the weekend

was flavored by this profile piece on Brandilyn Collins (rising star of Christian suspense fiction). After reading it I was drawn to check out the story of how she got where she did, posted on her blog Forensics and Faith. Sixty fiveposts later... oh my - what a story! (It starts on February 24, 2005 and goes into June. Good thing I printed it out. But have you ever tried to read a consecutive story printed up by month in blog format? It’s a bit like putting a puzzle together!)

Then there’s the story of her healing from Lyme disease - short but compelling and faith-building.

I found lots of good practical stuff to take away from Brandilyn's stories, for my writer-life and my life in general. (If you’re an aspiring writer – in whatever genre but especially fiction – read her story. You’ll learn lots!) One thing she talks about doing over and over, especially in times of stress, sickness and confusion, is praying the Psalms.

Now I’ve heard of this before but haven’t done it consistently. I think I’m going to start.

In fact, I started this morning. I wrote down the list of Psalms she suggests (at the bottom of this post) for when in distress/sickness/pain and for praise, always.

I went to the first reference on her list, Psalm 25:11-16 and read it from the beginning. Though the verses 11-16 are bang-on if you’re ill. I’m not at the moment. But those first verses of the Psalm are exactly the cry of my heart today:

I need this especially in relation to Mom. If you’ve read here before, you know that she’s 92 and her health is failing. She had a crisis over Easter, which she has weathered and she’s still in her little apartment in assisted living. But she’s fragile. Yesterday afternoon she phoned, full of distress. She’s having trouble breathing, very wheezy and so tired she didn’t go for lunch, didn’t feel like going for dinner.

I went right over, we had a talk and soberly looked again at the possibility that this is the time to get her on the list for a facility with more care. Of course the trade-off would be less independence, an even-smaller room, perhaps a room-mate who is in who-knows-what cognitive state. What to do?

So this morning with yesterday in mind and still wondering whether calling Mom’s worker is really the right thing to do, I’m praying these words from Psalm 25 “...O my God I trust in You...Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths...” when the phone rings. It’s Mom. She’s says, “Don’t phone yet...”

Anyway, go read Brandilyn’s book story. At least you won’t have to wait for the next installment, like her readers in real time did.