nothing short of spectacular where he is right now and how he got there. Why would it stop right there? But he speaks about this situation with such negativity that it's crazy! Not believing in himself or in anything it seems. You have to be careful that these thoughts don't take root in your mind and go round and round.
Funny thing is, while I was walking up the hill the other day, I was praying or rather screaming that God will reveal himself to be his flippin shepherd. Yesterday he tells me that he read Psalm 23 "The Lord is my Shepherd" haha
If He speaks well of you, why even bother speaking bad about yourself! It's a lot of wasted energy ;)

along the river

Somewhat of a nature post.
I've been going for walks to balance a lot of sitting around during rehearsals. As I live next to the river, most days I end up trekking up and down next to it. You are still in the city yet it feels like somewhere  in the middle of the country side. One day I brought my camera along and decided to just shoot wild flowers growing along the way...

 

Love the variety and makes me think about the amazing Creator who made them all :)
Happy Sunday everyone x

on words

I'm not a very articulate person.
Mostly my mouth is way behind in expressing what I've been thinking. For example after a conversation I think of the perfect things to say, but while I'm in it I can't say it for the life of me. It's annoying but I doubt that it will ever change.
I've been thinking a lot about words lately. Probably because the work environment I am in now can be brutal when it gets stressful. People snap and I guess it is their way of venting and letting off steam. Things get blown out of proportion and there's a lot of talking behind people's backs involved. You would think that everyone should be too old to do that, but sadly it isn't. Sometimes I even wonder if people just make up things because they need to bitch and moan about something. Weird thing about it, it always snowballs!
In the process of all this, I've had a couple people come up to me and express how hurt they get by the tone of those yelling at them and I all too well know that feeling. It leaves you feeling miserable, recking your brain as to what you did wrong.
I detest yelling, I don't ever raise my voice (maybe when I fight with my brother). Can't even shout in dangerous situations when you yell to help someone - I'm too quiet and people can't hear me haha I don't feel the need to shout and to be honest I really don't see the point in it. The worst is when people say beforehand, "Don't take it personal". What does that even mean? Of course you will take it personal, it was directed at you.
The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about words and the tongue and the way it works and doesn't work:

"The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit."

"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."

and than the killer verse to bring it all together:

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

Isn't that crazy, yet we still talk to people as if they don't matter.
Maybe it is my firm believe that every person is precious and worthy of honour, that I watch my words. Rather not say anything before I say something stupid. Not that I'm better than anyone else - I fail all the time - but I know that I better watch my mouth. Things once said are hard to take back and I'm pretty sure I've hurt a lot of people by saying stupid, unconsidered things or the way I said them.
Let's all be better at this and speak life over people instead of destruction. The world will be a better place for it.
Happy Sunday everyone x

Hillsong Conference 2012

If, like me, you didn't have the resources to make it to Sydney to attend Hillsong Conference this year, look no further...
You can watch main session and a lot of backstage nonsense via live stream. Hip hip hooray!
It excites me almost as much as the fact that they have opened evening sessions to the public. Way to go guys.
Joseph Prince was preaching up a storm when he was talking about grace - no surprise there :) - and tomorrow night will be Mama Joyce's turn. With Louie Giglio, Steven Furtick and many others speaking across the week. Tune in here.
So grateful for this conference and how it has impacted my life, pushing me further and helping me grow in my walk with God, stirring up faith and forever championing the local church.
One day I'll write down all the miracle I've experienced in my life and some of these conference will make an appearance :)
Praise Jesus.

packing once again

I'm heading to the wonderful city of Salzburg...  Hooray!!
Going with my sustainable lifestyle, I'll be riding my bike to the train station and take it with me on the train, just to jump out in Salzburg and ride to my Salzburg family's place, where I'll be camped out at for the next two weeks :) It will be interesting since I've got a massive backpack and hand luggage haha Somehow I wish I could document it :)
Anyway I'm so happy to be going back to work again. I'm sure I've talked about seasons before, there is a time for everything yada yada yada... This last season in between jobs has been a tough one for me. It's weird being in a place I once called home but doesn't feel like that anymore.
Being in a place you really hoped to be familiar with or feel comfortable in plus being out of work is a really strange combination. Way too much time to let your thoughts run loose.
It would be so easy to let go of God's promises in times like these when everything is just one gigantic question mark. Again I'm thankful for amazing friends who speak into my life and who encourage me and tell me off at times. There have been many conversations that have cleared my head and encounters with strangers that brought new perspective.
We all have a very unique race to run in this lifetime but can I tell you something... sometimes my race feels darn lonely compared to those around me.
Does it mean the nomad days are over - hell no (caged bird syndrome sets in way too early haha)
Does it mean that I've got to get out of Austria again - probably yes (it just doesn't feel right)
Does it mean that I gotta trust God with my whole life and believe that He has the ultimate plan for me - YES, YES and YES. To be honest, I've been really bad at this and let obstacles and difficulties distract me like nothing else. I gotta hold on to the things that have been spoken over my life and have faith that there is a way bigger part to this than I can ever believe or hope for.
Looking forward to two weeks in the theatre. It will be crazy and schedules are far from normal, but I can't wait to be back there.
Have a phenomenal start of the week everyone. Thank God for new mercies every morning x

† = ♥

Does anyone remember the Advent calendar I did last year and stopped a few days before Christmas as work just got a bit crazy? (Seriously 8 shows in 3 days is just not normal!)

I'll just conclude with this since it's Good Friday and we remember Jesus bearing the sins of the world before we celebrate the resurrected Christ on Sunday. 

Saviour 

 Isa53.5, 1Peter2.24, John1.29, 2Cor5.21, Heb2.9 &9.28, 1Peter2.24 

 

The cross is a place we don’t have to run to every time we sin. Jesus did that, once and for all, everything was dealt with on that cross 2000 year ago.

We go to the cross to glorify God and marvel at the magnificent, wondrous and awesome thing we call salvation. Hearts cannot contain how beautiful it is. 
If we sing "Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" at Christmas, how much more reason to sing it now :)
Happy Easter everyone x


Thoughts from last years Easter.

2011 review

To sum 2011 up in one word would be mental. Thoroughly and utterly mental. It's probably been the best and worst, a true roller coaster ride.

Maybe if you would have told me that I'll be in such a great place by the end of the year,  all the crying and depression that happened in the first couple weeks/months wouldn't have been necessary. Oh yeah I was in a horrible place this time last year and I've come to know the term "winter depression". 

As I was looking through photos for this little review, I honestly can't believe how so much fun and life and work could possibly fit into a single year! Here goes...
The year started off with my favourite people hanging out, best place to start off

mexican feast at EheG

got to go on a trip to Switzerland to see Dani, Priska and Vivian!

 there were lots of birthdays to celebrate...

 Simon kicked off a round of celebrating the big 30! 

Spring

Happy days in Loerrach were followed by the Finnish Line tour with the fabulous Jupiter Jones :)

 met so many beautiful people when we crashed homes all over Germany

best part about touring... meeting your fav people all over the place...

 started making things again...

 We trained for and ran a 14km run...

 helped out at the number one flower shop

 met cutie Miss K

 lots of girl time with the besties

 Tuesdays turned into girl's night - lots of food and chatting happened on those nights

 fun with the family!! so much easier when you only live three hours away :)

 beautiful Miss E was welcomed into our world

Summer time included

 29a for Lisa, a night to remember

 my friend Margit got married

 barbecues at the Schmidt house

Road Trip time around Italy, France, Switzerland and a tiny corner of Germany:

Back in Vienna for a MG gig and Ruth's hen night and a couple weeks later Ruth and Ian's wedding:)

 team wardrobe at the Salzburg Festival

this is what you look like after 7 weeks of non stop costume drama haha

We added to the family when my little brother got married Hooray Horray

Fall

 lots of time with friends

 dressed up for teaching hahahaha funniest story ever! still not sure who was more scared, the kids or me :D

 a visit to Graz that involved painting walls

 lots of printing and natural dying time

 Schnorres vs the world weekend in Salzburg

my crazy family built another Astrid... yup!

 a trip to Dresden to see the lovely Maria and Samuel

 more family time before we were off on the Konvoi - tour extraordinaire

 Winter

back in my beloved London town for the Snowman season :)

It's been the greatest year so far, I am thankful and happy knowing there is no turning back only a way forward. Thank you everyone for making it such an amazing year to remember. Love you for being in my world. Couldn't ask for better people to do life with!

Here's to an incredible 2012 xx