at the beginning of the year, I was contemplating my spiritual journey and wondering what I’d like to focus more on this year.

I am choosing to focus on ways to make these verses become more real in my life.

“he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:37-39 NRSVA

this goal is related to loving God :

~ read the Bible in a Year, with prayer and gratitude. although I’ve done this before, I hope that this year reading the Bible will deepen my love for Him as I read the Bible not for information about Him but to truly know Him.

this goal is related to loving others as myself :

~ raise £2022 in 2022 to be equally divided between Refuge and Fibromyalgia Action UK

my idea is to raise funds by a year long sponsored walk, through regular charitable donations, by organising ‘donation only’ retreats, and by wisely recycling items in our home.

when working with a local Women’s Aid charity as an Outreach Worker, I witnessed firsthand the impact of relational violence and abuse.

women, children and men impacted by the trauma of not feeling, not being safe in their homes, of being intimidated, manipulated and dishonoured, came seeking comfort, safety and choice.

not all abuse and relational trauma is so visible.

for some it is insidious, subtle, less easily identified.

it does, however, leave people in a similar state of constant alertness and distress.

when working as an Integrative Counsellor in private practice, I had the privilege to be with people who had experienced both kinds of relational trauma and abuse.

for some, physical ill-health accompanied the trauma – often in the form of fibromyalgia (chronic pain), ME (chronic fatigue) or auto-immine diseases.

~ walk 2022km in 2022

this is me loving my physicality and developing patience for the long-haul.

I began walking daily in January 2019, after almost a year of fatigue following unexplained and unexpected heart stoppage. T

those who know me well appreciate that I find uniformity a struggle, that to get up and ‘do the same thing again’ is hard. T

the reality of this goal will stretch me and hopefully develop persistence (long-suffering), faithfulness and self-control.

I have two fund-raising pages for this walk (which could also be a run or cycle) and in this way hope to raise some of the £2022.

https://www.justgiving.com/team/2022in2022 – for Fibromyalgia Action UK

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fiona-carney3 – for Refuge