Diary of an Apprentice - Day in the Life of...

Hannah O'Donnell, 17th December 2021

This week I thought I'd try something a little different to mix it up... You're going to join me on a day in the life of 'Apprentice Hannah' on a Wednesday - a particularly busy day for me.

So, here goes...
09.25 am - Wake up (5 minutes before a Zoom prayer meeting in my pj's...)
09.30 am - Zoom prayer meeting with Si, Fergus and Nathan (my co-apprentice): we spend 30 minutes reading a Psalm, discussing what it meant and then praying for one another.
10.00 am - Quiet time with God: currently I'm going through the 'Finding Hope Under Bethlehem Skies' devotional and the 30 day devotional on the book of Ruth from Keswick ministries. I'm really enjoying reading through a book that I've never looked at before and I'm learning so much about the parallels between this story and the story of Jesus' birth (that I didn't even realise existed!!).
10.30 am - Crack on with jobs that I've been procrastinating against: housework, preparing CYFA, pathfinders and NWP talks, sending emails and drawing up the fortnightly social media post.
(In the past, at 11.30 am I would open up the church building and set up toys for the Mum's bible study).
12.15 pm - NISCU lunch clubs @ Whitehaven Academy (one for yr7s and one for yr8s).
02.00 pm - Usually I have pastoral visits with Si: meeting various elderly or lonely people in their home to catch up, read some scripture together and pray. But, Si was unavailable this week so instead I took this extra time to sort out Christmas presents!
04.00 pm - Zoom Line management meeting: this sounds much more fancy and formal than it really is. This just involves me and Nathan discussing our past week with Si and planning for the week ahead. If we have finished reading a book together then we discuss our opinions here too.
05.00 pm - A home-cooked meal with the Walker Family! Sadly, this also did not happen this week because Si wasn't able to, but instead, it gave me lots of time to start preparing my talks for GGANG and CYFA after the Christmas break.
07.30 pm - Caroling around Hensingham: a one-off addition for this week involved going singing around Hensingham with the church family, chilly but heart-warming.
09.00 pm - Arrive home, and then usually I would prepare my bag for the next day's trip to Leyland but we are off until January now so instead I flopped into bed :) zzz...

I'm sure you will agree, very busy. Sometimes I really dread Wednesdays because I'm constantly on the go and I get quite exhausted. But it has been a really great way to force myself to rely on the energy and strength of God, not on myself and my own finite strength.

I recently challenged myself to commit a bible verse to memory to think of when I am struggling during these fast-paced days. I chose a short, but encouraging and powerful one:

'My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.' - Psalm 119 v 50.

When I remind myself to think of this verse I feel particularly motivated to keep striving to glorify God with my day because I know that Jesus' promise (that he died for my sins and will return in glory to bring me up to heaven with him) will preserve my life to be everlasting. Thank you Christ that no matter how exhausted I feel, I can - and should - lean on you to hold me up and to grant me the energy and passion I need to work to bring glory to your precious name.

Hannah's fact of the week:
I mentioned this fact in my first blog, but I thought I should elaborate... I love being up a mountain or on a lake! So yes, I absolutely love spending time in the outdoors, but the twist is - I'm lazy :( I love the idea of being at the top of a mountain looking out onto the rest of the Lake District but it takes great mental persuasion to get myself there... The mighty John Stoker is very good at getting me (/forcefully dragging me) into the outdoors and despite my reluctance at first I'm always super duper grateful after it :) Thanks bro, love you!