Doesn't time fly?

Gosh, it's been a long time since my last post and now is a good time to write as I'm off back to Oxford this weekend to tell the spouses at college about what it's like in the job.

The main reason I've not been blogging is because I realised that there's a limit to the amount of detail I can share, not knowing who might log on. After a while (though not too long), you begin to see the problems in your chosen church and not just the great things that attracted you to it in the first place so this blog needs to be about the positive aspects of life as a curate's wife.

One of my favourite things that we do is a group on a nearby estate with some church friends who run a Christian cafe there. We're simply discipling them into faith and we've had some wonderful times. Three of the group made commitments to the Lord before Christmas and two are very close to doing so. Their situations are so rough and it's a pleasure to spend a little time with them each week and seeing them draw closer to Jesus. How this might develop I can't disclose but if you find my Facebook page, Richard and I post notes there about how the group is going.

Unexpectedly, I've realised that I'm exhausted from having moved house twice in two years. The moves to Oxford and then to Glossop in and of themselves were enjoyable & exciting (I love moving) but since the autumn I seem to have suffered a delayed reaction to the upheaval and I'm still pretty exhausted and intent on never moving house again! This has been quite upsetting and having lived in 19 houses in my 32 years, it's all catching up on me.

Rich and I have our own small group and have gathered some of the people closer to our own age in the church. Again, it's discipleship that is lacking here (and, frankly, everywhere) so that's what we're doing and I think our different approach to things is having an impact. Hopefully, a work amongst young adults will emerge from this in time. Richard is also responsible for the youth worker here and is setting up a youth congregation (something I'm not involved in).

As a family, I think we're settled. I'm getting to know much better the friends I've made and feel part of the community, especially as Emily is now at school and Joannah at pre-school. This has given me more time to concentrate on building good relationships with people in and out of the church with the ultimate aim of bringing people closer to the Lord.

I'm tired right now and I'm still feeling that God is taking me out of the Oxford spiritual cloud I was under but the sense of being the new curate-and-family has worn off and we're beginning to get a picture of how God will use us here.