Wilma Derksen
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New View - 2023

1/2/2023

7 Comments

 
Out with the old and in with the brand new.

I could be in the doldrums. This last year will always be known as the year I lost Cliff. Latter February, he was diagnosed with stage four gall bladder cancer and died within three months - just long enough for him to draft the story his life through a blog series that caught the attention of a lot of readers. I am totally biased but I thought it was a spectacular read which we published in November as Chasing the Light now found on Amazon.

After his passing, instead of slowing down my life picked up speed and I found myself attending a conference in Calgary, a family retreat at Rock Lake and even going on a Caribbean cruise in October. My heart broke open in grief going up the Banff gondola because I missed him so much. I was on top of the mountains - almost touching the sky - and he wasn’t there. I spent his birthday floating through the underground tunnels of Belize and he wasn’t there either.

Or was he? He might have not been there physically but I did feel his smiling presence. “Continue to live,” I felt him saying. If anything, his life taught me –“to live with intentionality.”

So I’m trying.

After the book launch, I was thrown the biggest challenge of all – the opportunity to move into an apartment. I loved the idea of shedding the responsibilities of a house, but moving meant downsizing a house loaded with 22 years of accumulation. By the time we were into the Christmas season, I was in the middle of the chaos.
​
I was in a total mess.

My mind was scrambled trying to make all kinds of difficult decisions, my heart was drowning in a flood of memories, my body was exhausted carrying boxes and garbage bags up from the basement and my spirit was flickering with misgivings. Am I doing the right thing? My life-long processing companion wasn’t there anymore to reassure you me, to encourage me and to help make the challenges of life an adventure rather than a burden.

Anyway –with the help of my angel family and friends, I am now beginning the new year in an apartment with a view!
I think I want to blog about this view.  It is a new place for me – on many, many, many levels.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln
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7 Comments
Sharon yarowy
1/2/2023 05:22:37 am

Sounds like a lot of stress downsizing. Im inspired hearing about your life experiences

Reply
Tom Chan link
1/2/2023 05:53:50 am

Sister Wilma
You use God’s gift so eloquently for healing yourself and others, like me. Grieving a deep loss is a cross we carry as Jesus does. He also, like you, redeems His beloved! Let’s encourage each other and let Jesus carry us. Tom

Reply
Connie Johnson
1/2/2023 06:05:55 am

Dear Wilma: May you remember so many of us walk with you and cheer you on. I applaud you for choosing to walk away from physical house responsibilities in order to have more time to walk the inner life of connecting and making time to pursue the life of the Logos/the Truth/the Way/the Life. Our world needs your words. I will be listening and learning.

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Anne Sperling
1/2/2023 09:43:07 am

Thinking of you today as I am reading Chasing the Light. Ordered it from Amazon.
Blessings to you!! You are amazing!!

Reply
Adeline Berg
1/2/2023 10:34:42 am

I just finished doing a timeline for this year and I was exhausted. Your year was so much more challenging, so much more emotional and you filled it with so much more activity! Blessings on your new life in your new apartment. You keep talking about an apartment with a view - curious about what the view is!

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Teresa Janzen
1/2/2023 06:48:08 pm

Thanks for starting to write about your life going forward. I am enjoying "Chasing the Light" so much! You continue to inspire me with your words and so glad you chose the place with the view.

Reply
Laura Peterson Hernandez
1/4/2023 06:17:16 pm

Your strength is my strength. You don’t know how much I appreciate you. I lean on you daily dear Wilma. Thank you for being there. I’m wishing you a grand time in your new place. I will be moving to my own place as soon as I can sell my current house. Sending blessings your way, Laura Peterson Hernandez

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    "W", stands for writing, walking, wondering, wandering, winning, wincing,  and for Wilma,  This is an invitation to come walk, write, wander with me!

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