A brand new: Get to know me

For all you lovely new people :)

Hi friends! Since I started ‘Journey with God,’ I have been so blessed with many new subscribers, so I thought I would repurpose my first post and re-introduce myself to all you lovely new readers.

Who am I?

My name is Emily, and I live in the UK. I grew up in Church, and I came to see for myself how GOOD Jesus is. Although it took me a little while. I think the word ‘rollercoaster’ is a good adjective. Much to my family’s joy, I finally surrendered to Him completely not so long ago, and I have never felt happier, more peaceful, guided, or loved.

I studied English Literature at A-Levels, so I think I have a good shot at making this beneficial. I also studied Philosophy and Drama. While Drama has helped shape me into who I am today, Philosophy gave me a headache. It wasn’t all bad, but at the end of the day, God is ‘I AM,’ so I feel comfortable just putting all those other theories to bed (Exodus 3:14).

I’ve been performing my whole life. I started by doing ballet when I was very young. I wanted to be a Prima Ballerina immediately, so when the teacher spent hours on ‘nice toes, naughty toes, nice toes, naughty toes’, all patience left me. I guess that Fruit of the Spirit had not hit me yet.

I attended Canterbury Christ Church University and got a first-class degree in Performing Arts. I then discovered Stage Management, which I freelanced in for a few years. After some big life changes, I quit my job to help my family and rediscovered my love for reading, learning and writing. Enter ‘Journey with God’! I am now back on the job hunt, looking for something in Publishing.

My Stage Management desk

To…

My ‘Journey with God’ desk

My Testimony

I grew up in Sawyers Church in Essex and have been blessed to be a part of such a nurturing and God-filled community for so long. It’s your typical ‘I grew up in Church, but had to discover Him for myself’ type of story. On November 18th, 2018, I got baptised, which was transformative. When thinking about baptism, I did some repenting and crying (the usual), and when I opened my Bible, this is the verse I immediately saw.

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” - 2 Chronicles 12-15

Controversially, I decided to give life a shot on my own for a few years after that, especially during University. The idea of growing up, gaining independence and discovering the world kicked in. I didn’t feel connected to God and cringed at the idea of it. That’s kind of crazy looking back, but that’s how I felt. I still felt guilt when I sinned, but I mastered the art of pushing it away. God was always there, though, as if to say, ‘I’ll loosen the reigns, but I won’t let you go. You’ll realise that you can’t do life alone soon enough.” Let me tell you something: It does not work. No matter how hard you try or how convinced you are that it works, we were made to do life with Jesus. Not without.

My testimony is nothing drastic; it’s not complicated or something that would cause someone to be jaw-dropped. But it’s what God intended for me, so it’s perfect. Just like your testimony, God’s plan for you is perfect.

My Vision

My continued vision for this is to build a community of Christians (and non-Christians!!) who need encouragement, love, and a God-fearing community to help them along the way as we journey through this earthly life together. Or maybe you’re super solid and just curious… welcome! I want to take you along as I study the Bible through educational posts and lesson plans, and I want to share my creativity through devotionals and poetry. I feel driven to serve Him through my writing.

I would also love to make this a little source of income. I am not financially blessed, and that’s okay. Still, the possibility of making even a little bit of an income through my writing is a real dream, and I pray that through the support of this lovely Substack community, I can see that dream come true for God’s glory. I am tapping into something YHWH calls me to, and I am excited to see where this goes.

I would love to hear from you and discuss your journey with God. Please feel free to drop me a message or leave comments. If there is anything you would like to see me write about, then please let me know!

Thanks for reading and learning a little about me.

God bless,