Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh, hey there! Hope you're having yourself a mighty fine Valentine's Day. I love that it falls on a Friday this year, don't you? 

I wanted to carve out a chunk of time today to just sit and be present on this here blog. That hasn't been happening as much ever since I got back from Africa, and I miss it. So here I am, sitting in my regular spot at Starbucks, sipping my new favorite drink of a skinny vanilla latte with half sugar free vanilla, half sugar free hazelnut, and soy milk. Nothing too specific, or anything. 

Life has been really full lately. Full in the best possible way, and it leaves me just praising the Lord and trying my very best to soak it all up. I'm thankful for Monday nights that are now devoted to going through the Breaking Free Beth Moore Bible study. There are some familiar faces in our group, and plenty of new ones as well. There are almost 100 women, divided into 6 small groups, all marching towards finding freedom in the Lord. It's a beautiful thing, really. 

I'm thankful for Wednesday nights that are devoted to Restore Santa Barbara, this sweet new ministry that the Lord has greatly blessed me with becoming a part of. It sparked a whooole lot of change in my life. Did you know that I switched churches? I might have mentioned it once, but I really want to take the time to write about that. It was really a beautiful thing God did. 

I've been dabbling with public speaking more and more, which really blows me away. It's something that's been on my heart for a while now, and watching as the Lord so intricately crafts together this path for me to simply walk on, it's humbling. I spoke this past Wednesday and shared my testimony. It was my first time sharing it in front of an audience, and let me tell you, God showed up. Still processing that one. 

It makes me so sad to be posting so infrequently, and it makes me even more sad to not be able to go visit you guys in your corners of Blogland. I am so thankful for twitter and instagram, and the way that it allows me to stay plugged into your lives. 

I'm praying over this little blog. Is the Lord leading me to take time away, to really pour into the people and ministries around me here in Santa Barbara? Or, is it wise for me to be more diligent with my time? Do I need to start being more protective over chunks or time to pour into this blog, and the ministry that I hope it will be? 

I honestly don't know at this point. But I will continue to pray for clarity, and I will do my best to surrender it all to His leading. I know what I want to do. I want to make it all work, the real life ministry and the online one. And I have no doubts that if that's what God wants too, that's exactly how it will go. 

All this to say: hi. I love you. Do you know that? I really, really do. 

You are incredibly, passionately, furiously loved. 

And not just by me. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day, my dears. Thanks for spending part of mine with me. You're a real pal.

<3