Into the New Year...

 

Winter in Ljubljana

It was lovely to be able to see some of you over the Christmas period. Christmas was obviously quite a busy time for me. I organised a couple of Christmas events as well as specific Christmas teaching for the youth group. We looked at Revelation 12 and how the story of the Nativity fits into the wider Bible picture and that through the birth and death of Jesus, God defeated Satan and death forever. This was a really interesting topic for the young people and and led to some good discussions about the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds.

Whilst I had a lovely time back in the UK seeing family and friends, it all ended far too quickly, and, unfortunately, I became fairly ill on my return to Slovenia. Although I can't prove it, I suspect that I had Covid and that wiped me out for more than a week. I'm still not fully well but I am grateful for the love, support, and care of my church family here. It was a real answer to prayer that other people were willing to fill in for me in different roles when I was unable to do so myself.

Unfortunately, this has also had a large knock on effect on the rest of my work. I am due to fly back to the UK next Saturday for a week to attend a Proclamation Trust conference for Women in Ministry. This has meant that I have a very tight schedule to get done everything I need to. Where I thought I would have 2 and a half weeks to prepare for a lot of different activities, this has been squeezed down to just over a week. Please pray for me that I would get everything done that I need to, that I wouldn't be stressed, and that I wouldn't tire myself out before my trip.

This illness has definitely taught me that I'm not essential. God's work continues whether I am here or not, but it is still a privilege to be used by him nonetheless.