Emerging into adulthood, at university, Rebecca embedded the habits of an everyday relationship with God that guided her to join the dispersed Community of St Frideswide.
At nine years old Rebecca made the decision to be baptised, whilst growing up in a Christian home. “God just ‘was’ and I loved Sunday school. Jesus seemed to permeate everything I did as a child, even in my schoolwork I managed to write about Jesus.”
At university, Rebecca got into the habit of reading the Bible and engaging in a personal faith with God. Shortly after relocating to Oxfordshire, Rebecca was moved to join the dispersed Community of St Frideswide in Oxford. It is here that she returned to the simple habit of prayer and experienced more of God in the 'everyday' through community and learning with others.
“I try to start everyday with God, I know if I don’t, I will just make excuses. On those days when I spend more time with God, there is a real difference in how I feel and treat other people. I’ve learned over the past few years not to rely on my own feelings when it comes to experiencing faith and to sustain those habits of prayer and reading the Bible especially when I don’t feel like doing it.”
Rebecca works for the Christian charity, Open Doors, helping to tell the stories of persecuted Christians around the world. Being surrounded by other Christians for most of the week, Rebecca can easily find herself slipping into autopilot, thinking “I already know how this works”, and just going through the motions and assuming Jesus is already there without engaging with him.
“It can feel like I am shielded from the outside world sometimes. We’re called to be the salt of the earth and being with others like you can feel a bit like you are the salt in a box full of salt! That’s where I come back to Jesus to ask him to keep my heart soft, otherwise you can lose sight of why you are doing things.”
At her local church, St Mary the Virgin in Witney, Rebecca is involved with church leadership, pastoral care, and youth work. Confident in God’s calling to all the places she is in right now, Rebecca describes how she experiences God’s presence in the 'everyday'.
“I often wrestle with self-sufficiency. But it’s not about needing Jesus in the things I’m doing it's about inviting him into where I am anyway and wanting his presence. God cares about all of my life, not just the big things.”
You can join the Community of St Frideswide - a dispersed group of young adults encouraging one another in Christian living. See what Bishop Steven had to say.