Happy Summer from Students at Vinelife!

Exams are all done and the summer now stretches before you. Well done, you made it!! (Unless you’re a midwifery student or an RNCMer; in which case, keep going – you’re amazing!)

Just to let you know, the student blog will be a hive of activity over the summer months so make sure you’re checking back regularly and staying involved.

There will, however, be a slight hiatus before said flurry as I’m going away for a few weeks. (Why not have a scour through the last year’s posts and see what gems you can uncover?) But in the mean time don’t forget that Vinelife continues every Sunday morning throughout the summer, and that we have ‘The Month of Fun‘ coming up in July.

Hasta luego!

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” – 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Top Tips For Surviving Your Exams

It’s May, the sun’s out, and you’d like to be anywhere but the library. This means one thing… exam time!

I’ve put together some top tips for making it through the next couple of weeks. (Apologies (and congratulations) if you’ve already finished!) Have a read and see what you think…

1. “Be still and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10. Do it, it’ll help.

2. In a similar vein, pray Philippians 4:6-7 over your and your friend’s lives: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.“

3. On that subject of prayer – exams are a common enemy that you can unite with all your non-Christian friends over. What a great opportunity to offer to pray with them…

4. Do some work! I know it sounds obvious, but your exams will be a lot less stressful and will go a lot better if you actually do some revision!

5. Don’t flake out on church/time with God. Obviously, you will have to prioritise your time a bit more, and think about where you’re spending your days. But really do try and stay plugged in with church/lifegroup/quiet-times as much as you can. I’m a strong believer that sacrifice releases power and if you choose to make time for God and put him first, he will bless you for it.

6. Get some sleep! Sorry for sounding like your mother, but some good Zs will help you to be a lot more productive.

7. Minstrels. Clearly the Lord’s choice of table-side sweets.

8. Keep summer in mind as motivation. The 3 months holiday you’ll get off is incredible. Just think: work hard for two or three weeks more and then you can have as much time off as you want after that. It’ll feel so much more satisfying, too, if you’ve put in a good shift before the break.

Here’s a motivational image to inspire you:

Beautiful.

Heading “home” for Christmas?

So the term is rapidly drawing to a close and your thoughts are turning towards heading back to your parents’ house for the Christmas holidays. You may even be there already. Here are a few tips for making the most of the break:

1. Have a break!
I’m sure pretty much everyone will have exams upon returning to Manchester in January, but even so it’s important to give yourself some time off before gettin stuck into revision. Otherwise, next term will start and you’ll be knackered before you even begin. When I was at uni I had a rule whereby I wouldn’t do any academic work between breaking up and Christmas day/celebrations. It seemed to work pretty well.

2. Talk to your parents about Manchester.
It’s really easy to just get home and slip into teenage grunts and groans – not really talking to anyone unless it involves food or borrowing the car. It’s understandable too – you’re knackered and just want to relax and get over any end-of-termitis. But your parents/grandparents etc will be desperate to know how your term’s gone. Not just academically either, they’ll be interested about church, halls, silly anecdotes… everything! They’ve done so much in making it possible for you to be away at uni so it’s nice to honour them by making them feel involved in what’s going on.

3. Stay on-the-ball spiritually.
I used to find the holidays really difficult on my faith – I was away from a thriving church and even found personal stuff such as praying/reading the Bible more difficult to do even though I had lots more time floating around. My advice: make sure you’re pro-active in carving out time to be alone with God on a regular basis. Also, don’t feel like you can’t get in touch with us/your lifegroup just cos you’re away from Manchester – you’re only a text/call/facebook away from some support if you need it!

4. Meet up with old school friends.
I’m sure you’ll be doing this anyway, but it’s always good to catch up with old freinds and share stories from the past term. You’ll find that as ther terms and years go by you’ll drift somewhat from your school friends, and that’s perfectly normal, but it’s good to keep relationships going if you can. Alos, make sure you talk to them about what God has been doing with you this term – it might be a really good way of talking about your faith in a new way with people that you’ve known for years. You’ll be amazed at how much leaving school affects people in terms of opening their minds to stuff.

Well that’s it for now. Have an awesome Christmas and we look forward to welcoming you back in 2010!

God bless