Monday [:

Heyy guys,

Don't know how many of you are actually keeping up to date with this blogging, but this is a good way to know what I'm doing with my next few months- which by the way, are more exciting than ever before! =D

So, it's Monday! It's still the holidays and I've kind of taken the advantage of my free day and slept till the lovely time of 1pm! My sister moaned for me to get up, but I wouldn't get up without breakfast in bed! Smaller sisters are great! =P

Had a rough evening last night- my usual late night online msn-ing and bebo-ing was on the go again- and I was faced with loads more situations to give encouragement and advice about. Don't get me wrong, I love giving advice! I also feel like God is really using me to help people. But (as some of you might know) SAE (www.bebo.com/-s-a-e-) deals with people from every corner and walk of life. We counsel young Christians, middle aged Christians and even people that hate God to bits! From suicide and self harm to sheer neglect and a deep feeling of being unloved, we meet people online who are in desperate need of help. At some points, we can't really do too much. Others, we always have a work to be done.

Over the last year, working with SAE has changed my perspective on so many things; however, the biggest thing that it has changed for me is my need and passion to pray. We tell most members on SAE that we will pray for them- and as much as we can, we do! Seeing answered prayers is life-changing at points! You finally start to understand how much God has a hand in situations when Christians join together to pray for things.

So last night, was just one of those nights where I asked God to speak through me once again. Last night was a little different though as I began to get my head around how difficult and how painful a number of these problems are for young teens.

My biggest piece of advice for a young Christian who wants to make a difference in the world where they are, is to look into people's lives- look at an individual and get to know them as an individual. Sometimes, we ourselves are so caught up in the difficulties in our own lives that we forget other people who need so much, and yet aren't getting it.

SAE was a small site that turned into something massive- and God is using it, and has used it. But it all kicked off with prayer. It's joined by prayer. It's like the main link to what the site is- we constantly pray for others. Moderators understand that it goes beyond our own lives- we've been put in a place to help and be a witness to others, because we have acknowledged that above all else, we are to love and to set an example to all.

So whilst situations can sometimes take us over, and we're faced with the difficulty of them- it's encouraging to know that:

1: We're in this place online because God has put us there. And he is using us in it.

2: God has a hand over all things- even though situations get way bigger than what we could ever cope with, he is supreme over things we just can't handle. (That even counts moderators who don't know what to say to people who have some of the worse situations at hand).

Other than last night, today promises to be a relaxing day! Having been away and kept busy for the last 4 weeks, it's almost weird to be stopping for one day! However, I still will be keeping busy working on SAE and actually putting into place the exciting new revamp! Oh yes- it will be an awesome few weeks, so keep your eyes on www.bebo.com/-s-a-e- and watch out for some extremely exciting new things to happen!

Yesterday afternoon I also had this amazing idea as to what my future might hold- I don't know if it was a vision from God, or just one of my mad ideas but it's sticking in my mind and heart- so I'll fill you in tomorrow! As some might know, my year ahead is puzzling and a little confusing. Having left school earlier than usual, I'm working out the next stages, and having been offered a job in the last week, I'm also puzzling over whether to accept or not.

If you have some time and are actually looking at this =P, prayer for the months ahead with me would be really appreciated! Even so, I'll keep you up to date with where my decisions lie and what God brings me to in the next week or two!

Exciting or what? :P

-Friend of Jesus

Eli xo [: