It's Funny How Things Come Around...

Well here I am again, sat in front of my laptop beginning another blog entry. It's been a while. I've looked back over all my old blogs and reminisced over what's happened in the past 4 years. It was this nearly time of year, 4 years ago that I went to New York, I sort of found myself whilst I was there, I came home, left my unfavourable fiancé, returned to my mother's house and returned to the church. I then spent about 6 months rebuilding a broken me and developing my faith in Jesus. The church provided a safe haven for me where I could spiritually grow.

Unfortunately I was still very conflicted inside, battling with mental health issues and trying to navigate new found friendships. At the same time I was having to deal with judgement based on my previous lifestyle, my beliefs in science, family issues, gay issues. Ultimately I felt under a huge pressure to be someone I wasn't. I felt like I was living a lie, like a hypocrite. So I left the church as my understanding of the world was too different. That also meant I abandoned my faith in Jesus, I could no longer sing praise, in fact I couldn't even listen to worship without feeling uncomfortable. I guess I wasn't ready for Christianity.

The problem was I was trying to be the perfect Christian, I changed the way I dressed, immersed myself in Christian music, attended 3 different churches on a regular basis, got involved as much as I could with youth work, worship etc. But it wasn't me. I felt so broken I didn't know who I was so I adopted this persona that I really wasn't comfortable with.

So when I started socialising again with non Christians I found I didn't have to be this perfect Christian and I slowly rediscovered who I was. I like heavy metal and dressing slightly odd, I'm not a modest dresser, I like to flaunt what I've got, I've got a good figure so why not show it off in well fitting clothes. I was having fun again and I didn't feel under pressure. So this reinforced my leaving the church.

Well anyway, here we are 4 years later and I'm going to return to church. This time I think I'm ready. I'm not lost and broken and essentially on the rebound as it were. I'm happy, I know who I am, I'm in a good place in life, but there's something missing.

Several times over the past 4 years I've experienced callings back to church, yet never acted on them, it's always been too scary to face. This time I'm taking the challenge. I don't know exactly what prompted me to seek out a church. Perhaps it was attending my Mum's church on mother's day, it brought back memories of those 6 months where I was heavily involved and I missed it. I missed feeling close to God. I felt tears rolling down my face during the worship, I didn't sing as I felt I couldn't as a non believer, but somehow it got to me.

The following weekend I went down to London riding pillion on Sephi's bike. It was a boring ride consisting of mostly motorway lasting several hours. So what did I do? I thought, I pondered and I talked to God. It's been a long time since we've spoken, and I didn't really get any answers. But I carried on talking to him and I decided to investigate some local churches, asking them on their views on homosexuality.

I found an article by the Guardian about one local church who was affiliated with a church in New York who believed that homosexuality was a disease to be cured, which I found very offensive. That particular local church never got back to me on it's views on homosexuality, so I knocked it off my list of churches to try. The other two churches I emailed however both got back to me very quickly with an offer of coffee.

So I went and had coffee with the elders from both churches and I got the answers I was looking for, thanks God. Both seem to be very welcoming and non judgemental churches, they obviously weren't pro homosexuality, but differentiated between orientation and action and viewed the action as equal with any other sin which I'm happy with.

So I'm going to go to one church this Sunday and the other the following Sunday and see what I think. Then I might try Alpha and see if I can join a house group. These are the two churches:

Jubilee Church Liverpool and Christ Church Liverpool.

In the meantime I've still been talking to God, reading the Bible, praying and rediscovering my relationship with Jesus. It turns out I still do have the capacity to believe in Him. However Ill keep my stance that religion is like penguins talking about nuclear physics. It's all beyond our comprehension. But faith is different, it's separate from religion. I have faith and I believe in Jesus. However I will be taking the Bible with a pinch of Salt. God's word? I believe it's man's interpretation of God's word so it is fallible. There seems to me to be a lot of personal opinion in the Bible ie Paul, it's useful to study I don't think it should be taken the absolute word of God, more inspired by the word of God.

Plus I do have an issue with homosexuality. If God made man with no mistakes why would he create an orientation where someone can enjoy the gift of sex? Especially when the male body was created with a prostate that when stimulated via the anus produces orgasm. Looking around at the animal kingdom there is evidence of homosexuality, so why would it not be natural in humans too? I guess this is something I have to disagree with the Bible. I've asked God on the matter, we'll see what he has to say.

As for my current situation and how that fits in with God, I'm not sure. I am currently living with my boyfriend Sephi and in a sexual relationship. Some say this is incompatible with a relationship with Jesus. Perhaps I should leave him and find a nice Christian boyfriend? NO! I couldn't imagine that, I'm in love, I'm not leaving. Plus the damage that would cause is huge. Jesus is not in the business of breaking up families. We may not be married yet, but we are family. Should I put a stop to the sex? Perhaps, but I think that would cause too much friction and hurt, not to mention I'll drive myself batty. I know from experience that a sexually frustrated Belle is not a nice Belle. So what do I do? Get married? Well this is what we're working towards, a proposal is hopefully on the cards. However we can't get married yet as I'll lose my NHS Bursary, so we have to wait until I'm qualified. So until then we'll carry on as we are as I've yet to come under any strong conviction to do otherwise. I need to take my walk with Jesus one step at a time and hopefully by the time Jesus asks this issue to be tackled there will be wedding bells anyway.

So I'm going to come just as I am to Jesus, I'm not going to try and change anything and be something I'm not. If God has a plan for me then I'll embrace it, but I won't try and pre empt it this time.

How Things Change and The Man Who Buys Me Flowers

Not updated this in a while. Ah well, as would seem to be the trend for 2008 my life has gone through a lot of changes. Namely rediscovering Jesus, then rediscovering why I left the church in the first place. A big spiritual battlefield I can tell you that. Yes, the idea of the Christian faith is lovely, and part of me really wants to believe it, yet it all seems far too convenient and personal experience doesn't fit with various theologies.
Why you may ask? Some may speculate my friendship with non believers. But truth be told they've had little bearing on my personal view of faith and religion. The main thing ironically was a Bible conference. That was when the doubts set it, and also the concern at how such uniform belief systems affect people. Granted there are a huge positive aspects to it, mainly the community, good feeling and upstanding morality. However religion as a whole seems to me to have sinister undertones to it and I've decided I no longer want a part in it.
I still have my faith in God, the infallible creator of the universe, however, the rest of Christian beliefs aren't so in tune with mine. As far as I'm concerned, I haven't a clue. A scary thought admittedly, but we're only human after all, we can't even begin to contemplate the great unknown and majestic power of the creator of existence. I guess I've become one of the dreaded Agnostics.... I have a faith, it just doesn't fit into a nice little religious box, far too ambiguous. Feel free to disagree, though I'm still finding myself, in spiritual terms I am very much lost, but don't try and save me or convert me, this is something that'll take time and is between me and my creator.

That was long overdue.

In other news, moving on from the eternal to the current and hopefully future. I have found myself the most wonderful man to keep me company. It all came about by accident.
After realising leading an abstinent life was needlessly stressful and turned me into a manipulative cold hearted bitch inclined to use and abuse people, I decided to find myself a friend with benefits. (Apologies to those I've hurt in the process.) I've never been one for one night stands, but a casual affair, still monogamous, but with no messy feelings involved seemed right up my street. This was after much consultation with various friends, Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Agnostic and Atheist, they all agreed this was the best solution.
Literally less than a week previous to this I had clocked eyes on a man I found attractive, only a fleeting glance, but still, this is a rarity for me, finding a man attractive, very attractive at that. He was tall, long dark hair, bearded and weilding a camera. Though, this is where my new found girly emotions take over, and of course I was unable to pursue him for feeling weak at the knees everytime I saw him out of the corner of my eye.
However, it seems I wasn't alone in my interest, and lo and behold on the wonders of facebook a photograph of myself cropped up, taken by the tall skulky photographer I'd taken a fancy to. He'd noticed me, thanks to a shared fetish for corsetry. Much to my delight he also initaited conversation via the medium of instant messaging. "So what?" you say. A man who I found physically very attractive, and possibly sexually attractive too (I mainly go on smell, not aesthetics as such) also found me mutually attractive. So, it wasn't long before I found myself a fuck buddy. Cue a far happier, relaxed and serene Izzy.

You don't need to know details, however our arrangement lasted a meagre 2 weeks or so before it all fell apart. Little "Miss I don't want a relationship" managed to plant her car in hedge and on top of a give way sign. Well done me. This rendered me short of transport as I'd mangled the front half of my car, and in a spectacular amount of pain. Dosed up to the eyeballs on valium and codiene I was restricted to my bed and not moving much due to confusion, sleepiness and pain. I didn't get whiplash, just severe muscle trauma, my poor legs and arms.
So my weekend trip was cancelled and I still missed my regular weekends plans. Though my crippled status provided a handy opportunity for a certain friend to come visit me and keep me company, with lashings of chocolate to sweeten the deal. Please note, this isn't a euphemism.

Though two friends, used to enjoying each others company in strictly platonic and physical ways, now realised in the absence of physical activities, there weren't just platonic feelings. Perhaps a need to feel looked after and cared for on my part seemed to make something flip. I can't say for him, however the dynamic of our relationship changed that day. Several hours of pigging out on chocolate, chatting, cuddling and laughing seemed to change our attitudes and affections set in. Oh shit, I didn't want this to happen.

Before I go on, I have a thing about kissing. So any casual encounter of mine, there was to be no kissing. Kissing confuses things, personally I find it far more intimate than sex. So, friends with benefits comes with a strict no kissing rule. I have no desire to kiss people unless I'm romantically involved, I've obliged in previous situations as a means to easily manipulate, but it never sits too comfortably with me.
However this particular Sunday, I found a disgusting heartfelt urge to kiss him. I didn't, and I didn't even voice my desires, after all I didn't want any emotional commitment or mess. Though I was later told I wasn't the only way to feel like that, so I eventually fessed up. Surprise surprise, about half a week later I ended up in a passionate embrace and finally gave in to kissing him, throwing my convictions out of the window. It was official, we were no longer fuck buddies, but stuck on the path to smug coupledom. Despite my reservations at the time, it was a wonderful decision.

The rest is history. I'm deliriously happy, and somewhat overwhelmed by the fact I'm involved with a man who I not only swoon at the sight of, but amazingly enough treats me like a princess, respects me, shares my interests, is kind, caring, intelligent and can actually match my libido. I've found someone who I'm sexually compatible with, yet I've also found a best friend. And despite our beginnings being based on sex, a 7 week stint of biologically impossed abstinence (neither of us are exactly in the mood when the decorators are in), our relationship has only grown a lot stronger. So at least that settles any fears that we wouldn't work without the sex. Hey, we can still play fight in the middle of sommerfield whilst under threat of being chucked out for horsing about. 21 and 23..... we certainly don't act it at times!


Plus, on a weird note, I can't find anything wrong with him.
You know, when you first meet someone, there's always some flaw or other you can find. Perhaps they have a funny nose, a habit of farting in bed, a penchant for calling you nasty names, they transform into an asshole after several pints, gel their hair into stupid styles. Eventually you can overlook it, but it's always there, niggling away at the back of your mind. Well this time, nothing. Strange. Even the ridiculous cockney accent he adopts to wind me up I find endearing.

I'm very much aware I'm in the first throes of romance, overwhelmed by rushes of emotion. I miss him terribly when we're apart, and we get on like a house on fire when we're together, it's only been less than 3 months. Who knows, perhaps time will alter my feelings, and I'll realise I was blinded by infatuation. But given our blunt and honest beginnings, cards laid bare on the table, perhaps there is a future in this. I very much hope so. In the mean time, I'm very much smitten with my 6'2 scouser and computer geek. ^____^


What a sickly post; I really am a girl. I could talk about my frustrating body and the 7 weeks of menstrual hell and general malaise. But instead I'm going to sit back and smile to myself, and enjoy the sensation of falling............

Guess Who Can't Sleep?

I'm afraid to say though, there are no prizes for correct guesses.

I do seem to have a slight fear of sleep. Not all that helpful when you're exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. However sleep isn't always the most restful experience for me. There are various reasons behind it, the main one being an uncomfortable bed, but the other are actually far more significant when it comes to a fear of sleep. I repeatedly ask "Why can't I sleep?" "Why am I so tired?" but the irony is I know exactly why.

Anyhoo, why am I yet again on the lovely blogger, making yet another post? I guess to get out a few ponderings I've had of late. I was in Borders the other day, resisting a lovely hard back copy of The Screwtape Letters, I think I already have it somewhere, I can't afford to go buying duplicates. When I decided to look through all the books they had on Faith, Spirituality and Theology in relation to Christianity (as opposed to any of the other religions). Well there seemed to be an awful lot of books by atheists, anti theists and agnostics. The whole notion amused me. Agnostic writings I can understand, after all God is unfathomable. But the books by atheists and anti theists, it seems crazy that they are so perturbed by the idea of a divine being they feel compelled to write a book about it. If God doesn't exist then surely the debate of His existence shouldn't concern a non believer. However these non believers have such a passion about the lack of God's actuality, it almost makes you think they're angry at God for not existing and so will do everything in their power to deny His being. I may of course be wrong, but why the venom against something which apparently doesn't exist?

(Just to clarify, it's the books by atheists and anti theists who take it upon themselves to slander anyone with a faith, belittle them and criticise I was referring to, not just commentary, deliberation and declaration of non-belief. I have no problem with that, everyone has different beliefs as we're all very different as people. The authors I disagree with, as Andy hinted at, are those with a holier than thou attitude of the other extreme. I just don't see any need to belie people in such a way, it's totally unnecessary. Faith isn't a crutch for the weak, and those who have faith shouldn't be mocked and thought less of for it. I guess those with over inflated egos it would seem have trouble with any notion of a superior entity.)

Now this is a different to debate to that of those who are anti religion. That is perfectly apprehensible, after all given the atrocities carried out in "God's name" it's no wonder there are so many people eager to denounce religion and blame it for a lot of the wrong in this world. I personally am not a fan of religion, I can see it's strong points, however given the nature of man religion has over time deviated from faith and spirituality and transformed into politics, laws and judgement, and an excuse. You only need to look at the world around you to see that. And quite often the church doesn't do itself any favours in that respect given the hypocrisy within, the divisions between the denominations and the shift in focus from God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit to abiding by a set of rules.

Another thing I don't quite grasp is why all the negativity towards anyone claiming a personal relationship with Jesus. Fair enough if they're the sort to preach, condemn and generally shove the gospel down people's throats without second thought. But I don't see what people have against the average Christian, after all we're not causing any harm, we're only here to love, and if you don't like what I believe then you don't have to read/listen. It's your choice at the end of the day. Such as this blog; I don't tell people to go and read it, I may mention it if someone is interested, but I generally leave it for people to find on their own, there are links readily available but it's your choice to click on them. Just as people, talk about cars, celebrity, football, their daily lives, shoes, I talk about God, He's a big part of my life, I should make no apology for including him in my musings. In fact He's my whole life really come to think of it, without Him, I'd be nothing. Not only do I believe that, I know it.

But so many times I get the "You're not one of those born again types are you?". It does quite upset me actually as I am born again in Christ's grace, mercy and love. But I don't fit the description of the "born again type" they refer to. Those with the holier than thou attitude. Hey sometimes I can get like that, I'll be the first to admit it. But I do my best not to judge, after all I'm not perfect, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." John 8:7, I'm most definitely not sinless! I've put as much as I possibly can behind me, but I'm only human and to fail, but with God's help I do my very best. It's just a shame I'll come under persecution from others for my faith. It's not hurting them, it doesn't even concern them if they don't want it to. I'm not the sort to try and convert everyone I meet, one I don't have the confidence or self esteem, and two that's not the way to go about it. I talk about my relationship with God when people ask, and on here of course, otherwise my form of witness is through my everyday life. Non invasive I like to think. Forcing your own beliefs on other people will only yield negative reaction.

I really should get some sleep. It's half 3, I have work tomorrow, or rather later on today as it now stands.

Well it's been an awkward week, but various issues have been resolved. So things should improve, mind you life is pretty sweet regardless. We don't know how good we've got it at times. I may be feeling lonely as a singleton, but I'm looking for the positives and praying to God that His perfect man for me isn't that far away and when I'm ready for a relationship again there'll be someone good lined up for me. That's if He intends for me to be married.
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

Right, off to bed. Seriously now Iz, you need some rest, your eyes will cease to focus soon!