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Prayer of a Disfigured Christian

18/04/202518/04/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Worship

“The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We […]

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Survival Skills: The God Who Allows Pain

11/04/202511/04/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

‘Why does God allow suffering?’ is a common catch-cry in our society. Christians and non-Christians alike struggle with the concept of a God who either doesn’t seem to care about our pain, or who cares but appears powerless to intervene. For a Christian who believes God is all-powerful as well as all-caring, it’s a conundrum. […]

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Survival Skills: Beauty and Breath

28/03/202528/03/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

In the cool of the evening, I walk down the winding street toward the lake. The sunlight is fading gently into deep yellow and orange, the feathered clouds tinged with pink. There are a few joggers and dog walkers about, and we exchange a nod and a soft greeting. I pass gum trees, bottle brushes […]

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Survival Skills: Find Your Illness Tribe

21/03/202521/03/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

‘Find your tribe,’ they say. But how do you find your illness tribe—especially when your illness is rare? My particular brand of illness, known as lupus, apparently affects approximately 0.06% of the population and five million people worldwide.[i] So it’s not like I’m going to find many fellow ‘lupies’ at my workplace or local church. […]

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Survival Skills: Upending Ableism

14/03/202514/03/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

‘You need to do more squats,’ said my friend. ‘When your muscles are stronger, your knees won’t hurt as much.’ I stared at her. ‘Yeah, no,’ I snorted. ‘I can’t actually do squats at all.’ ‘Well,’ she said, the cogs in her brain clearly struggling with the concept of someone being unable to do squats, […]

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Survival Skills: Grieving Spaces

07/03/202507/03/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

I woke up with a niggle in my chest. It’s fine, I told myself. I took pain killers anyway. They I laid down to rest, but the pain became rapidly worse. So I got up, sat on the couch, and began praying that the pain killers would kick in really soon. Twenty minutes later I […]

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Survival Skills: Get. A. Second. Opinion.

28/02/202528/02/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

‘You have some blood markers for lupus,’ the professor said, ‘and you have some symptoms for lupus, but I don’t feel comfortable diagnosing you with lupus.’ I groaned internally. I was sitting in the specialist’s office, hoping to finally have some answers for the medical circus that lived in my body. I had been living […]

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Survival Skills: Laugh

21/02/202521/02/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

‘I don’t know how you cope with your chronic illness,’ remarked my doctor. ‘You seem to bear it so well.’ I laughed. ‘Maybe I should come in and show you what I’m like on a bad day!’ As good as my doctors are, laughter can be even better medicine. I have a pretty impressive repertoire […]

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We Have Liftoff!

14/02/202514/02/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

The launch party for Surviving Chronic Illness: Grace in the Flames went off without a hitch! Last Saturday 8th Feb, 2025, a small gathering of about twenty people met upstairs in an intimate yet open space at Thirroul C3 church. We ate food—including freshly baked lemon-and-lime mini-muffins and chocolate brownies—and then we settled down for […]

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Am I Brave?

31/01/202531/01/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

‘I don’t know how you cope with your illness,’ said my well-meaning friend. ‘You must be really brave!’ I flinched inwardly. I knew she meant it as a compliment, and I took it in the spirit in which it was given, but something in me reacted involuntarily. The notion of surviving chronic illness being reduced […]

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    Recent Blogs

    • Prayer of a Disfigured Christian 18/04/2025
    • Survival Skills: The God Who Allows Pain 11/04/2025
    • Survival Skills: Beauty and Breath 28/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Find Your Illness Tribe 21/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Upending Ableism 14/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Grieving Spaces 07/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Get. A. Second. Opinion. 28/02/2025
    • Survival Skills: Laugh 21/02/2025
    • We Have Liftoff! 14/02/2025
    • Am I Brave? 31/01/2025
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