It has been almost one year since the Coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.

My birthday was a few weeks ago (March 25, 2021), and I turned thirty years old. I marked this year as the year of the beginning of a new decade, new friends, and new memories for me in spite of the pandemic.

Lately, I have been opening myself to try new things so that I can meet new people. One of these things was that I signed up for a Connect Group at Passion City Church. I did this with the hope of meeting new people and expanding my social circle of Christian friends, who I can grow and do life with in my own life.

~”A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”~Proverbs 17:17, New International Version~

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not leaving my home church, First Baptist Church of Atlanta because I have a God-given responsibility to be the light and love of Christ through greeting and other church-related activities at this church. I am just trying out the Connect Group at Passion City Church in a few weeks so that I can expand my social network of Christian friends in my social circle and grow in the Lord with them.

I also made an account on the website, Hey Vina! I created this account with the hope of meeting new friends, who have the same hobbies, common interests, and common goals as myself.

I have not met people on this website yet, but hope to soon so that I can be the light and love of God to my friends, who I hope to meet and make, through this app.

~“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”~John 3:16, English Standard Version~

Besides looking to expand on my social network of friends, I am using this season of life to focus on growing myself inside and out in many ways. One of these ways is that I am working on editing my first book, “A Victory Song.”

This book, “A Victory Song,” is in the process of going through the second round of edits that are needed before it moves into the second stage of the publishing process of my book, which is the page design stage of the book. My hope and prayer is that, “A Victory Song,” will captivate and touch many lives in the Atlanta community and outside of my Atlanta community. As I put my heart and my soul in investing in this project, I hope that it inspires many lives to turn to Jesus Christ.

Another way that I am focusing on growing on myself is through writing to inspire. The only time that I write is if I am inspired to write. I write to glorify God first in my life as I let His Holy Spirit use me as His vessel to inspire many on this journey of my life.

A third way that I am focusing on growing myself is through setting boundaries in terms of spending and saving money. Recently, I set a budget to shop for clothes and items that I needed for the upcoming seasons of Spring and Summer 2021. I bought three of each item (three tops, three dresses, and three pairs of shoes) at the clothing store. Even though it was tempting for me to buy more than what I needed at the time, I stuck to what I originally planned in terms of my budget amount. It was worth it as the Holy Spirit of God is guiding me to be more practical, sensible, and discerning with my money.

God has been so good in my life lately! And it is with as I end this blog post that I challenge you: In what ways has God prompted you to expand your social network and work on growing in your walk and relationship with Him? All comments are welcomed. God bless you!