Against Despair
by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher
Still yourself a moment and feel the
music of your brave heart beating. Strong
organ, with so much work to do,
is supporting you, again. Pick a wonder:
do you have toes to tap, eyes to witness night
surrender to daylight, ears to hear
your child’s laughter? A home? How many
days have you survived until now? How
many days have opened to welcome you?
In addition to the studies and reports below, I lift up the lived experiences of Black women, experiences which have often already confirmed for us what the studies and articles report.
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NPR: Sickle cell gene therapies roll out slowly
Sickle cell patients are facing difficult decisions around the newly-approved gene therapies to treat the disease. Treatment costs between $2 million and $3 million per patient; there are possible long-term risks; and the treatment itself can be grueling and complicated.
Over at STAT News, an article on the creative ways maternal mortality is being addressed in Louisiana by fostering mental health – including equipping OB-GYNs with the skills to provide mental health care to their patients; providing insurance coverage for doula care; and offering mental healthcare through home and virtual visits.
Continue ReadingIn July, my aunt Hilde left her body. After suffering from a brief illness, she left us to be with the Lord forever. During her life, she carried a beautiful joy for many things: music and singing, delicious food, travel, writing and reading, fashion, and for her service as a nurse, service she fulfilled for nearly 50 years. She lived with a true “zest for life,” as my mother calls it; she loved celebrations and gatherings, and had so many amazing experiences during her lifetime.
I was sitting in the park thinking about her, as I looked upon the horizon, where the sun was setting in a gorgeous array of colors. I thought about how our souls are given this bodily vessel and how to have that experience is a blessing. We tend to lose our awareness that it is a gift to dwell in a body, even if that body has aches and pains or things we might wish to change.
Continue ReadingIn addition to the studies and reports below, I lift up the lived experiences of Black women, experiences which have often already confirmed for us what the studies and articles report.
To be reminded of the latest updates, please sign up here for my monthly newsletter.
American Cancer Society launches major study of Black women’s health
The American Cancer Society has launched VOICES of Black Women, a study enrolling over 100,000 Black women between the ages of 25 and 55. The largest study of its kind, it will focus on behavioral and environmental cancer risks and outcomes, to better understand how the lived experiences of Black women may affect their cancer risk or mortality.
A new discovery has been made toward finding a cure for lupus
Researchers at Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have identified a cause for lupus – a cellular defect that appears to drive the disease process. Their study shows that reversing the defect may reverse the disease.
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I’m so excited to share a new resource with you! Now available for digital download is Healing Journaling: Writing in the Presence of God.
Journaling has been a practice of mine since I was a child. My mother still gifts me the most beautiful journals for my birthday, and I wonder if she prays over them before giving them to me, because I always end up experiencing beautiful revelations through the journaling I do in them.
Healing journaling is meeting yourself and God on the page through your most intimate reflections. Journaling can be a form of prayer, a true spiritual practice, when approached with intention. It can help you:
Develop your relationship with God
Understand yourself better
Foster your personal development and growth
Discover your wounds so that they can be healed
Find and develop your personal voice
…and so much more!
This 26-page resources guides you through five healing journaling practices, with tips for how to incorporate them into your life. You’ll gain encouragement and practical tips for starting or developing this practice, which will help you strengthen your connection with God and with your own heart.
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