This guest blog comes from my friend Helen Taylor
I’m quite picky when it comes to Instagram… I have pretty high standards about who I follow because I just get bored of the trash that fills up my feed and stories roll. But one person who made it into the exclusive club of ‘people Helen follows‘ was Clemmie Hooper.
Clemmie, aka mother-of-daughters, filled my feed with adorable pictures of her four kids, her midwifery stories, fashion and interiors inspo… she also has, in my opinion, amazing hair. But Clemmie hit the news back in November 2019 when she was outed for creating a fake account – trolling other users, and eventually even close friends. In her own words, Clemmie “got lost in this online world”.
There’s so much that can be deceptive and dangerous about being connected online… fake accounts, catfishing, sexual predators.
But if there were ever a time for us to celebrate the benefits of online connectedness it is now.
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I’ve loved connecting with friends and family online… although I don’t think I’ve ever done as many quizzes in such a short space of time.
But I do miss conversations where our attention is on each other, not on the child clambering to hold the phone, or on the untidied pile of paper just to the left of the screen.
I miss the conversations where I’m not so distracted by my random bit of hair sticking up, or how my glasses are seemingly always wonky.
I miss just sitting with someone.
I miss the honest and vulnerable conversations with friends where tears come freely, because we’re face to face, not face to screen.
Because our virtual connectedness is, at least in part, just that – virtual. And our lives are bigger than this. We’re made for more than this.
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And I can’t wait to hug my Mum again, but I’m made for more than that too.
The main thing that’s brought me comfort, hope and sanity during lockdown isn’t my daily walk, or online connectedness or my lockdown buddy – but connecting with Jesus.
Jesus Christ’s whole reason for living was to make God knowable – to show us what God is like, and to invite us into relationship with Him and Jesus died so that that would be a possibility for us.
Getting it into my head that God is powerful, that he’s working for my good, that he knows me and loves me can be painful, draining and long. It’s like I’m breaking an addiction to the illusion that I’m in control and know what’s best for me. But it’s the best thing I could ever do for myself. It’s transforming my everyday, online and real, in the flesh, connectedness. It lets me be honest about how I’m doing, and what my hopes and fears are.
I’m spending a looot of time online… I’m battling my way back up to champion of our weekly quiz with friends from church, and secretly keeping up with the Kardashians, and zoom calling family all over the world.
But my heart was made for more than this… my heart was made for more than even my best friends and family.
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I was made to be known and know God, to be loved and love God.
And you are too.
Helen Taylor – Helen Taylor is married to James and works for UCCF with students in the Midlands. She loves to feed people good food and dance to good music.
Nay Dawson 
Thank you Helen for this, and for sharing your honest experience of faith. Sometimes I feel I must be getting it all wrong because it’s hard. Jesus isn’t a silver bullet in my life who makes everything ok. But what you shared resonated with me-connecting with him and bringing all my anxieties to him has made a huge difference in this time. I’d love to hear what other people thought too!
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