You are reading the 62nd issue of Drawing Near, a newsletter to encourage connection and inspire you to live a less lonely life. Each week, you'll receive inspiration for connecting with God, yourself, and the people around you. To see previous issues, go to our newsletter page.

Check out the new section, Connect with the Community! We may not do this every week, but let's test it and see how it goes,

Connect with God

From his book, Life in Community, Dustin Willis shares where we find our worth and cure for loneliness:

“Ironically we do not find significance or the cure for our loneliness in relationships with other people but in relationship with God Himself. He alone can sustain the weight of our worship.”

Connect with Yourself

I have shared here before how much I love guided journals as a tool for connecting with yourself. One of my favorites is Stuff I'd Only Tell God by Jennifer Dukes Lee.

Section one of her book is called "Me and My People." These prompts are excellent for those of us who like to reflect on our relationships, so that we can learn and grow for our future relationships.

Here is Lee's prompt from page 36 of her journal:

"Here are five times I've been a really good friend."

This prompt reveals how we have been good friends in the past, pointing us towards how we can show up for a friend now. Or how to show up for someone we would like to know better.

Answer this prompt, and then see our new section below!

Connect with the Community!

I'd like to try something new. Blame it on the springtime hope and new life ideas that abound this time of year!

I just shared the prompt from Stuff I'd Only Tell God. I enjoy sharing these prompts with my answers to them. And I know we have an awesome community here reading these weekly newsletters.

I'll agree to share my answer to the above prompt, but only if you'll share your answer with me. If you don't want to share, that's fine, just skip over what I wrote 😀

Five Times I've Been a Really Good Friend:

When I made dinner without being a part of a meal train for a family after the mom broke her ankle.
The time I took money to the school when my friend forgot her daughter's field trip money.
The days I got out early in the mornings to walk and talk with a friend.
The season when I took my friend's daughter to story time every week so she could have a break.
When I picked up my neighbor's muddy, wet dog and carried her home when the dog escaped while my neighbor wasn't home.

Now, it's your turn. I would love to see your answer, so that I can enjoy the good friends that we have here in this community. You don't have to share all five.

Choose one time you've been a really good friend and tell me here! It's anonymous, so no worries about me knowing who you are. I look forward to seeing ways we've been really good friends!

Connect with Others

Holley Gerth shares in her book, The Powerful Purpose of Introverts, the power of small, intentional steps in creating community:

“Community isn’t something we find; it’s something we create one person at a time.”

Springtime Freebies!

Today is the official first day of spring! In case you missed the journal prompts I shared for spring in the last newsletter, you can find them here.

If you're looking for something new on your phone to fit the season, below is one of my favorite spring phone wallpapers! Just click on it to save to your phone.

You can find more free spring wallpapers here!