New Friends, Projects, & Showing Up for My Life

I have been struggling to write more here in this space over the last few months for a variety of reasons.
Honestly it has been a mixture of trying to find my bearings after a breakup, working through my feelings and sadness while finding a new rhythm for my life. Work has been a little busy since Easter and I have been reviewing some books a few friends recently published.

Shortly after breaking up, I was really blessed and grateful for some new friendships enter my life that have blossomed and flourished. They have been a real gift to me. I am grateful for friends who came into my life when things just felt sad and messy, they have been such a bright spot.
One such friend was Christina.  We have been Instagram friends for a long time, but when she sent me a message saying she'd been praying for me recently (not knowing about my ending a dating relationship) we just started opening up and sharing a lot more going on in our lives.
Since then, we have become dear friends on Marco Polo. And we have developed a new project together called, Still Here. It is called Still Here because divorced people are still a part of the Church and we need to do a better job of ministering and caring for them. We hope eventually to form a permanent online presence and are really excited to see where Holy Spirit takes all of it.
If you know of a woman in your life for whom this would benefit and support, please share the group with her!
As two Catholic, divorced women we saw a huge lack of resources for Catholic women in this area. We have decided to start a closed Facebook group to offer support and encouragement to women who find themselves in this situation.  And I am super duper excited to get to meet her in real life this summer when I visit her. 
Over the last month, I have been thinking more about dating and feeling ready to do so. I have spent time reflecting on what I learned from my first serious relationship since my divorce. I am so grateful that it was safe and healthy (of course not perfect), but I am grateful for the lessons and gifts of the time we shared together.
I have dipped my toes back into online dating. It is going okay-ish. So far I have had one really crazy date, sent lots of messages, gotten a few back, and then had a weird messaging interaction with a guy over Facebook. 
It feels a little frustrating and scary to be back here again. And I know I have to keep processing things with Jesus on why I am right here in life right now, and that is a work in progress.
Being open and showing up to live my life is hard sometimes, especially when I wish it looked different.
A dear friend recently reminded me that I cannot be afraid or avoid messy feelings sometimes; just name it and choose how to respond in spite of them. More importantly she said, you have to learn how to be okay with yourself, that me and God together are enough. I know she is right. 
I really came to learn those lessons for the first time in my life after my divorce. But maybe I need to strengthen those skills right now where life has me. A prayer on my lips a lot right now is, Jesus, help me to trust You with the desires of my heart. So between that, and asking Jesus what He has to say to me about how I feel where life has me feels like an honest and authentic place to be.
I am excited for summer. I have some fun road trips planned with my new car, two weddings of friends, and hopefully getting to speak at an out of state Theology on Tap. I am going to do a 10K run. I am trying to balance having a variety of fun things to look forward to while being open and stepping outside my comfort zone a bit more.
So that is where I am right now: the new and exciting and everything else in between. 
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Hope spring is turning out to be beautiful and glorious wherever you live! :)