Welcome, Welcome!

I have to say first how thankful I am that you have made it this far. Welcome, to GUSH! I should start by explaining the meaning of what it feels like a squishy word that I have decided to use as the name of this platform.

As you will soon learn if you have not already, I am a person of faith and I kindly ask you not to use this as a write off on this space. I want to create a safe, open and real space in the middle of the chaos we face day to day. This might sound idealistic to you but I do not have a doubt on what this community will become for me personally but also for many who come in contact with it.

Anyway, to explain best how this came about I have to give you at least a snippet of context. I use writing as a personal safe space, to me it's like taking the clutter of my brain and putting it into paper, some times it's more like a yearly decluttering and some other times it is more like a necessity to be able to see a situation in a third person perspective.

Airplanes are like a thing for me, any time I get on one I have my paper and pen ready. It's a ritual at this point: get on the plane, find your seat, nap and then write, write, write. It was in one of these moments that I decided to start working on this platform. When deciding the name I knew I enjoyed unique words and gathered around in my apartment with my college roommates we began brainstorming and researching based on the concept, that's when I came about this word: Gush.

As a noun it is defined as " a sudden rapid flow ", which resonated with me in the way these words come about. If you know about the Holy Spirit and have opened up to him, you know about the sudden downloads of ideas, or visions we get to experience from time to time. Most of the written words in this space I pray, are inspired by Him. And my favorite part, as a verb it is defined as "an unrestrained expression of emotion", how beautiful is that?

This is not a place of shame, but of honesty, we celebrate each other's uniqueness and support each other in hurt. And if you have spent enough time around me, or worse, lived with me, I have an unrestrained laugh and expressions so I related deeply to this fun word: Gush.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, this platform is about a community of expression, breaking the notion that following Jesus means perfection, and getting real and raw about our journeys. I am very excited to say you will not only be hearing from me, but incredible women that I am honored to know who are unrestrained in who they are, bold, strong, honest and faithful. This is an ongoing conversation, so we invite you to interact, comment, join our forums, ask questions, if you have anything you think we should talk about send us a message!

With much joy and love I say once more, Welcome to our family!

xoxo, Rosalya