If you've come here to catch up with what's been happening in my life and health, this is the post for you.
I didn't blog much in 2025. The last you heard from me was a post in mid February where I told you that I'd been diagnosed with a painful lump, a neuroma on the sole of my right foot. It was, and still is, like walking with a little marble inside my shoe.
In fact, life took an unexpected turn in March of last year when a freak misadventure landed me in hospital with five broken ribs. For four long, painful months, I was hardly able to walk or move around at all. I needed to use a hospital bed to move me up and down, I wasn't able to drive or carry my own shopping, and I had to cancel a couple of ministry trips that were planned.
Unable to bend down or move my back without excruciating pain, I even had to teach my dog to pick up anything that I accidentally dropped on the floor! (Just for laughs, you might enjoy the video from the, "Helping Paws" competition that we entered during that time: https://youtu.be/AnCnj8A1GEg )
Meanwhile, the neuroma on my foot wasn't getting any better. By the time I had my first hospital appointment in July, it was so sensitive that I was walking with a stick and could barely make it from the bedroom to the bathroom without tears. The traumatologist prescribed expensive custom insoles, but they didn't make much difference: they allowed me to walk for around 15 minutes without too much pain, but were so uncomfortable that they couldn't be worn for any longer than that. Painful injections between my toes only seemed to make things worse rather than better.
Finally, in January of this year, I had another appointment at a different hospital. This time, the traumatologist said that it seemed surgery would be the only sensible option - that it wasn't reasonable to expect me to live with this level of pain and lack of mobility for the rest of my life.
So now I'm waiting for an appointment with the department that deals with foot surgery. I don't know how long I'll need to wait, but we're moving towards the likelihood that I'll have an operation this year, a neurectomy to remove the section of nerve that has the lump on it.
It's been hard. I haven't been able to walk for almost a year now and I've gained a huge amount of weight from the complete lack of exercise. Thankfully, my wonderful neighbour has been taking my dog for a walk every morning with her own two dogs; I can't express what a blessing that has been.
I'd be grateful for your prayers for the next part of the journey: that I won't wait too long for appointments, that the surgery will be scheduled for dates that don't sabotage important ministry plans, that everything will go smoothly and that I'll recover well.
In one of last year's blog posts (now deleted), I shared that I had found a house that I wanted to buy. I put in an offer that was accepted and the process began to move forward.... until, just at the point of signing all the contracts, my lawyers discovered that the house couldn't legally be sold because the seller has so much debt and the house was in danger of being repossessed by the bank.
It was a huge shock at the time - though I saw God's faithfulness in the fact that no contracts had been signed and no money had changed hands. Now, a year later, when I look back at that strange episode of my life, I can see God's faithfulness in other ways too.
I was able to stay on in the rental flat that I had just moved into, and it's been a good place to be. During the months with broken ribs and this whole year of being unable to walk, it's been a blessing to have the help of my neighbour who walks my dog every day and who also sometimes looks after Maiki when I have to travel for ministry.
I've kept looking now and then at houses for sale, but there is really nothing available in the current housing situation, and property prices continue to escalate at a crazy rate. I'm only too aware that my inheritance, my house-buying fund, is depreciating rapidly in my bank account... but all I can do is trust God's timing and his ongoing faithfulness.
Thank you for your prayers, and God bless you.
