Shirley in Summary: I am a freelance writer, a cancer survivor (1997), and a registered nurse. I am also a pastor's wife.
More than you want to know
I was born in Scotland but grew up in Gwelo, Rhodesia, a tiny land-locked country in Central Africa. This land is now called Zimbabwe, and if you want to read some unbelievable facts Google "Zimbabwe today".
As a little girl, I had a problem discerning between fact and fiction, a "gift" neither my parents nor my teachers seemed to appreciate. When I was fourteen, I needed a Christian play so I wrote it. This started an awareness that if I wanted something original to read or produce, the cheapest and most rewarding way was to write it myself.
A New Life: At 18, I travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, to study nursing at Groote Schuur Hospital. A few years later, Prof. Chris Barnard made this hospital famous when he performed the world's first heart transplant.
Within a few months of my arrival in Cape Town, I formed two life-changing relationships.
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 In 1967, Rob and I married, and two years later, he accepted a call into full-time Presbyterian ministry.
Over the next years, we were fruitful in more than our ministry.
We multipled our family, starting with Debbie in 1968. Stephen followed three years later, and then came David.
Just as we thought we knew how to be parents, we started to multiply again, with the addition of a son-in-law, two daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren.
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Ministry Changes: Over the next 37 years we ministered in six congregations across Southern Africa.
This included a six-year stint where our address changed three times although we never moved house.
During the "Bush War" we moved to Harare, Rhodesia, led by the late Ian Smith. This becameZimbabwe-Rhodesia, led by Bishop Muzorewa, and then Zimbabwe under the infamous dictator, Robert Mugabe, who still maintains his reign of terror today..
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Life Changes:
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We bought our first computer
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We became part of the Internet community
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Our daughter and family left South Africa to go as missionary teachers to Venezuela
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I received a diagnosis of cancer with a poor prognosis and
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I had to leave nursing due to my impaired immunity system
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During a traumatic year of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the Lord spoke to me from His Word:
I will not die; instead, I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done. Psalm 118:17 GNB
More Life Changes:
- God called me to write for Him.
I will give you my message in the form of a vision. Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance. Habakkuk 2:2
- I started to see devotional messages every where I looked, so began to write meditations for the international market. I have had over 120 articles published, many of an inspirational nature.
- In 2004, I flew to the United States of America and attended the Sandy Cove Christian Writers' Conference, thanks to a Cec Murphy scholarship.
- Two years ago, Rob and I moved to the beautiful coastal city of Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Province of South Africa. Our cottage is only a seven minute walk to the beach, so inspiration is never far away.
- In 2010, I again travelled to the U.S.A. to attend the Florida Christian Writers Conference, again thanks to the amazing generosity of Cec Murphey.
It is my prayer that through my writing others will be encouraged and motivated to see God at work all around them. We only have to open our eyes and invite Him to speak to us. He's alive and well--and He's living right where we are.
In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. Romans 8:37 CEV
