It's been a long time coming, and such a time it's been

It's been one year since I've "blogged", and while I find that hard to believe, when I look back on how busy and event filled the past year (+) has been I'm not surprised I've had little creative energy to type my thoughts. I haven't had the desire to write, let alone share my journey with others who keep me accountable to being honest with what I share. I have missed though the opportunities to verbally process,  analyse events in my life and share things which I myself find encouraging in retrospect.

Thank you to those who have read my blog during this time of silence! For those who have (and know me on the other side of the keyboard), thank you for your encouragement to keep going and start to write again.

... so, to pick up where I left off...

I was listening to Nicky Gumble this morning on my way to work. He recently shared a sermon at Holy Trinity Brompton on the subject of "Friendship". It was an incredibly insightful talk, and one which got me thinking a great deal. One of the comments he made was that church shouldn't just be friendly, it should be a place where we can make friends. Growing up in a church where we were encouraged to be friendly to new people, this quote resounded within me, because being friendly is easy (or at least most of the time it is for me) what isn't as easy though is actually being willing to befriend people. We do need to make more of an effort to be people who are inclusive in our relationships. We need to be people that create environments where deep, lasting and meaningful friendships can occur. This is a thought I'm going to ponder more in the months ahead, especially as I seek to grow areas within our church where friendships can flourish.

Also, a quick update. I have my puppy back (who is quite content as he snoozes on his mat as I type), I have a new home, I'm glad for the opportunity to investigate teachings on the Holy Spirit away from a church which considers this the norm, and I'm learning to be vulnerable with more people. Life still isn't perfect, but I'm also glad it will never be.

Oh, and even more of a big update, as I type this my husband of eight months is working steadily away in the next room. How blessed I am to have married this man (who incidentally is the first man I ever blogged about :). Happy days.