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Observations and meditations of a young teacher living in Norway
Sunday, January 29, 2006
A new good flow
Lately I've written some texts about having a new start - here on my blog. That is because that is some of the things I've been thinking about lately. And I don't just think about the fact that I've had a new start on my blog or the fact that we every day get a new start when we awaken in the morning. There are many different types of new starts, and we can have all kinds of new starts. Some of these starts has to do with something small. Some has to do with something big.
Sometimes you can experience to forget your food boiling in the kitchen, and maybe you have some kind of accident or the food gets burnt, and then you will have to start all over again to prepare a nice meal. And sometimes it could be that you've had a quarrel or disagreement with someone and need to have a new start in your relationship with someone. Other times you can feel that a part of your life isn't functioning the way it should, and you need to give your self a new start to make progress in that area of your life. At other times we can feel that our whole life needs a big, new start. So there are many reasons for feeling the need of a new start.
I believe that the best and biggest new start a person can have, is when he or she goes from death to life, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light, and from sinfulness to rightheousness - through the salvation in Jesus Christ, God's Son. This new start can and will be given to everyone who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour in their lives. When you receive Jesus into your life, he will give you a magnificent, glorious and great, new start in your life - only because of his good mercy and love, only because of his death and ressurrection. God loves every human being so much and longs for them all to be saved and receive his great love and get the wonderful new, fresh start that he wants to give every person. I myself have experienced becoming a new creation in Jesus Christ, through what He has done for me, and I can recommend it to everyone! Life with God is so good, it's the best! :)
But our generous God doesn't just give us a new start when we receive his salvation and become christians. I've experienced that God has given me a new start in my life also after I became a christian. Actually, it has happened many times. For example when I've sinned and then come to God and asked for forgiveness, he has always forgiven me and cleansed me, and then he has given me a new start. Sometimes it could be for other reasons, for example that I've made some new decisions in my life. No matter how it happens, it is always good when God gives you a new start.
Last Monday was one of those days when I had the feeling that I had a new start. It was a special day for me, because I clearly felt it was a new start for me. I had been gone from work some days, because of sickness, and before I came back to work on Monday and started my new week, I had made some new decisions and plans in my life. Because of this I've had a new start in my life this last week, and it has been very good to experience a new, good flow in my life. On Tuesday I wrote a poem about this, and here it is...
A new good flow
I've come into a good flow
in the dance of life
I know that I often grow
and prepare to be a wife
I'm active and happy,
destined to win the fight
I'm living in harmony
with Jesus, my Light
My life will be richer
and grow day by day
when I live with my "pitcher",
the Truth and the Way
He never turns me down
No, Jesus is my friend
I will dance with no frown
He will stand by to the end
And like Rachel Hickson said this morning, in the meeting I was in, we also have to press on, never give up and finish the race. I am going to do that. I will finish the race God has for me.
Have a great week, everyone!
Sometimes you can experience to forget your food boiling in the kitchen, and maybe you have some kind of accident or the food gets burnt, and then you will have to start all over again to prepare a nice meal. And sometimes it could be that you've had a quarrel or disagreement with someone and need to have a new start in your relationship with someone. Other times you can feel that a part of your life isn't functioning the way it should, and you need to give your self a new start to make progress in that area of your life. At other times we can feel that our whole life needs a big, new start. So there are many reasons for feeling the need of a new start.
I believe that the best and biggest new start a person can have, is when he or she goes from death to life, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light, and from sinfulness to rightheousness - through the salvation in Jesus Christ, God's Son. This new start can and will be given to everyone who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour in their lives. When you receive Jesus into your life, he will give you a magnificent, glorious and great, new start in your life - only because of his good mercy and love, only because of his death and ressurrection. God loves every human being so much and longs for them all to be saved and receive his great love and get the wonderful new, fresh start that he wants to give every person. I myself have experienced becoming a new creation in Jesus Christ, through what He has done for me, and I can recommend it to everyone! Life with God is so good, it's the best! :)
But our generous God doesn't just give us a new start when we receive his salvation and become christians. I've experienced that God has given me a new start in my life also after I became a christian. Actually, it has happened many times. For example when I've sinned and then come to God and asked for forgiveness, he has always forgiven me and cleansed me, and then he has given me a new start. Sometimes it could be for other reasons, for example that I've made some new decisions in my life. No matter how it happens, it is always good when God gives you a new start.
Last Monday was one of those days when I had the feeling that I had a new start. It was a special day for me, because I clearly felt it was a new start for me. I had been gone from work some days, because of sickness, and before I came back to work on Monday and started my new week, I had made some new decisions and plans in my life. Because of this I've had a new start in my life this last week, and it has been very good to experience a new, good flow in my life. On Tuesday I wrote a poem about this, and here it is...
A new good flow
I've come into a good flow
in the dance of life
I know that I often grow
and prepare to be a wife
I'm active and happy,
destined to win the fight
I'm living in harmony
with Jesus, my Light
My life will be richer
and grow day by day
when I live with my "pitcher",
the Truth and the Way
He never turns me down
No, Jesus is my friend
I will dance with no frown
He will stand by to the end
And like Rachel Hickson said this morning, in the meeting I was in, we also have to press on, never give up and finish the race. I am going to do that. I will finish the race God has for me.
Have a great week, everyone!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Every day is a new beginning
Every day is a new start.
Every day is a new beginning.
Every day is a new chance
to forget about yesterday,
put the past behind
and live in the present
while focusing on or looking ahead to the future.
The future is always changing, because the future is all the time becoming a part of the present. The future is good. The future is challenging. The future is exciting and interesting, because we never know what will come or happen next. We can never know for sure. Only God can. He knows the future, and he is in control over the past, present and future. He is the one who every day gives a new morning, a new start and a brand new day - totally free and without demands of payment. Freely - in his good grace - He gives us a new start every single day of the week. Over and over again we have the free gift of a new day and a new start, a new chance of a new beginning - of our whole life or just a little part of our life. Every day is a new beginning and a chance to experience something new and enjoy life to it's full!
"I can never get away from my God... How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!" - Psalm 139, v. 7b and v. 17-18 (Life Application Bible For Students)
If you read this in the evening, and you are not pleased with the day you've just lived through, please remember that tomorrow is a new beginning and a new start, a fresh day with lots of new chances! And if you read this blog text in the morning, you can be thankful that God has given you a brand new day with lots of new possibilities and opportunities to enjoy life and do something meaningful - something that will please both your self and others. When we serve others, we will be blessed our selves.
"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." - Proverbs 11, 25 (Holy Bible, NIV)
I hope you all will have many nice mornings and new beginnings and good days this coming week! God bless all of you!
Every day is a new beginning.
Every day is a new chance
to forget about yesterday,
put the past behind
and live in the present
while focusing on or looking ahead to the future.
The future is always changing, because the future is all the time becoming a part of the present. The future is good. The future is challenging. The future is exciting and interesting, because we never know what will come or happen next. We can never know for sure. Only God can. He knows the future, and he is in control over the past, present and future. He is the one who every day gives a new morning, a new start and a brand new day - totally free and without demands of payment. Freely - in his good grace - He gives us a new start every single day of the week. Over and over again we have the free gift of a new day and a new start, a new chance of a new beginning - of our whole life or just a little part of our life. Every day is a new beginning and a chance to experience something new and enjoy life to it's full!
"I can never get away from my God... How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!" - Psalm 139, v. 7b and v. 17-18 (Life Application Bible For Students)
If you read this in the evening, and you are not pleased with the day you've just lived through, please remember that tomorrow is a new beginning and a new start, a fresh day with lots of new chances! And if you read this blog text in the morning, you can be thankful that God has given you a brand new day with lots of new possibilities and opportunities to enjoy life and do something meaningful - something that will please both your self and others. When we serve others, we will be blessed our selves.
"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." - Proverbs 11, 25 (Holy Bible, NIV)
I hope you all will have many nice mornings and new beginnings and good days this coming week! God bless all of you!
Saturday, January 21, 2006
A new start!
A new start on my blog
Happy new year, everyone! I say it once again, because it could be that you haven't listened to my audio post yet, where I with my voice for the first time have wished all readers a happy new year and also put in a lot of other words with my voice. And one can never say a good thing like "Happy new year" too much, I think.
Well, as you can see I've returned to my blogging business. I've planned to do to it for a long time, but sometimes it takes a while before one actually does what one plans to do...
For almost one year I haven't been blogging here, as some of you probably have discovered. It doesn't mean that during the last year I've forgotten about my blog or haven't wished to write here. Not at all! I have just been very busy in my life, and I've thought about writing here many times, but then I've just postponed it over and over again. But finally I'm back in business!
My new start here on my blogg started a few days ago, when I for the first time was able to post a photo of my self on my blog. It took a while before I got it the way I wanted it to be, but in the end I was very pleased with the result of my posts the 18th of January. And the day after I found out that I could become an "audio blogger" and post audio blogs, and to me it sounded very exciting, so I tried it out, and it was! It was really fun and exciting to try audio blogging and to know that now my voice and greetings could be heared all over the world. :)
Well, let me now give you a little summary of the past year, since it's been so long since I wrote about my life here...
During the last year I have finished my studies in Dance with a good grade that I'm pleased with, and because of this extra studies I have now come up to a higher level in my education, which was one of my goals, so I'm very pleased with that. If you would like to find out about the college that offered the studies I did in Dance, you can visit this adress: www.hitos.no, and you can press "Kunstfag" on the list to the left, if you want to find out about the studies in Dance or other art studies the college offer.
In addition to studying I have, as you know, worked at a school, since last January. I remember I last year told you about how God answered my prayers and blessed me with the good job as an assistant in one of Tromsø's schools for teenagers. I have continued to have this job, also after the summer holiday, and it is still a good job for me that I find enjoyable. I am now assisting four different pupils, that in different ways are disabled or handicapped. I help them, one at the time, in various situations and with many different things.
Since August I have also been blessed with another job at the same school that I am an assistant for some pupils... God also gave me the job as a Drama teacher there, and that is both a very challenging and exciting job for me! I really enjoy being with my Drama pupils and teach them Drama and help them develop them selves and their dramatic skills. It's great fun! We've had many nice and funny lessons together, me and my pupils, and I'm looking forward to continuing working with them until the summer holiday. I just love being a Drama teacher and to be with with my Drama pupils, especially the ones I have by my self! But I also appreciate to work with in another Drama class together with another teacher. It is very inspiring and helpful to me to be able to observe and cooperate with a teacher that has a lot of experience behind her, so I also enjoy my time with her class a lot. All in all, I really enjoy my new, good job situation, full of many nice, interesting experiences, and where I each day meet many beutiful, nice people - each one of them unique and created in the image of God - and where no day is the same! Thank you, my wonderful God and Saviour, for your great goodness and blessings towards me! :)
If you now would like to visit the web page of the school where I work, you can go to this page: www.kongsbakken.vgs.no, and if you press "Ansatte" in the list to the left, you will find a list of all the employees at the school, and you will also find my name there. Good luck! :)
Now you are maybe wondering where I've spent my last holidays? Well, in the summer I was just in the North, and I don't want to tell more about that now, but in the Christmas holiday I travelled a lot... I went all the way to Great Britain and celebrated Christmas - in both the Norwegian way and the English way - together with my sister Hanna, her husband Daljinder, and their sweet children Taj Kristian, Jai Ruben and Sunniva. It was so nice to be with them, play with the children and just enjoy each other's company. After some days with them I went to Bergen and visited my parents (www.erling.typepad.com + www.erling.typepad.com/solveig) and my brother Josef (www.josef.typepad.com), his wife Elizabeth, and their lovely children Jakob, Sara and Lars Benjamin. I had a wonderful time with my family in Bergen, and I also managed to get some time with some good friends of mine: Veronica and her daughter, Carina, and Hiwot and her husband Naphtali. It was very nice to meet them all! And of course I managed to attend the new year's meeting in my church in Bergen, Kristent Fellesskap, and there I also got to meet some of my old friends and acqaintances.
Well, time is running as I'm writing this, and I've got much to do, so I'd better stop soon... I had planned to write much more, because I've written some nice texts I would like to put in here, but I just have to do that tomorrow instead. But one of my texts I will put in here, before I end, and it is a poem I have written...
Every day is a new start
a new chance to hear about Jesus Christ
who died on a cross for our sins
a new chance to receive Him in your life
and make Jesus your Saviour and King
a new chance to choose between right and wrong
and do what is good and right
a new chance to give glory to God with your song
and to honour him with your whole life
a new chance to focus on others
instead of focusing on your self
a new chance to thank God for his goodness
and rejoice in his love and care
a new chance to run towards your goal
without looking back or ever giving up
a new chance to look into the beuty of God's creation
and be inspired by his marvellous workmanship
a new chance to trust in God
and seek His Kingdom first of all
a new chance to forget the past and live in the present
with your eyes fixed on Jesus, Lord of all
a new chance to improve your self
and grow with the help of God
a new chance to live in God's peace
and believe in the One who made each star
a new chance to start over again,
to forgive your self and others
a new chance to be a good friend
and live in peace with sisters and brothers
a new chance to see all the good gifts
and blessings you get on your way
a new chance to let the Word of God
control what you do and what you say
Every day is a new start, my friend,
to do all these things and more.
Let never the griefs of your past control you,
but live life to the full - the chance is your!
Have a blessed Saturday and weekend, everyone!
Happy new year, everyone! I say it once again, because it could be that you haven't listened to my audio post yet, where I with my voice for the first time have wished all readers a happy new year and also put in a lot of other words with my voice. And one can never say a good thing like "Happy new year" too much, I think.
Well, as you can see I've returned to my blogging business. I've planned to do to it for a long time, but sometimes it takes a while before one actually does what one plans to do...
For almost one year I haven't been blogging here, as some of you probably have discovered. It doesn't mean that during the last year I've forgotten about my blog or haven't wished to write here. Not at all! I have just been very busy in my life, and I've thought about writing here many times, but then I've just postponed it over and over again. But finally I'm back in business!
My new start here on my blogg started a few days ago, when I for the first time was able to post a photo of my self on my blog. It took a while before I got it the way I wanted it to be, but in the end I was very pleased with the result of my posts the 18th of January. And the day after I found out that I could become an "audio blogger" and post audio blogs, and to me it sounded very exciting, so I tried it out, and it was! It was really fun and exciting to try audio blogging and to know that now my voice and greetings could be heared all over the world. :)
Well, let me now give you a little summary of the past year, since it's been so long since I wrote about my life here...
During the last year I have finished my studies in Dance with a good grade that I'm pleased with, and because of this extra studies I have now come up to a higher level in my education, which was one of my goals, so I'm very pleased with that. If you would like to find out about the college that offered the studies I did in Dance, you can visit this adress: www.hitos.no, and you can press "Kunstfag" on the list to the left, if you want to find out about the studies in Dance or other art studies the college offer.
In addition to studying I have, as you know, worked at a school, since last January. I remember I last year told you about how God answered my prayers and blessed me with the good job as an assistant in one of Tromsø's schools for teenagers. I have continued to have this job, also after the summer holiday, and it is still a good job for me that I find enjoyable. I am now assisting four different pupils, that in different ways are disabled or handicapped. I help them, one at the time, in various situations and with many different things.
Since August I have also been blessed with another job at the same school that I am an assistant for some pupils... God also gave me the job as a Drama teacher there, and that is both a very challenging and exciting job for me! I really enjoy being with my Drama pupils and teach them Drama and help them develop them selves and their dramatic skills. It's great fun! We've had many nice and funny lessons together, me and my pupils, and I'm looking forward to continuing working with them until the summer holiday. I just love being a Drama teacher and to be with with my Drama pupils, especially the ones I have by my self! But I also appreciate to work with in another Drama class together with another teacher. It is very inspiring and helpful to me to be able to observe and cooperate with a teacher that has a lot of experience behind her, so I also enjoy my time with her class a lot. All in all, I really enjoy my new, good job situation, full of many nice, interesting experiences, and where I each day meet many beutiful, nice people - each one of them unique and created in the image of God - and where no day is the same! Thank you, my wonderful God and Saviour, for your great goodness and blessings towards me! :)
If you now would like to visit the web page of the school where I work, you can go to this page: www.kongsbakken.vgs.no, and if you press "Ansatte" in the list to the left, you will find a list of all the employees at the school, and you will also find my name there. Good luck! :)
Now you are maybe wondering where I've spent my last holidays? Well, in the summer I was just in the North, and I don't want to tell more about that now, but in the Christmas holiday I travelled a lot... I went all the way to Great Britain and celebrated Christmas - in both the Norwegian way and the English way - together with my sister Hanna, her husband Daljinder, and their sweet children Taj Kristian, Jai Ruben and Sunniva. It was so nice to be with them, play with the children and just enjoy each other's company. After some days with them I went to Bergen and visited my parents (www.erling.typepad.com + www.erling.typepad.com/solveig) and my brother Josef (www.josef.typepad.com), his wife Elizabeth, and their lovely children Jakob, Sara and Lars Benjamin. I had a wonderful time with my family in Bergen, and I also managed to get some time with some good friends of mine: Veronica and her daughter, Carina, and Hiwot and her husband Naphtali. It was very nice to meet them all! And of course I managed to attend the new year's meeting in my church in Bergen, Kristent Fellesskap, and there I also got to meet some of my old friends and acqaintances.
Well, time is running as I'm writing this, and I've got much to do, so I'd better stop soon... I had planned to write much more, because I've written some nice texts I would like to put in here, but I just have to do that tomorrow instead. But one of my texts I will put in here, before I end, and it is a poem I have written...
Every day is a new start
a new chance to hear about Jesus Christ
who died on a cross for our sins
a new chance to receive Him in your life
and make Jesus your Saviour and King
a new chance to choose between right and wrong
and do what is good and right
a new chance to give glory to God with your song
and to honour him with your whole life
a new chance to focus on others
instead of focusing on your self
a new chance to thank God for his goodness
and rejoice in his love and care
a new chance to run towards your goal
without looking back or ever giving up
a new chance to look into the beuty of God's creation
and be inspired by his marvellous workmanship
a new chance to trust in God
and seek His Kingdom first of all
a new chance to forget the past and live in the present
with your eyes fixed on Jesus, Lord of all
a new chance to improve your self
and grow with the help of God
a new chance to live in God's peace
and believe in the One who made each star
a new chance to start over again,
to forgive your self and others
a new chance to be a good friend
and live in peace with sisters and brothers
a new chance to see all the good gifts
and blessings you get on your way
a new chance to let the Word of God
control what you do and what you say
Every day is a new start, my friend,
to do all these things and more.
Let never the griefs of your past control you,
but live life to the full - the chance is your!
Have a blessed Saturday and weekend, everyone!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
My voice on the web
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Ready for the North of Norway
Happy and ready
Here I am - right before my life in the North of Norway started... This picture is taken on Sunday the 28th of July 2002, when I was having my last Sunday dinner at my parents' house before moving. This was just a little while before some friends were coming over for my farewell party. I was happy and ready for the exciting, new and challenging life that was awaiting me, and two days later I was far up in the sky, travelling and moving to the North of Norway!
