SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
GOD's rich Pattern - A coming together
GOD's rich Pattern - A coming together
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A coming together Our friendship blossomed. We had many happy social hours together. It was wonderful helping Ralph to enter into the world of classical music. It was at one such concert, which had the romantic double bill of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, and Rachmaninov’s Seco…
GOD's rich Pattern - A fine romance
GOD's rich Pattern - A fine romance
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A fine romance My life was to take a dramatic turn in a way I could never have expected. I had had a client referred to me for bereavement counselling. We had shared nineteen hours. In that time he had gone through many emotions, talking about his late wife, who had died six mont…
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 - A new career
GOD's rich Pattern - A new career
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A new career My good friend, Dr Wendy Greengross, known to many of you as Dr Wendy in the Sun newspaper and for her counseling broadcasts on the BBC’s If You Think You’ve Got Problems programme, had become a great supporter to me from 1976, when I had my first eye removed. She ha…
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 - Dogged determination
GOD's rich Pattern - Dogged determination
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Dogged determination I had a mixed reaction from people when I entered the local preachers’ meeting. I was questioned by the secretary as to my ability to preach. He said that it would be difficult for me to cope with the public speaking. I explained that I had done over three hu…
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 - 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 - A new way of communicating
GOD's rich Pattern - A new way of communicating
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A new way of communicating The media attention that I have just mentioned took me to places of which I would never have dreamt. A friend, who had multiple sclerosis, ran a regional branch of the Muriel Braddick Foundation. This provided taped music, Christian thought and personal…
GOD's rich Pattern - A near-death experience
GOD's rich Pattern - A near-death experience
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A near-death experience Six months on from the removal of my right eye, I was to receive another devastating blow. I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon due to the pain in my leg. He examined me and found that I had an abnormal pulse in both my legs, and he wished me to be seen by…
GOD's rich Pattern - Another Interesting twist
GOD's rich Pattern - Another Interesting twist
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Another interesting twist Remember how I said that all the things that have happened so far were part of God’s rich pattern? Broadcasting was still very much my first love, but I never thought an opportunity would come quite like this one. David Wood, the manager at the bank, cam…
GOD's rich Pattern - A change of direction
GOD's rich Pattern - A change of direction
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A change of direction Thrilled though I was to have employment in the City of London, I could not see myself remaining as a telephonist of a city bank for ever. As much as I tried to do the work to the very best of my ability, after six years I became bored and thought that I had…
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 - A window on the world
GOD's rich Pattern - A window on the world
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A window on the world The joy of discovering that I had a brain soaking up English literature, music and choral singing was fantastic. I’d had, until blindness struck, only a very basic education. It was really only occupation of the mind, rather than learning life skills. Now, a…
GOD's rich Pattern - Coming out of the darkness
GOD's rich Pattern - Coming out of the darkness
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Coming out of the darkness Blindness makes you draw on inner resources and get in touch with the world around you in a different way. Sound is all important. Music can be a wonderful comforter, enabling one to get on a higher spiritual plane. My first introduction to classical mu…
GOD's rich Pattern - A change to my world
GOD's rich Pattern - A change to my world
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A change to my world I had learnt to walk at the age of thirteen, and I started to enjoy the freedom of movement. I had been partially sighted all my life due to oxygen damage of the eyes at birth. I had gone to an ophthalmic hospital for my usual check-up. The doctor seemed to t…
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 - The rock