Guest Author Blog - A message from Denise

Denise Stevenson is a 50 year old mum-of-three, who's just had a nine month re-birth. She lives in the South of France with her husband and three daughters.

The author of two previous books; 40 Days (written in 'real time' following her mother's sudden death) and Emmanuel (following her calling to build a new church with no experience, no funding and no qualifications), both of which are available on Amazon.

Denise is the president of an International Church in Toulouse (church31.fr), who has a message to share...

Beauty for Ashes

It was a wonderful 50th birthday; short notice for a party at home to mark this pivotal moment in a woman's life. Time to mark the halfway point, exciting plans ahead.

What I didn't know at the time was that God had other plans for me this year and by the end of it my favourite Bible verse 'For I know the plans I have for you' had taken on an entirely different significance. 'He' may well have known the plans for my 50th year, I was blissfully ignorant of them.

I had a nagging doubt: Two dear friends that I'd worked alongside 25 years before were both at my party. Between them another more recent bond had formed, one that I was about to join them in: Breast cancer.

My doubt was fully realised after the celebrations when I began chasing the results of a biopsy I'd had taken of a cyst that had been slowly growing in my breast for the past 18 months.