Summertime

Hmm... haven't written on here in ages! No idea who even reads this blog, but it's quite fun having an anonymous (or non-existent) audience. Keeps me writing, anyway. I guess I should no longer be calling this 'The France Diaries' but it shall remain that until I think of a better name.

So, I've been back in England (with brief sojourns in Spain and Germany) for about 2 and a half months--- 82 days if you want to be precise. I'm so glad to be home. The first couple of weeks were difficult, but going to Spain helped take my mind off of leaving (and I picked up a nice tan on the way!) Being back home, in Egham, and at The Journey, I felt like I fitted right back in and had never even been away. Going to Berlin to do Kairos was amazing- just what I needed to get me out of the post-france slump and back on track with things. I gradually stopped missing France (and with it, my French seems to have gone!), and I now really appreciate things about England I didn't realise I missed- even our soggy, rainy summers have a sort of understated charm to them! I'm really looking forward to the rest of summer, be it a wet one.

Post-Berlin and post-Momentum, I feel happier and more at peace in these moments now than I did all year in France. Not that my time in France was necessarily unhappy- on the contrary- I had amazing times out there. But spiritually... man what a battlefield! Looking back I can see how far under I was, and I'm so grateful for God's faithfulness in seeing me through it all. I look at my struggles this year and I can see how He has used them for good in my life. I can't put my finger on everything that has changed, but the best analogy I could use is that I lost my way so that I could find it more fully. I took a detour to get back to the main road.

So this is where I am now. Content, chilled out, walking in the right direction. Enjoying life. Summertime :)