I have had lots of things running around in my mind for awhile. I sat down to talk to God about all of them and in order to help me get organized, I wrote them all out. It was really amazing to see how God is working in my life on many levels with the same theme in mind. I am learning that growth is occurring when I make the choice to continue a certain discipline whether I feel like it or not and whether I feel like I am growing from it or enjoying it at all. A marathon is finished with a start and a goal and many long steps in between where you don't feel like you are getting anywhere. Even in those steps that you are bored with or tired of, you are still moving and becoming different along the way.

In addition to this, God has really been talking to me about painting. I really don't know how to start, but I know that I need to be engaged in a sort of artistic expression as part of my inward journey. I was thinking the other day, that God is the most creative Presence known, and if we as his children are learning to be more like him, shouldn't we be allowing ourselves to be discipled in this area also? Something that I just thought was a fun hobby or a pasttime, I have come to see as something that is intergal to my inward journey. Almost as worship unto the Lord. A totally intimate experience, where I am just me before the Lord and he is so much of him, and we together create something. I am excited to try. I will let you all know how it goes.

As far as my outward journey goes, I am psyched about starting a mom's group here in my neighborhood. I really want to allow God to change me as I go outside my comfort zone, as well as live my life with others in a meaningful, practical way. I think I always thought that to be engaged in a mission meant that I got on a plane and went overseas, or that I went to a soup kitchen and volunteered. (not that these are not meaningful missions, they are to be sure!) God is teaching me that something as simple as a mom's group can be a meaningful mission for the sake of the world. I am making the flyer and distributing it within the next two weeks and hope to have my first group mid March. I let you all know how it turns out!