Loved.

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Iowa City again. After an incredibly packed and full weekend which left me exhausted enough to still be nodding off a little in church despite the two cups of coffee I had previous to its starting. I've been resting the past two hours and its been wonderful.

I'm learning more about myself as the summer goes on. I'm more of an extrovert than I knew. I thought I had introverted tendencies on account I often like to take moments to be alone when I'm back home with the family, I spent many a cozy winter afternoon in high school hidden away in my room reading wonderful books and not seeing a soul for hours at a time. 

Now if I come back to an empty house I begin to shrivel up an die a slow and painful death of loneliness. Well, that's a bit dramatic, obviously, but I do struggle with it quite a bit. It's not that I have to be talking to someone alllll the time, I just need to be in there presence, I have often found myself venturing out to the gym or to the groceriy store with more of the motivation that I would be in the presence of people there and not be alone, 

These last few days have been such a big blessing in my life for several reasons. One of my dearest friends has been staying over on account she doesn't want to be alone either. It has been a joy added to my life in the biggest of ways. From doing our quiet times together to her planning and thinking ahead and loving heart. Her presence has revived my heart to life in places I didn't even know were struggling. 

Also,this weekend, 4 of my siblings came to visit as well as 3 friends from illinois, on top of that, I got to go see my Kalona friends and see the stars and sing hymns and laugh until I got the hiccups. All that kind of stuff causes me to feel very loved by The Lord. Oh how He loves.

The hard thing, tho, is that I still don't feel super connected outside of my close friends. I haven't been able to make it to Salt more than once and bible study attendance is a little sketch with myy work schedule. I figure that's The Lord teaching me something else, probably. Maybe to appreciate better my freedom to attemd things like bible study or summer salt. Or maybe to appreciate them at all. I graduate soon and will once again be on my own to find a church and plug in and all that. I'm not looking forward to it at all. But I'll be thankful for my present situation.