More than Writers

Corrie ten Boom is one of my heroes. Or should I say heroine? Her life is an inspiration to all. During a long debilitating illness a few years ago, I re-read The Hiding Place , the story of Tante Corrie and her family hiding Jews and others being hunted by the Nazis. The outcome was arrest and imprisonment; her octogenarian father died alone in prison while Tante Corrie and her sister Betsie were eventually sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. The horrible illness I suffered (cerebellar ataxia and ME/chronic fatigue) was nowhere near as terrible as being in a concentration camp. Yet to read Corrie's words: 'There is no pit so deep but God's love is deeper still' were timely during one of the darkest times of my life and gave me much-needed strength to keep going. To keep trusting that God's light could never be extinguished by the darkness I was enduring. I love Tante Corrie for teaching me life lessons through her books, of assuring me that God is my Dadd...

In this season of slowing down to rest and recuperate when M.E symptoms are more manifest, I've found myself wondering about the flip-side of chronic illness. There must be one, yes? Thorns sit alongside roses and beauty is found in bare-bones places.  Each dark cloud has a silver lining, albeit a faint, barely discernible sliver. As I pondered and prayed I began to see that this less-than-ordinary life many of us live can become a gift of grace if viewed with a new perspective. When:cognitive ability and energy are more available, I'm enabled to press past the pain, feel my way through flattening fatigue, and there is a slice of time to be present, then I love to read, write and pray. So I am sharing a taster of the things which are impacting my spirituality and creativity - namely an eclectic mix of books with unifying themes. Because I'm also at the very early stages of compiling my haphazardly organised poetry into a semblance of an anthology, it means I'm di...