Forty-one
members of the Redbud Writers Guild have come together to provide stories of
hope and redemption, often from very deep and very dark holes. Editors Shayne
Moore and Margaret Ann Philbrick have assembled these 41 stories into Everbloom:Stories of Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives.
Organized into
four sections – “Roots,” “Trunk,” “Branches,” and “Blossoms,” Everbloom is
filled with a broad diversity of stories and poems – nothing seems similar or repetitive.
These accounts do have one thing in common – they are riveting accounts of
scenes, issues, events, tragedies, and triumphs in the lives of Christian
women.
A missionary kid
watches a local man beat his wife, and sees her father unable to do anything about
it.
An old tree is
cut down.
A career move
takes away everything and everyone who is familiar.
From childhood,
a woman lives with fear of abduction.
A much-wanted
baby is lost in miscarriage.
A young woman is
gang-raped.
A brother kills
himself.
A short-term
missionary trip becomes an introduction to AIDS in Africa.
A woman who can’t
stop bleeding.
A pastor who
becomes an activist for ageism – when her professor husband is told by his
Christian college that they have to let him go for budget reasons, and, oh, by
the way, could he train his younger replacement?
And more. A lot
more.
These stories
are the stuff of real experience and real life. But they’re more than stories –
they’re lessons we can all apply.
Each story and
poem has a prayer and a writing prompt, so the book becomes more than a
collection. It’s an invitation to consider your own life and your own
experiences.
I’m not familiar
with all of the writers and poets included in the book, but I do follow the
writing of several, including April Yamasaki, Leslie Leyland Fields, and Sarah
Rennicke. That’s the other benefit of the book – to find new people to read and
follow.
Everbloom is moving, and often heart wrenching, but
it always about hope.
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