What a difference a year makes

This time last year I was working at the admin offices of HSBC in Southampton, updating customers' financial details. Not the most thrilling job in the world but it was all in aid of getting a good education! Also a year ago this weekend I split up with my ex-boyfriend. I was with him during my whole undergrad so it was a bit of a shock to the system.

Now, fast-forward to June 2006. I've just finished a really good journalism course in a great city having made some good friends. Looking back at the past few years, I have lived this year to the fullest. I had some really great times in Southampton doing my undergraduate degree and don't regret any of it, but I never let myself have real fun. In Cardiff I have. I've just got to get a job now!

The day I became a Christian

Easter Sunday 2006! Good timing, hey? It took a lot longer than that though. It was a seven-year journey with up and downs, but I eventually got there. I woke up on Easter morning thinking "This is 100 times better than Christmas!" That's the abridged version. If you want the longer version, let me know.

I think in the modern world Easter has become the underdog of Christian festivals, if you're outside the faith, anyway. People don't know what it means any more. It's a real shame. Becoming a Christian in Cardiff has made my time here really special. I definitely won't be forgetting it quickly.

At the moment this is my favourite verse in the Bible:

Romans 5:1-8
"Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."