Mr. Valentine

So, yesterday was valentines... Does this day fill people with romantic feelings or dread...? Interestingly, we have been looking into how valentines originated so as to discuss it in eximo classes. St Valentine was actually a Christian martyr and lived under the persecuting reign of Claudius II. St Valentine was secretly helping Christians to get married before God (as this had become forbidden). He was found out and stoned, beaten and thrown in jail. On the 14th February he was beheaded.

This day has now become commercial and fluffy but actually the true meaning is much deeper; recognising sacrificial love and persevering for the faith. I want to celebrate this day for the freedom we have to believe what we do in this country, whether we are Christian or not. We are free to love and believe and to declare our love to those around us (perhaps not everyone we see on the street, but those who we do actually love :P).

For those of you who didn’t have such a great day yesterday, know how much you are loved this Valentine's! Jesus died on the cross, having been battered and bruised, for you because he loves you! That’s what we believe, anyway.

What are your thoughts on Valentine’s Day and what it has become...? Do you enjoy it or avoid it?

No pain, no gain

Have you already lost your temper with that trying individual at work, been having a sneaky cigarette in the small hours of the night when you think nobody is looking or have you completely ransacked the supermarket for all its worth in search of sugary charm when in that weak moment the healthy foods diet you are following suddenly got invaded by the enchanting chocolate charm fairy?

We are in the third week of 2012 now and I’m very aware of how easy it is to slip back into old habits and let all of that good will and positive spirit slither away. At the beginning of the year we swell up with new vigour, life and anticipation to grasp a hold of something new or let go of things not so good but as the rest of the world conforms itself to the daily grind we call life, it is very easy to give up. Whatever your New Year’s resolution is, if you have fallen down at the first hurdle, and thought something along the lines of ‘oh, there’s always next year...’Don’t give up.

Take a look at this video for some inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlXWp6vFdE

We may not complete our resolutions as we had hoped but if we keep getting back up and making our way towards the goal, we will reach the finish line even if it is a lot later on than expected! Use other people in your life to encourage you and to help you along, like this man’s father. Tell them if you are struggling and perhaps they can help battle it with you. Keep positive for 2012 and if you have fallen already, get on back up! It’s never too late!

Happy resolution-ing!

The new you 2012

As it is only the second week of January, the New Year is a big topic within our classes. With this in mind, we will start running a series on “Transformation into a new you” as of next week. Lots of people have a list of New Year’s resolutions, things they want to do or stop doing. On top of the list is often to quit a bad habit such as smoking or drinking too much as well as getting in shape or losing weight. Whatever your New Year’s resolutions are, we hope you will follow them up this year.

However, we would like to take these resolutions a step further and instead of looking at the external of what we want to achieve this year, we would like to look at the internal; the mind, the heart, the soul.

Today in classes we asked the question: Who would you like to be at the end of 2012? This assumes a desire to strive to be a better person or improve our life in one way or another. Leaning on how we, at eximo, know that God can transform our lives, this is a key verse to look inside and start this New Year with a deeper purpose – to become a new you:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

Ask yourself who you would like to be in 12 months when you are about to salute to 2013 with a glass of bubbly. Would you like to be kinder or more loving? Friendlier? Free from pressure to be someone you are not? Less greedy and more generous? Less bitter and more forgiving? This is an indefinite list so why don’t you take a pen and paper and have a look inside yourself and make your list. Don’t stop there! On the other side write practical suggestions of how to achieve these things, e.g. if you want to be more generous, why not give someone in need some financial help this week? It might help putting this list in a place where you can see it every now and again to remind you.

It’s a great thing that every day we are given a new chance to make something of our lives, minds and bodies and it is up to us how we spend our time and energy. God’s grace is new every morning, so we have hope for transformation and don’t have to stay the way we are:

²²It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.

    ²³They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.

    ²⁴The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.

    ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God's word].” Lamentations 3, 22-25

A new year - A new vision

Since a new year is around the corner I – Maya, decided to share some personal thoughts.

It’s been an emotional year with lots of changes, ups and downs but really it has only pushed me forward. I can’t wait for 2012 to begin, I am genuinely excited about the new year and all the challenges, changes and ups and downs it will bring. Not only am I thrilled as I will be getting married in August but also because I have caught a new vision in the last couple of weeks of how I want to move further.

I am seeing eximo grow, maybe not necessarily in size but in heart, yet hopefully in size too so that we have enough to bless others and give to those less fortunate.
I see a year ahead in which I want to go deeper, give more, work harder, rest better and pour out myself into the things I feel I should do.
I see us stepping out even more to bring hope to the hopeless and be a little part in people’s happiness and wellbeing.
I see a stronger eximo – a company that is not only called eximo, but lives up to its name: RELEASE.
I feel like we have only been scratching on the surface of what eximo really is and I want to see this breaking through this year.
Above all else I feel secure because I know God hold all my dreams, visions and longings in his hands and is in control. With this in mind I want to pray for this coming year and hope that you will all feel excited what lies ahead, that you may never look back to any time wasted or wishing you were in a different place than the one you are in. For me, 2011 had a terrible start and this time last year I would have written a different blog. I am thrilled how it turned out and have one last thing to say: Bring on 2012!
What is your vision for the new year?
Do you feel thrilled too, or do you feel like I felt a year ago – not looking forward to the new year so much? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Last but not least, I want to thank everyone that has supported eximo this year. Thank you to those that have prayed for us, given to us in many different ways, worked with us and been a personal support to Sophie and me.

HOPE

Hope is a small word with a powerful meaning. Rhianna released a new song a few weeks ago that immediately hit No#1 in the UK single charts: ‘We found love in a hopeless place’.  I’m not surprised by the success of her latest sound not just because the song sticks in your head but because of the words and the connection it makes with ordinary people that live in this world. The world is a hopeless place. Many people feel the desperation of this and as a consequence are led down an even darker road.
            When I first listened to the song I wondered why it doesn’t say “We found hope in a hopeless place” and then I thought further. It is love that lifts us out of hopelessness. God, the one that gives hope, brings it through love that is displayed in Jesus.
            My childhood and early years being a teenager were filled with hopelessness and despair. Many times I found myself empty and confused of why I even live. Family life was destructive and loveless as shouting at each other was normality and regular fights between my mum and her husband got out of control to a measure I don’t want to describe.
            Nothing else but love could have saved me from this hopeless place. Nowadays it is no news that children grow up without their fathers and experience abuse by men that join their families. Twenty years ago and living in the area where I lived then, a small sheltered country side town, this was not a common thing. I felt alone in this place that no one around me could understand. It is almost unthinkable now that everyone else’s parents in my primary school class were not only together but married. Only ten years down the line would this take a turn and divorces became more common in our little town.
            Now that this brokenness and breakdown of the family system is normal and finding a functional family is like finding a piece of gold, people are still hurting. The pain is still the same even though it is not seen as something unique.
            Not knowing love when growing up can take away hope for the future, yet knowing love can keep us strong. The emphasis I want to bring here is that the hopeless place still exists, life doesn’t necessarily change once we have found love but it creates a more positive outlook for the future. Healthy relationships can give us hope as can achievable career goals, a stable life and countless other things.           
            Yet people know earthly love and are still hopeless. It was only God’s love that gave me hope. It is hard to explain what happened or what that even means as not everyone makes this experience but if I had to describe it, I would say it was like someone opening my heart, allowing me to feel the pain and holding me closely, knowing I am safe.
            In a big way I am very grateful I was not brought up in a Christian family and Church as I can’t stand the politics that go on in churches, all caught up in their little minority group existence! Even when I decided to believe in Jesus and gave him my life I was not surrounded by lots of Christians for a good few years. I feel privileged in this way that I was able to know God’s love and this alone without anything added.
            This is what drives me and motivates me in doing what I’m doing – telling the world that there is hope. There is ALWAYS HOPE! 1 Corinthians 13, 13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” There is no better way in saying it. These three things are so closely linked and the most important thing in everyone’s life! Don’t ever lose hope, because if you do, you lose everything. Someone that loses hope has no light at the end of the tunnel, there is no way out as this is what hope does – giving light and showing a way.

Your turn, what are your thoughts on this topic? What is your experience? We want to know, join our couch and share with us!
            

Persevering through difficult times

Perseverance according to dictionary.com is as follows: steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Sometimes I feel like my whole existence is the very definition of this – a constant persistence in the course of this journey full of obstacles that we call life. Do you ever feel like just giving up as it is all too hard to continue pursuing something that seems to be a losing battle? I do and have so many times – all this persevering and it seems without any kind of reward or at least little in sight.

Every day we are steadily pursuing and persisting in something, whether it is just the day itself and all that it has in store for us or something much bigger and more difficult. I don’t know what you are going through but I do know that it is so easy to give up doing well, especially when we feel tired, let down or hurt. It can be much easier to do something less demanding, to run away.

When I have felt like this recently, I have found much strength in a bible verse that says ‘Do not grow weary in doing good as in the right time you will reap a harvest if you don’t give up.’ (Galatians 6:9) This reminds me of the reasons behind the struggle and even if I can’t see the end in sight, I have new fuel to feed the fight engine.

Let me tell you some stories that might encourage you if you feel a bit like this.

I started dancing from the age of 3 and by the time I was 8 I was determined to become a ballerina and declined doing the normal kiddie things to pursue this dream. I entered many festivals, was part of a ballet scholar’s scheme and was going to London every Sunday for the National Youth Ballet. However when I was twelve, I contracted an illness called M.E which I would describe as a chronic fatigue syndrome that affects your brain, muscles and nervous system.

I was bedridden for numerous months, losing all my hopes and dreams of becoming a ballerina. In that time, I lost my muscles and strength and slowly felt like I was disintegrating into nothing. I became cooped up in my dark and eerily silent room, too affected by the blinding light outside or the tiniest sound that deafened me to have any kind of life. I recognised that life carried on without me and I was left behind in these four walls not sure what was actually wrong with me or whether I would ever get better again. I was broken hearted.

The months rolled into years and these years saw the biggest perseverance I had ever gone through. So many times I wanted to give up; my bed became a sanctuary and the outside world began to scare me even though I was screaming to be better and take up my life again. The perseverance was through peace of mind – I prayed out to a God I didn’t even know existed at that time and reminded myself daily that I wasn’t going to allow myself to live like this forever. I made myself to-do lists with goals for each day such as ‘get dressed’ ‘sit up for half an hour’. Slowly I started to do more things and improve in my health. The strange thing about M.E is that there is no sudden cure; it is a long and ongoing process and it is only when you look back that you recognise how much you are improving.

The biggest lesson I learnt was to accept my body for how it was and work with what I had. I stopped beating myself up for the things I couldn’t do and started to enjoy that which I could. In not giving up and not allowing myself to fall into a darker place, I now have become a stronger person and actually believe that my illness has led me to where I am today – and that is an amazing place! If I had never been ill and become a ballerina, who knows where my life would have ended up? The persevering doesn’t just stop, every day I still feel like I’m fighting my body and I need to be wise in knowing what I can and can’t do even now, over 12 years later. But the knowledge of the ‘harvest’ I will reap is what keeps me going. A bit before that in the bible it talks about reaping what we sow. If we sow defeat, what will we reap? But if we sow perseverance, we will reap strength and wisdom.

I became a Christian in my first few weeks of university and this has changed my life forever. When I first believed, I became full of zest, life and faith and volunteered to so many Christian missions/events on campus and it was fun. It was a very exciting time but as the years began to pass, my faith in God became tested and harder to live with. One of those tests was leaving the comfort of a ‘Christian bubble’ behind to have a year abroad in Spain where I didn’t know a single person who shared my faith or a church that I could feel at home in. This is where I had to decide for myself if I was going to follow the things I believed in, even if I was the only one, or fall in with the crowd and let my faith take a backslide. There have been many other tests of faith within my time at eximo as well. Read the previous blog where Maya has talked about finances and our struggles with that but I suppose one of my biggest personal tests of faith took place a year ago.

I was engaged to be married and we were planning our life together here in England when my fiancé was offered an amazing job opportunity – in Australia! He wanted to take it and he asked me to go with him – we had been having money issues previously as well as him being Mexican and the fear that he would be sent back to his own country at any given moment because of the insecurity of his work. This offer seemed to answer all of our problems. It sounded ideal – the perfect weather, good pay with job security and a less stressful life than here in England. However, I felt like I was only just establishing myself and that here was God’s plan for me within eximo. I couldn't imagine going all the way across the other side of the world and leaving something so beautiful behind, let alone my family and friends. God has really given us something special with eximo and I just know he wants me here but I thought our relationship was supposed to be, so I was very confused. I had a week to decide. I prayed like I’ve never prayed before.

It was when we were in the car on the way to speak to my Dad about it all when we were stuck in traffic and not moving anywhere. I felt that this confirmed what I was suddenly thinking: 'why are we going to talk to Dad about it, I already know the answer.' So I blurted out ‘I can't go, I just can't’. My fiancé said he wants to still go and that he is going. In that moment, I remember the heavy sickness that sat down in my stomach as we turned around and made our way back to my house. Within an hour, my fiancé walked out the door and I was left staring at the mess my life had suddenly become.

So many times I doubted and questioned my decision but what kept me strong was the belief that I was doing what I thought was right, in God’s plan. Even in the midst of confusion, pain and suffering, I’ve never known such blessing and peace with God. I can tell you that it was not easy to remain strong but through perseverance the harvest is being reaped. Eximo seemed to really flourish in the year that followed and I just felt confirmation that I was in the right place, even in those cold winter months when I felt such agony and loneliness.

I never stopped loving my man but I did not run back to him as I was held up by the strength God gave me. I continued to pray for him, for his safety and that God would be with Him. He tried to get in contact many times but I did not want anything to do with him as he had broken his promise he had made me when he put that ring on my finger. But it turns out that God had not finished with our relationship either and it was nine months down the line when things seemed to have a breakthrough. We spoke on the phone, crying over what had happened and trying to work out where to go from here.

He had left out of a fear of persevering here in England but now he has learnt and recognised that it is not better to run away. Even if it would of been hard, we would of had love and faith to keep us strong which count for so much more. Because I did not go with him, he was unfulfilled and unhappy and working long hours outside in the hot Australian sun with no one to come home to – not as ideal as the picture previously painted. Slowly, things are being healed and although he is still in Australia, we have decided to persevere for this relationship. What has been amazing is the amount of trust we have, it seems stronger than ever before. Next year, he will come back to England and we will start again that which was planned for before. This time, we will work hard to not separate that which God has put together as we have seen the pain there is in losing each other. Unfortunately, sometimes we need to lose something in order to recognise how precious it is to us.

I suppose what I would like to encourage you with by this post is that whatever the situation looks like now that through continuing to push forward for what you believe is good, the situation will look a whole lot different soon. I know that we will never stop persisting in this journey of life but we can continue to persevere and reap a harvest if we do not give up!

Coincidences or Miracles?

 Whenever someone asks me about the existence of God my answer goes something like this: “I cannot prove that God exists to anybody. All I can tell you is that I know God exists because of the crazy things that have happened in my life. Although I cannot see this mysterious power it has an effect on my life that goes beyond my own thoughts and emotions”.

            Let me explain this further! For over 15 years I have believed in a God that apparently is alive today, sent Jesus to this earth over 2000 years ago to die for us. To some this must sound crazy. To be honest sometimes I too think this sounds quite weird. However, the truth is that no matter how bizarre this looks on the surface it has become reality in my life.

            A lot of Christians will tell you of the emotional and character changing impact it had on their lives deciding to become a Christian and believe what sounds a little bit like a fairy tale, that God himself came to the earth to save us from our own failures and the evil present in this world.

            I have stories to tell on this subject also but today I’d like to tell you about the last seven years of my life and the miracles I believe have happened to me in the area of money. At the age of 19, just after I finished my A-Levels in Germany, I decided to audition for a singer/dancer job in a band with a Christian music label here in England to tour secondary schools, doing lessons and pop concerts. I was accepted and in September 2004 I had packed up my room ready for the biggest adventure of my life.

            This may sound glamorous and we might have been made to look like pop stars but the reality was that none of us were given a salary. I had to raise a minimum of £400 of monthly income from regular sponsors. A month before I was due to leave I was still missing a substantial amount and I panicked. So I started praying, asking God to provide me with money. From that moment on I felt secure, knowing that if this was the job God wanted me to have then he would have to provide or otherwise I won’t go.

            Trusting this new found peace, I received a message a few days later from a sponsor that decided to make up for the gap of a monthly £150 (and a commitment to pay this for 2 years!!!). This was a first of many financial confirmations in my move to England.

            Throughout the time I spent in the band, there were a substantial amount of financial miracles. Whenever my account reached about £5, money always came from somewhere. A couple of times the family I lived with for a while gave me an envelope with some money their friends decided to give to me. Another time I realised an anonymous sponsor had been giving me regular money into my account.

            One of the biggest miracles of all was at a time when I had been praying about buying a piano. Playing the piano since the age of 4, has become an emotional outlet and vital part of my life. Not only does playing make me happy but it also plays a role in my general well-being. Music is a very powerful tool I might add here.

During this time of praying and considering how great it would be to be able to play again (as my piano was in Germany), I received a phone call from my German bank. I was absolutely terrified and assumed I was in trouble. When the lady asked me whether I was sitting or standing, this assumption only grew bigger. However, it was news of quite the opposite... somehow I won 1000 Euros. The woman told me I participated in a price draw and I was the winner. I have no idea how that was possible as I hadn’t spent any time in Germany and certainly didn’t participate in a competition with my bank. Truth was, that I did receive 1000 Euros and I was able to buy a nice Yamaha stage piano and had a bit of money left over that helped me out another time.

            I know this all sounds rather strange but even stranger things have happened. God’s provision didn’t stop when the time in the band was over and I started eximo. eximo is more than just a company or a job to Sophie and me. It is a lifestyle, a long-term commitment, something we have a dream for and want to see it through. We are not in it for the money even though we would love it if one day eximo would be the only thing we do every day. We are big dreamers as we feel we have been given a purpose to bless people through the work we do. Yet, sometimes we start doubting when times get hard and it is a struggle to pay our rent for example.

When Sophie started out with eximo, I dragged her onto this journey of trust and faith of God’s provision, I’m not sure if she realised exactly what she had let herself in for. Now, we have even more stories to tell of God’s amazing miracles. We were blessed with a financial gift to buy equipment two years ago. One lady randomly gave us a cheque last year for a specific project we wanted to run. But more recently, at a time of disillusionment and wonderings whether we are doing things right because finances didn’t add up, once again we feel confirmed to keep going – last week, after we got back home from teaching our classes, we found an envelope that someone had put through our door with our names on it. No sender. Inside we found a lot of money, so much I don’t really want to tell you.

            Once again, I feel that God is hearing our prayers and answers them in such a concrete and real way that I find it hard to make up excuses  and class this as a coincidence. This particular gift of this anonymous person came just at the right time and will keep us going – strong in faith and strong living the real life in which we have to pay bills and buy food.

           

Over to you – what do you make of miracle stories like these? Coincidence or real?

Do you think you could live life not being financially stable, having your own business or going on an adventure or are you the sort of person that enjoys having a regular income?