An unexpected outcome

Early last year, I received a friend request on Facebook from someone whose name had been mentioned to me by a mutual friend. This mutual friend had given my new Facebook friend Jo a copy of my memoir Soul Friend for Christmas and she had apparently loved it. Jo and I conversed briefly via Facebook from time to time as she began sending me little comments about my weekly blogs and I soon saw we were on the same wavelength in so many ways. At one stage, she told me how, after reading Soul Friend, she decided to check out some of the books I had quoted or referred to there. Then from time to time, she would post little snippets she particularly liked from these on Facebook and I would always click the ‘Like’ button! It was uncanny how many of the passages she chose were my favourites too!

Recently, I read on Facebook that she and her husband had purchased a beautiful property in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney be used for holidays and retreats and had named it ‘Dadirri’. From the photos, I could see it was a large, tastefully furnished house, surrounded by trees and close to excellent bushwalks. Then just yesterday, Jo messaged me to tell me the story of how this beautiful home had become theirs and why they had chosen the name ‘Dadirri’.

It turned out that she and her husband had long wanted to buy such a property and make it available for retreats for those seeking to be quiet and be refreshed by God. Then one day last year, after stumbling across this house and noting it was for sale, Jo sat down to continue reading the book Lost in Wonder by Esther de Waal—one of those I had quoted in my own book Soul Friend. There she discovered the word ‘dadirri’, an Australian Aboriginal word for deep silence or ‘the open-eyedness of someone who explores where he or she has always belonged’ (p 43) and read how the Christian aboriginal artist, Miriam-Rose Ungummer, describes it ‘tapping into a deep spring that is within us all’. This confirmed to Jo and her husband that God intended them to have that particular property and that its name was to be ‘Dadirri’.

They immediately made an offer and the owners asked to meet them. Jo and her husband discovered this elderly couple were Christians and were having a hard time letting their beautiful property go. But on hearing that Jo and her husband were also Christians, the owners were overjoyed and the deal was soon done.

Jo purposely shared this story with me to show me how my little book had played such a vital part in her family’s dream of seeing a retreat house become reality. Through Soul Friend, she discovered Lost in Wonder. And from that book came the wonderful, meaningful name they chose—‘Dadirri’. A further lovely aside to this story is that my own dear ‘soul friend’ Joy, who inspired my book, lives in the Blue Mountains herself, not far from where ‘Dadirri’ is located!

May this story encourage and inspire you all, as you begin another writing year. When we commit our books to the Lord, be they fiction or non-fiction, God can certainly use them in wonderful and unique ways we could never ever have dreamt up in any plot!

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Lessons from our vast land

I have just checked out a map of the world and noted that many of us in this writers’ group come from very large countries, geographically speaking. Apparently, my own country of Australia is our planet's sixth largest, yet we have a population of only 22.68 million, most of that number living around the coastal rim. We Aussies live in a vast land—a fact that impacted me again recently when my husband and I undertook two interstate road trips.

Last month, we drove south from our home in Sydney to the edge of Melbourne, Victoria, for me to speak at a special women’s event—a journey of about nine hours. We then headed to Bendigo in central Victoria and home again via a more inland route through Wagga Wagga and Bathurst and back over the Blue Mountains. We enjoyed our trip very much—the countryside was green, the scenery beautiful and, to top it off, we found lots of interesting, old gold-mining towns to explore along the way.

Then this month, we undertook an even longer road trip north to Queensland—around eleven hours of driving. We headed up what is commonly called the coast road, a route we love. There is one spot that is my absolute favourite where, just after cresting a hill, we always gasp in amazement as we gaze at the beautiful hinterland of the Northern Rivers area, with its lush hills and valleys, stretching away to the blue Pacific Ocean in the distance.

We decided to come home via an inland route, through country towns such as Armidale and Tamworth. Again, I was blown away by the vastness of our land, as we drove through wonderful cattle and sheep grazing country, as well as farms where crops such as wheat and canola were being cultivated. We love this route too, away from the lushness that characterises a large proportion of the coast road, but equally breathtaking with its rocky mountain outcrops, typically Aussie bushland and wide, rolling plains.

As we undertook these long drives, I began to realise God was using them to change my heart attitude and widen my perspective on things. These past few months have been very busy for me, with lots of speaking engagements, the launch of my latest novel, The Inheritance, and extra grandchild-minding duties—not to mention my writing! In it all, I had become quite ‘me-focused’, trying to balance everything and being consumed by each little task. I believe God used the vastness of our land to show me how insignificant all my little worries and cares truly are when compared to the vastness and wonder of his creation. Surely God, the all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of our entire country, is well able to empower and sustain me in my little speaking and writing journey!

The psalmist says it all, don’t you think, in these first two verses of Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

With the Lord as our Helper, watching over us day and night and over all our coming and going, as this psalm goes on to say, what more do we need in our writing journeys?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.