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Myths of Singledom

19/06/202519/06/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

I met my husband later in life: I was twenty-nine. OK, that may not sound like a ‘late’ marriage, but in my church circles everyone was married by the ripe old age of twenty-one. At twenty-nine, I was considered practically retired. Or a leper. During those years of singledom, I encountered some interesting myths and […]

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Survival Skills: It’s Not Fair!

05/06/202505/06/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

There are times when I get super jealous of able-bodied people. There, I said it. As much as envy is not exactly a fruit of the Spirit, this try-hard Christian experiences jealousy on a semi-regular basis. I feel it watching other people climb stairs without a problem. I experience it when friends regale me with […]

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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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Not Your Typical Self-Help Book (Thank God)

22/11/202422/11/2024 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness

I can’t stand self-help books. You know the ones that advertise ‘Seven Steps to a Completely Successful Life’ and ‘Nine Ways to Be the Best Christian Ever’? Yep, not a fan. It’s not that I think these topics are trite or unworthy of our time. Quite the opposite. These are hugely important discussions for us […]

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Is Singledom A ‘Season’?

19/07/202419/07/2024 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

‘Don’t worry, your singleness is just for a season,’ my friend reassured me. ‘Why don’t you use this season to work on yourself?’ Ugh. There is so much in these two seemingly innocuous sentences that irks me. Beyond the misconception that once you work on yourself the right partner will magically appear, summoned by your […]

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Music is My IV

23/02/202423/02/2024 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Chronic Illness, Surviving Singledom, Survivng Childlessness, Worship

I’ve been listening to music during my latest illness flare. A lot. You could say music is my IV.  Music has always been a lifeline for me. From childhood days when I would sing songs softly to God at bedtime, through teenaged years of alternate rock and angst-ridden folklore, to now when I sing for […]

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Single AND Content? In This Economy? 

21/07/202321/07/2023 Steph Penny 2 Comments Surviving Singledom

It’s funny how contentment can shift as time passes. For years, I was content being single. People around me were getting married, having babies, trialling separation. I felt genuinely happy for them (or sympathetic, in the case of separation), without even a glimmer of jealousy or discontentment. Occasionally I felt lonely, living solo in my […]

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Multiplication Challenges—Or Are They? 

21/04/202321/04/2023 Steph Penny Leave a comment Survivng Childlessness

‘How do you deal with being childless at church?’ a friend recently asked me. ‘Do people put pressure on you to “Be fruitful and multiply”?’  I nodded emphatically. ‘You betcha. Happens all the time.’  Her eyes widened. ‘How do you deal with that?’  It’s a good question, isn’t it? What is the best way to […]

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The Voice of Parliament 

14/04/202314/04/2023 Steph Penny Leave a comment Worship

As Australia moves on from Easter and into national debates around the Voice of Parliament, we cannot help but contemplate affliction. The affliction of our First Nations people is in our faces, confronting us with the brutal reality of their mistreatment, abuse and abandonment.  Stan Grant, Q+A presenter on the ABC and Aboriginal Christian man, has felt […]

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    Recent Blogs

    • Myths of Singledom 19/06/2025
    • Survival Skills: Grace in the Flames 12/06/2025
    • Survival Skills: It’s Not Fair! 05/06/2025
    • Survival Skills: Scriptures for Illness 29/05/2025
    • 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
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