‘Doubled up with pain, I call to God All the day long. No answer. Nothing. I keep at it all night, tossing and turning… I’m a bucket kicked over and spilled, Every joint in my body has been pulled apart. My heart is a blob Of melted wax in my gut. I’m dry as a […]
hope
Survival Skills: Grieving Spaces
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 […]
Survival Skills: Laugh
‘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 […]
Books, Koorong, and Pain…And Thankfulness
As I write this final blog for the year, it seems fitting to give thanks for everything that has happened in 2024. Even though 2024 has possibly been one of the worst years of my life. Chronic illness ran away from me this year. I have been sick almost non stop. I won’t go into […]
Surviving Chronic Illness Has Arrived!
‘I’m think about writing another book,’ I said to my friend. We’d just been shopping and we were walking along the platform of the train station, talking about my second book which had just been published. ‘I’m feeling the itch to start my third book. It seems I can’t stop writing!’ I laughed. ‘Any idea […]
I Feel Seen…Or A Shameless Promo for World Childless Week
It can be hard to feel seen. In today’s online world, where our opinions and values are often reduced to brief social media posts or twenty-second soundbites, the risk of being misunderstood and openly criticised is real. Even in Zoom-based interactions, it can be challenging to read facial expressions and body language accurately. We can […]
Is Singledom A ‘Season’?
‘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 […]
Keep Calm and Keep on Writing
I sit alone on the park bench, watching the world go by. Nearby walkers pass in and out of my field of vision, but I am not watching them. Their chatter, and the chatter of birds, dimly registers in my consciousness. There is a rose garden to my left; from here, I can see the […]
Praying Through Infertility—Faith Renovations
‘When we start from the foundation of knowing we are loved, rather than demolishing our faith, times of pain can lead to faith renovations…’ – ‘A Firm Foundation’, Katherine Gantlett, from Praying Through Infertility. This quote for me sums up the entire message and tone of Praying Through Infertility, the 90-day devotional for men and women struggling […]
Reflecting on Stories of Life
I recently read the 2023 Stories of Life anthology, Terracotta Travellers and Other Stories of Life, and I found myself deeply moved by the tales I absorbed. Each narrative described unique ways of meeting God, like facets of a turning kaleidoscope. Some were mundane (not that there’s anything mundane about God), some were extraordinary and some […]