It’s no secret that the Omega Christian Writers conference is happening next week. Preparations have been underway for months now (OK, for two years actually, since the last in-person conference) and now it’s almost time! Squeeee! But what is so good about a writer’s conference? I’ve written about the advantages of conference before: being with […]
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I Forgot About the Cloud of Witnesses
I had surgery earlier this year. Nothing major, thankfully, but it was nerve-wracking nonetheless. I have had flare-ups owing to surgery in the past, so any kind of procedure requiring general anaesthetic holds a special kind of terror for me. If you know, you know. The hardest thing about surgery is doing it alone. People […]
Collateral Beauty
‘Instead of focusing on collateral damage all the time,’ my friend smiled, ‘I’m trying to see the collateral beauty in the midst of the challenges. I’m looking at them as opportunities. And that’s made all the difference.’ Her phrase “collateral beauty” struck me—so much so that I asked her permission to use it on the […]
Why Living with Lupus is Like a Scavenger Hunt—Part 3
What about Faith? Faith can be a two-edged sword with chronic illness. On the one hand, God’s nearness and companionship have been a great comfort to me. On the other, God has not healed me of lupus. I have wrestled with this. After all, it would be a whole lot easier if God would simply […]
Continue reading Why Living with Lupus is Like a Scavenger Hunt—Part 3
Why Living with Lupus is like a Scavenger Hunt—Part 1
Something was wrong with me. I just knew it. I was in my early twenties, freshly graduated from university and starting work at my first full-time job. Flushed with my own success, I threw myself into work, embracing everything it threw back at me. The world was my oyster. Except this oyster was woefully sick. […]
Continue reading Why Living with Lupus is like a Scavenger Hunt—Part 1
The Counterculturalism of Stillness
‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Psalm 46:10, NIV Nearly three years ago, I started practising stillness on a regular basis. Inspired by Julia Baird’s luminescent book, Phosphorescence*, and the constant noise inside my own head, I set myself a goal of becoming still at least once a day. It didn’t matter if […]
My Weird Testimony
‘I’ll pray for your healing,’ smiled the young woman. ‘Actually,’ I smiled back, ‘I think God has told me he’s not going to heal me.’ The woman frowned. ‘That’s not the God I know. My God would never deny me healing.’ ‘OK, let me tell you my weird testimony…’ In the not-too-distant past, I was […]
Myths of 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 […]
Survival Skills: Grace in the Flames
Three years ago I became disabled by illness. I don’t know whether it was lupus or not; the illness was never diagnosed. But it was a doozy of a flare-up and I was off work for about six months. During that time, I was virtually house-bound, going out only for medical appointments. I had to […]
Survival Skills: Scriptures for Illness
‘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 […]