On the weekend I was so blessed to be able to attend a writing retreat down south.

I left work on Friday on time and arrived home to finish packing for the adventure.

I had been looking forward to this retreat for a while and excitement was building.

My lovely friend picked me up and the drive there was such a great time to catch up.

The weekend was a great opportunity to focus on the direction of my writing.

The place where we stayed was near the beach and it had a lovely log fire in the lounge room, which was nice as the weather was stormy.

I was so encouraged by the other women that were there and hearing their stories really moved me.

I feel that I have a new direction in how I want to write.

I am really grateful for the opportunity and the time away.

I am thinking now that it is something that I would like to do maybe every few months. Just have that time away where I can just focus on being creative.

When I am home I can become easily distracted in those little moments of –

• I might just go through some papers
• I might vacuum
• I might watch a bit of TV
• The list could go on…

Having the space to create is really important to me.

I am excited to see what happens in the next few months.

Will share more soon.

Yesterday I arrived home from work exhausted I wanted to stay home, it is becoming darker earlier now as we are now in Autumn.

I had already committed to attending an evening where creative’s all gather together. It is such a safe and encouraging space.

I had already decided that I wanted to attend so despite my tiredness I went.

I love that about 150 women can meet together in a café in the city and embrace and discover that they are creative.

There was coffee to drink, tea to drink, new people to meet and friends to catch up with.

The café was decorated beautifully, woman sat, they sat on chairs, they sat on the floor and they mingled they chatted.

I love hearing stories about others creative’s, hearing what had inspired them, what they did to achieve a dream to achieve a goal. I loved the vulnerability of the speakers, the passion that they had to share their stories.

The stories were inspiring, I sat there caught up in the creative atmosphere.

We then broke up into small groups and we shared our heart about creating.

Some women were wondering if they were creative?

Yes, I said I wanted to encourage them I wanted them to know that they have something to create.

I think that we can all doubt that we are creative, it’s like we think that maybe we need to have a degree in it.

We were created to………………………

I don’t know where you are in your creative journey, be encouraged start that project, begin that painting, write, draw, journal, blog.

What are you passionate about?

Whatever you have the desire to do, begin the creative journey.

Will share more soon.

Today is the last day of the school holidays and I feel that this holiday has been eventful.

I have been stretched and encouraged by opportunities to learn new skills by attending professional development.

I have written two new devotionals and have been blogging.

I have spent time with my nieces and nephew in creating memories with them.

I had a car accident the first day of the holidays and yesterday I found out that my car has been written off.

I have been thinking about the scripture in James 1:2-4 (Message Translation)

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Count it all joy when test and challenges come at you from all sides. I don’t know about you but when I am going through things Joy is probably not the first thing that I think of. I am learning as I journey through life that trials have the opportunities to teach us new things and new ways to do things.

I was very concerned when I was hit from behind in my car and memories from the last time I was in a car accident came flooding back.

I was thinking oh my goodness this is what happened last time and I plummeted into an illness that was devastating.

I had to stop myself and realise that this accident is different, I am a lot stronger mentally and physically this time.

I know that I do not want to go back to that place many years ago. Going back is not an option.

I have grown through the challenges as a person and I am aware that my life has expanded since the last accident. I also have a great support network.

Life is to be experienced and life is to be enjoyed.

I don’t know what you are going through today, but can I encourage you to find a great support network.

Whether that is in your church, in your community or your family.

If you need to seek professional support, find someone that you can talk to.

Count it all Joy.

Will share more soon.

When I was going through my illness I was seeing an amazing counsellor and I was discussing with her how I wanted to write. What I really wanted to do was to have a blog. She was so lovely and encouraged me to do this.

It took me a few years to really find out who I really was without my illness.

I asked myself these questions-

• Did I have the skills?
• Who was I really?
• What did I want to write about?
• I loved writing so why not write?
• What was stopping me?

It then took me a bit longer to gather up the courage to actually write something. I had been working on my writing about my journey, I have a good friend and mentor who encouraged me and helped me with designing my blog.

I remember the first time that I had written something for my blog and then I had to press the publish button.

Oh my goodness the fear that I felt while I was thinking about should I press the publish button, or just leave it?

Then I just had a “Just Do It” moment and I published my blog.

I know that for me writing is part of my creative process and being a creative.

It helps me be in the moment, it encourages me and it is something that I need to do for myself.

Last month I thought that I would just step out of my comfort zone and write a devotional for a Christian Woman’s Devotional in America.

It is another goal that I had wanted to do for such a long time.

They had asked for writers to submit a devotional for their latest publication which was for April.

I chose one of their themes to write about which was, that we are not in competition with other women.

I prepared and wrote for the publication and then submitted it.

A few Fridays later I came home and I discovered that the publication was out. So I scrolled down and found that what I had submitted had been included.

Oh my goodness, let me tell you that I was so excited.

This is something that I had dreamed about for many years ago.

Be encouraged what is it that you have dreamt of doing?

What is stopping you?

Do you need someone to help or mentor you?

I am here cheering you on.

Will share more soon.