Inner Circle

I recently had a birthday. It was a gorgeous sunny spring day with many favorite parts including a surprise visit from my daughter and two sweet grandsons who live five hours away.

Usually I know everything or can figure it out. This surprise I did not see coming. When my sweet two year old grandboy walked up to me at the restaurant with a bouquet of purple wild flowers, I burst into tears. I don’t burst with emotion often-it was a beautiful surprise.

My son-in-law was out of town working on the West Coast but sent me a video of a very large man doing a birthday dance wearing only a speedo. I sent my son-in-law a text, “You must have the best mother-in-law ever because you could send me this. Secondly I love it.” He knows me. He knows my sense of humor is slightly off color and weird.

Our youngest son who is away at college said when he meets new friends he tells them I’m a Reverend but a really irreverent one. He knows me too.

I love being known. I love having an inner circle around me of family and friends who get me, who know what I’m really like. Once I traveled back to a former church I’d served and the staff brought in lunch. It was all my favorite foods. They knew me.

I especially treasure those in my inner circle who knew me before I was a pastor. They don’t carry any of that pastoral baggage or expectation that some people have. They knew me when, and love me still.

Scripture claims that God is in our inner circle, knowing us as we were knit together in our mother’s wombs, knowing the number of hairs on our heads, knowing our sighs and groans which are too deep for words. God knows our thoughts, mistakes and grievous errors and loves us anyway.

As I dream of some new things, I’m building my inner circle. I’m inviting my readers to help guide some of my future projects which include writing and speaking. I’d like to invite the inner circle members to pray for me in these new endeavors. I’d like to share with you first what is on my heart and mind. I will enjoy letting you be first to help me pilot some new ideas or ministry projects if they seem interesting to you. Maybe I will include some of what I consider to be funny and you can see for yourself how strange and irreverent I can be.

All I need is your email address. Some of you already subscribe to my blog through my website. Your current subscription to my blog will not change. But if you decide to become a part of my Inner Circle, you will receive a Top Ten List each month with wisdom I’ve collected in my mind and heart for years now. The first one will be my Top Ten Soul Tending Tips. Other lists I’m planning include: Top Ten Relationship Tips, Top Ten Things Your Pastor Wants You to Know and my personal favorite, Top Ten Things I’d Like to Tell Men.

I promise I will not send too many emails and if I do, you can do my favorite thing and unsubscribe.

I love being known. I love having people I can count on for prayer, humor, support and even to bounce ideas around.

Can I count on you to join me on this journey?

To join the Inner Circle mailing list, simply enter your e-mail below and click the join button.

Dr. Cindy Ryan is a pastor, wife, mother of three, Mimosa/Mocha to Keller and Pace and breast cancer survivor.

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