I am, at the core, in the sanctuary of my heart; the Beloved of God. I am one who desires to dance with God and find bliss there. I am healing, I am learning, I am growing and I am learning to hold tenderly all the parts of myself - the good and the bad. 

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But I assume you did not come here for that answer, and so...

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For those interested, I am a textbook Enneagram 9, Social subtype. As my enneagram number would indicate, I love quiet, calm and places of peace, and yet I love to be amongst gatherings of beauty and creativity. Hobbies I love are acro, live music and festivals, and a new found love of Hindustani Classical Singing, which I recently started learning. 

I have spent the past 11 years living in Asia with my husband Joshua, and our two beautiful kids. We moved to India and Thailand to be amongst the communities we love; spiritual seekers, rainbow family, the wanderers and the heart sore - those who would never fit or feel comfortable in religious institutions. The past 8 years have been spent at Shekina Garden Community in Pai, a beautiful place of Spiritual practice and devotion and with a group of soul friends who will forever have a special sacred place in my heart - we have been through so much together. 

 I have always wanted to learn about God and worship from other cultures and people, recognising that the spiritual path I was handed is one that has been steeped in white Western culture, and that Christ is bigger and more beautiful than we can imagine when we hear the voices of devotees of Christ from all over the world, particularly the voices in the margins. 

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In late 2022, my family and I returned to my home country of Australia to settle our children into their highschool years. It was a decision that holds much sadness and grief.

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I have entered the work force in Australia in the Spiritual and Pastoral Care sector for residential aged care facilitites. Holding space for people at end of life has been sacred work.

 

I hold a Bachelors Degree in Development Studies from Macquarie University, Sydney. God has placed on my heart a desire to serve the poor and the marginalised. This has led me to work with many development and poverty alleviating projects. In Pai Thailand, we are actively involved in organising and facilitating food delivery drives, assisting local Karen people to help refugees at the Thai border, fleeing unrest in Myanmar and helping create sewing projects for women coming out of sex work through Compass 31. As the years have gone by, I have been challenged in how to best serve the poor, from my place of privilege and whiteness. I have not always done this well. This is an ongoing process, but core to my faith, and my love for Jesus inspires a deep and unfailing desire to care for those in need. 

Varanasi, India and Pai, Thailand are places in which my faith took deep roots, not only through the beauty and richness of these places, but also the places of rawness and brokenness they led me to. Those moments have birthed a passion to help people meet Jesus who are all over the spiritual spectrum. Those burnt out and worn out by religion, those who are strong and firm, those who are doubting and at the end of their rope, those who are curious about Jesus.

 

There is a place for you here. If you haven't picked up on it already, I'm really, 

really into Jesus and the story of hope, compassion, and love that has 

been weaving its way through history since the very beginning. The story that

we are still in the middle of. 

I believe in a boundless Jesus. A Jesus who welcomes our questions, our

vulnerability and loves us right where we are.

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I welcome all people to direction with a soul friend, regardless of

background, sexuality, gender, belief or lack thereof.

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I am fully affirming of the LGBTQIA+ community. You are welcome

here, fully loved - just as you are.

~ Naomi -xx-

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