Healing
I want to live the life of a hermit. A small, air-conditioned home, in the middle of a forest, with sea views, of course. I’d nip into the closest supermarket for supplies once a month and the closest church on Sunday. In. Out. I’d stay in contact with family via the internet.
Sadly that’s a reasonable description of the life I’m already living, in the middle of suburbia.
I teach one day of the week and work the equivalent of one day in the public library. I am committed to neither job.
I share a suburban property with three other people: my husband and his parents, and a dog. I spend my ‘non-working’ days gardening if the weather permits, with my nose in someone else’s book, lying on the bed creating stories, or at the computer writing them.
A degree of solitude is important for a writer. But so, I know in my heart, is community.
Spiritual abuse and its partner psychological pain have born in my life a desire for solitude. I fear that, if I truly enter into community again, I will be hurt. How many times can a soul cope with rejection and abandonment? How can church be satisfying when it raises more questions than it answers? When I constantly come away frustrated and alienated? When the emotional energy sacrificed trying to relate to people after church leaves me exhausted and can wipe me out for a day and a half?
I know, in my heart, it is time to move from solitude to community. From virtually being a hermit to becoming honestly engaged with the people I meet in the wider world.
How will I recognise community when I find it?
I turn to the One who loves me and ask Him to gently prepare me.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 2497 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Val Clark or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 2497 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.
"I turn to the One who loves me and ask Him to gently prepare me."
I expect that the next one will take off from here...
Thus I am very excited to see how it goes.
Is this the stage you're at now, still ostracised from community?
I feel for you... am sad for you.
But am in the same boat myself. I rarely go out, rarely socialise. It's hard enough, with shyness... without having to socialise in another language!
Anyway, I'm excited to see where this goes...
The other change I would make would be to add commas to this sentence: "Spiritual abuse and its partner, psychological pain, have born in my life a desire for solitude."
As for the content: don't change anything! I thought you were describing me for a moment! There is a message here that I believe is quite timely and needs to be heard. I'm looking forward to reading the rest and hope they display the same honesty and courage as this one. God Bless, Jules.
I echo everyone else in not being able to make it better ... I think you've done a great job with it and look forward to seeing the MC gradually integrate her way back into the community, how that happens etc.
Possibly, when you submit, you should plan to send the first three/four so that an editor can see that you're going to be moving along.
Only two patches worth looking at:
A small, air-conditioned home, in the middle of a forest, with sea views, of course. This sentence as it reads has too many commas. Try knocking some out - I'd probably keep the one following 'small' and before 'of course'. You might even think you can get rid of them all except the last one. Not sure, because grammar isn't my strongest point, but from a reader pov it would be less jumpy with less commas.
Spiritual abuse and its partner psychological pain have born in my life..... I think I'd put a comma after partner and pain.
Otherwise you've done an excellent job, and I really do want to see what happens.
Write well.
Christine