3 picture summary of my life.

I've been very lonely sometimes because it's school holidays, people are away. But I still have Percy.

All that time on my own was well spent, I drew this commission for a friend to give as a gift. I'm happy with it apart from one area. 

E suggested I take Friday off to cheer up, so I finished work early and went for a jog with C, then swam with Dad at the bathes. Which was so nice I made mum come with me again on Saturday. This is a photo of a guy taking a photo of a woman for social media which makes me go heh.

Found selfie.

Women's retreat.

Here are some cupcakes made for my birthday at home group.

Last week I had Thursday afternoon off, I played piano at a funeral, and then went to the cafe near my house to read. I'm on a roll with reading now. The book I read and also finished now is Time for Every Thing by Matt Fuller. It's really good.

An order of iris from a colleague's iris farm came in the mail. I planted them. The pea planting happened and I have a few sprouts but not enough so I planted more today.

Friday night till Sunday was church women's weekend away. There were almost 70 women and we were at Toukley. We had a few easy get to know you games on Friday night, 2 talks on Colossians Saturday morning, heard a few testimonies and book reviews, free time all afternoon. I was on sound which was difficult and gave me a headache although by the end of the first session I solved one issue (I got control of the volumes!) and the other issue I couldn't fix so just let it go (mics randomly stopping working). So after lunch I took panadol and stayed inside doing easy things like foot spa, nail painting, colouring in, reading my book.

This is a bible verse design I drew.

The thing I'm finding about camps as an introvert is when it's free time, and there's heaps of people, I know I'm supposed to be there with the people, but I often can't latch into something, so I'm stuck between going off to my room for an introvert recharge with nobody at all, or hanging around with the people but not even talking to anyone. So I ended up staying in the main area, but doing nails and stuff isn't hard, and it was a good afternoon. It was better than other camps.

There was a panel on foundational topics (e.g. prayer) on Saturday night, and one talk on Sunday morning.

I have Monday off just because I have the hours accrued and have had a lot of weekends away so I've got the tiredness accrued. Seemed like a recovery day after a weekend away would be good. This morning I had brunch with JK and then dropped in at R's for Jillian. Then managed to shop at Coles and collapsed when I got home. I had a muffin for lunch, and shortly I will start making a soup or do cello or something productive.

I got to have a think today about how to use my leave this year, and I think I've got two good plans, subject to actually arranging them. Visit my sister in Brisbane and visit friends in Mudgee.

I wonder if I'm "friending down" a fair bit, e.g. befriending new women, being one of the older single women (not old-older, but older than the girls in their 20s) and I have a couple of equal friends, but am not "friending up" at all, like any women older than me or people in families. I'm pondering who and how.

Prayer 5.

Your word created the universe and your breath gave us life. You sustain the earth day after day, year after year, from the biggest storms to the smallest cells. We can’t even think about your power, or imagine how glorious you are. We actually choose to ignore you as if you don’t matter, use your name to swear, and do what we think is right regardless of how it dishonours you or ourselves or other people. We know that we have said, done, and thought things that are evil, and our evil leads to death. Sin is incompatible with life.

But, you gave of yourself your only son to die in our place. Every evil thing is dealt with and cancelled on the cross. We have a new life, a new song, a new relationship with God as our father. A family of believers. We think of our friends who do not know you and we bring them before you now, asking for opportunities and courage to share the gospel with them……..

Thankyou for our church, and for the fellowship of churches around Australia. We pray that each church will stand firm in the gospel, in unity and love.  Thank you for the school that lets us meet here and east maitland public that lets us run Fusion and Maitland Alive. Thank you for this weekend that women were able to go away and hear from Jenny Salt and learn together.

Thank you for the children and youth of our church, and may they learn how to follow Jesus with their whole lives. We pray for all the young people at this church and involved in various ways from the community. We pray for Fusion, Disciplemakers, the vine, JOLT, and ask that young people hear about Jesus and commit to following him as the only king, the only wisdom, the only satisfaction in the world. Thank you for all the leaders who are making it a priority to share their time with young people over the bible. We pray for the provision of a youth worker on our staff team, someone with skills, wisdom, and a passion to see youth living for Jesus. We also thank you for the opportunities to teach SRE in schools and for the Christians in our community preparing for term 2 SRE classes. Please soften the hearts of the children to hear and respond to the gospel.

We pray for our pastors taking leave during the school holidays that they have refreshing times with their family and rest in you.

We pray for the Katherine Christian Convention in a few weeks time, for the people from distant indigenous communities who travel there from all over the top end to learn from your word, and for the team from our church traveling up there to support them logistically and fellowship with them. We pray that it’s a blessing and encouragement to the indigenous church of this country, and we thank you that we can be a part of it.

We forget how blessed we are to live here, so we pray for the global church, for Christians who live as persecuted minorities, or in areas of conflict. The church in Pakistan mourning after the recent violent attacks. We beg you to keep them strong in their faith and strengthen them to love their enemies.

We pray for our governments, federal and state, and members of the oppositions, and our local councils, that they use their authority justly and to bring about your good purposes in complicated situations. We pray for wisdom, humility and generosity, and that you protect our governments from the corruption of power.

Help us to love without hypocrisy. To hate evil; and to cling to what is good. To care for each other with brotherly love. To act with honour in all situations. To be diligent; to be fervent in spirit; to serve the Lord. To Rejoice in hope; to be patient in affliction; to be persistent in prayer. To Share with others in their needs; to be hospitable. To Bless those who persecute us. To Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. To Be in agreement with one another. To not be proud; but, associate with the humble. To not think we are wiser than everyone else. To not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable and If possible, live at peace with everyone. Rom 12

Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement allow us to live in harmony with one another, according to the command of Christ Jesus, so that we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice. Rom 15