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GOD's rich Pattern - Go forth and tell
GOD's rich Pattern - Go forth and tell
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Go forth and tell Seven years of study and preaching commitment were now to culminate in a service commissioning me as a fully accredited Methodist local preacher. What a moment. A day I had longed for. I can remember the beautiful summer’s evening the day before, warm yet cool. …
GOD's rich Pattern - GOD's rich pattern
GOD's rich Pattern - GOD's rich pattern
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
GOD’s rich pattern I write this book from the starting point of having experienced a spiritual breakdown. I’m a fully accredited Methodist Local Preacher with almost fourteen years experience of preaching. By some people’s standards that might be classed as minimal, but my callin…
GOD's rich Pattern - My best friend
GOD's rich Pattern - My best friend
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
My best friend It was Princess Diana who famously once said, ‘There were three of us in this marriage.’ In our case there certainly were – namely, Ralph, myself and Harvey, our chocolate English Cocker Spaniel. He came into our life when he was eleven weeks old. Ralph and I had a…
GOD's rich Pattern - New beginnings
GOD's rich Pattern - New beginnings
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
New beginnings While I was having the operation on my back, the man who was my fiancé at the time came into the hospital and broke off our engagement. We attended the same church and, due to the emotion of it all, I felt I would not be able to attend services there if he was stil…
GOD's rich Pattern - One small step along the way
GOD's rich Pattern - One small step along the way
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
One small step along the way Ralph regularly attended our local Methodist church. He had come a long way spiritually because now his visits were not just when I was preaching. When taking Holy Communion our minister always brought the bread and the wine to our pew and offered it …
GOD's rich Pattern - Patience through the chaos
GOD's rich Pattern - Patience through the chaos
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Patience through the chaos Living with Parkinson’s (I use that phrase deliberately due to the fact that Parkinson’s took over our lives) is no joke, particularly when the person suffering from it is angry, but will not express his anger. The way it manifested itself was to come o…
GOD's rich Pattern - Personal cost
GOD's rich Pattern - Personal cost
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Personal cost The success of our second holiday home was at a personal cost. Ralph became increasingly anxious, never wanting to socialize. My home was becoming more and more of a prison, as I hardly went outside the door. I tried to motivate Ralph, but to no avail. All he was in…
GOD's rich Pattern - Shared dark valley
GOD's rich Pattern - Shared dark valley
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Shared dark valley Every new contact with counselling took me on a different pathway. Through the work with Carematch, Dr Greengross asked me to get involved with SPOD (Sexual Problems of Disabled). It is sobering for some people to realize that people with disabilities are sexua…
GOD's rich Pattern - Steps of faith
GOD's rich Pattern - Steps of faith
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Steps of faith At eleven years old I was given the opportunity of a pioneering surgical procedure, which would, it was hoped, enable me to walk. The medical team told me that it would be a very painful procedure, and that if I decided to take the opportunity I would have to be ve…
GOD's rich Pattern - Taking up the challenge
GOD's rich Pattern - Taking up the challenge
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Taking up the challenge I had spent much of my childhood in the company of my parents, who were working for spastic children (now better known as people with cerebral palsy). Their aim, as one of the first parent groups, later to be known as SCOPE, was initially to raise money fo…
GOD's rich Pattern - The final walk
GOD's rich Pattern - The final walk
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
The final walk In my last meditation I spoke of the unity within my family: Ralph, myself and Harvey, our dog, who meant so much to Ralph. Ralph had had a very difficult year, with lots of bouts of infection and trips to hospital, becoming more and more fatigued and weakened by t…
GOD's rich Pattern - The peace of acceptance
GOD's rich Pattern - The peace of acceptance
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
The peace of acceptance Four years on life had taken on a more peaceful turn. Ralph was not kicking quite so hard. There was more a sense of resignation and acceptance of his situation. Life had more or less returned to normal, whatever that might mean. I was picking up the piece…
GOD's rich Pattern - The rock
GOD's rich Pattern - The rock
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
The rock God and Christ were my rock. They were the foundation on which I had built my life. As a child, going backwards and forwards to hospital for examinations and treatment, my life was very problematic. People said I had the mind of an adult, perhaps because I spent much of …
GOD's rich Pattern - Treading water
GOD's rich Pattern - Treading water
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Treading Water I used this limbo period in my life to study and stretch my mind. My family thought it was a complete waste of time, but when you read C. G. Jung, Freud, Ardler, T. A. Harris and many more, then on the religious front many books from the great writers and philosoph…
GOD's rich Pattern - Trials and tribulations
GOD's rich Pattern - Trials and tribulations
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Trials and tribulations After all the excitement, it was down to earth with a bang. As I stated earlier, I had my left eye removed in 1976. Two years later my right eye (the one I had seen out of) started to play up. The pains in my head were tremendous. It was as though I had a …
GOD's rich Pattern - Up, up and away
GOD's rich Pattern - Up, up and away
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Up, up and away The next five years were incredibly rewarding and challenging. As I grew in confidence as a married woman, I grew in my desire to explore the world around me, and Ralph was the one to help me to do it. His attitude of ‘You’re not disabled, you’re just someone who …
GOD's rich Pattern - Wedding day
GOD's rich Pattern - Wedding day
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Wedding day The frenetic preparation on the morning of my wedding day hardly gave me any time to think about what I was undertaking. The whole day put me in a whirl. I can remember my mother asking me at six o’clock in the morning whether I had any regrets. I told her I couldn’t …
GOD's rich Pattern - Where to now?