On October 16th 2023, after three months of God-nudges and confirmations, I started my brand new job as centre manager at Antioch in Llanelli, a church-run community centre and registered charity at the heart of a busy, industrial market town in South Wales.
Quite transparently, I wasn’t looking for a job, it was a total God thing. I honestly thought I’d be running my online community, The Blue House, forever.
Even after applying for the job, I had no intention of closing or stepping away from the online space. The job was advertised as 21 hours per week. Why not simply do both?!
But I’m nothing if not open to hearing God’s leading and by the time I arrived at the interview on September 1st, I felt that my time working online was coming to a close. It would be another three months before I fully stepped away, I was keen to end that season well, but I could feel that door closing, even whilst on the threshold of a new one.
The first couple of months in my new role came with the anticipated steep learning curve, plus the challenge of working away from home three days per week whilst still trying to manage the online community.
(I’ll be forever thankful to Donna, our spiritual director inside The Blue House, for her patience and wisdom. It was tough to let go of something that I’d come to see as my legacy but it would have been completely unthinkable without her!)
It’s impossible to pin point the exact moment in the last six months when I started to feel like I was finally “getting it” but, little by little, I’ve started to get to grips with the day to day rhythms of managing the centre and now I can see glimpses of not just “surviving” but “thriving”.
I find myself embracing the new week with a sense of excitement and anticipation. My “to do” list is intentionally short. Not because I don’t have twenty or more different things I could be doing, but because I’ve learned that God has a delightful habit of laughing at my list as he sends all manner of alternate weird and wonderful things my way.
Last week, for example, was my absolute favourite week so far, and none of the conversations that made it fabulous were on my list. Hold onto your agenda too tightly and you miss out on the magic - and I don’t want to miss a thing!
The last six months have been a wild ride. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve learned things and grown in ways I could never have anticipated. I get to do life with an incredible team of people who have amazing hearts.
And all this while still being true to the person God created me to be. Yes, quirks and foibles and eccentricities and all!
I’ve not done a podcast interview for months but I remember something that I’d often say …
You could pick me up and put me anywhere and I like to think that I’d still be me. The specifics or the expression might change, but the core of who I am and how I show up in the world wouldn’t change.
Well for the last six months I’ve had the opportunity to test that theory - and it turns out that I was right! (Phew!)
And so, at the end of a most incredible six months, I felt nudged to pause for a moment and reflect on the journey thus far - and to remind you that what’s true for me is true for you too.
You are brilliantly and wonderfully created by a God who loves you so very, very much. He is a master craftsman, you are His work of art - and He doesn’t make junk!
I’d like to be able to promise you that I’m going to start sharing more stories here, because there have been so many wonderful stories that I could tell you, even from just the last six months, but I don’t want to make promises that I might not keep.
Instead, what I will say is that I’m feeling a stirring to share more, so let’s just play with that a bit and see what happens.
And, in the meantime, keep being you, you wonderful, dazzling human. You make a difference, in ways seen and unseen, and this world is a more lovely place because you’re in it.
Until next time, keep smiling!
Love El xox