Bits’nBlogs #4

Who are the cheerleaders in your life?
It’s been a while… but it’s back!

I really value those who cheer me on in my life, and I thought I would quite like to be a cheerleader for some others too. So here is a selection of some of the best that I’ve come across lately.

• Rachel Held Evans – Woman of Valor series

Every single one of these is an excellent and thought-provoking story of a ‘woman of valour” (as a response to Proverbs 31). These are women who should definitely be praised at the gate.

• Ed Cyzewski – Hazardous Faith Stories

If you enjoyed my ‘Hazardous faith’ story (Here she is. Send Her.) then do check out these others – I found them all fascinating.

• Amber Haines – A Corner on God’s Goodness

•  Alece Ronzino – God is Good

Why things going wrong for us doesn’t mean we’ve fallen out of favour with God (and vice versa). I love Alece’s blog and her perspective on the hard stuff.

• Malcolm Guite – A Quartet for Mary

“Gabriel knelt and not a feather stirred,
The Word himself was waiting on her word.”
Four poems based on the annunciation, visitation etc  – these are beautiful.

• Addie Zierman – For my “Accountability Partner”, on her wedding

“The kingdom of heaven is like a Greek dance.” Addie’s writing is on FIRE at the moment!

• Kay Morgan-Gurr – When children don’t want Jesus in their heart anymore

This was an outstanding piece on how to talk to children about suffering.

• Alia Joy – Graceful

“Because depression can make the gospel seem like nonsense, and that is when I need it the most.” Great honesty and insight here.

On writing and blogging:

• Amber Haines – Concrete: an abstraction on the Bed

Amber Haines is doing a new series on Mondays on writing, which is not to be missed. She is so talented, this will be a masterclass. This particular class is just two paragraphs on her bed, and it is incredible. Seriously.

• Sarah Bessey – In which I’m not preacher or a teacher, I’m an artist 

Sarah brilliant, as ever. I found it really helpful to think of the three ‘genres’ of Christian blogs that Sarah identified. I’d love to know which you think mine is – I’m not sure myself!

On M.E. and disability

• Shareastar – The world of one room

I am housebound but not bedbound with M.E. This short video is a moving portrayal of what life is like for someone bedbound with severe M.E. I would love it if you could watch it.

• Guardian – Disabled benefit claimants face £71 a week fines for breaching work plan

If you are too unwell to work in the UK, then Atos will test your capability for work with a series of computer-generated questions, the notoriously unreliable Work Capability Assessment test. If you are deemed too ill to work (and bearing in mind that even those with terminal cancer have been proclaimed ‘fit for work’) then you are placed into one of two groups: the support group (where you are not compelled to do anything) or Work Related Activity Group (WRAG), which means that the governmennt think you are well enough to do work related activity (e.g. updating your CV, doing a refresher course or interview to prepare for work).   The government is now planning to introduce compulsory ‘work experience’ (which could be full-time) with the threat of withdrawing benefits if you don’t. Unlike those on Job Seekers Allowance, which has a time limit for ‘workfare’, there would be no time limit on this. So the government would like to take people who it has declared unfit for work, and compel them to work without pay for an unlimited time frame. The latter half of this article describes this process. I would be grateful if you could write to your MP to let them know what you think of these plans.

Over to you:

• What’s happening on your blog?
• What’s the best thing you’ve read recently?