Could they hear my heart pounding?

....if they could, no-one said.

It went SO well!

Every word of my first sermon just seemed to flow, no fluffed lines, no mistakes and it seemed to be really well received.

I stepped up to the lectern and could swear my heart was banging away so loudly that it could be heard at the back of the church.

One small hiccup of emotion about a third of the way through (after all this was a HUGE undertaking for me) but I gave myself a mental kick and carried on.

And the feedback was so great! It was lovely when people came up to me and said how much they'd enjoyed it. Even the baptism parents thanked me at the end (Thanking me? It's usually the vicar who's thanked, not little old me. THAT felt great!)

So I got home all hyped up, super excited and raring to go again, but now it's time to calm down and look forward to the next few weeks worth of duties in the run up to Christmas.

(But I'm still like a kid in a sweet shop, woopee!)