Story-tellers, every one of them. These 140+ women who make up Redbud Writers Guild have become “my people” in the 18 months I’ve been part of the clan. They’re women from across the country and around the world, with varying degrees of education and experience, of all ages and many different ethnic groups who worship in various faith traditions. But mostly, they are women who are called to bring light into this world by sharing stories.

As the Write 31 Days challenge winds down, I think of fellow writers who in their work offer beautiful examples of telling “slice of life” stories. In the previous post, I welcomed fellow Redbud Sarah Rennicke to the table. If you haven’t yet read her post, please do! (Find it HERE.)

Today, I want to send you to The Redbud Post for seven different essays from women who have stared down a diagnosis of cancer. Whether it was their own cancer or that of someone they love, each woman was transformed in some way by the journey. Here is an excerpt from the beautiful essay Winning the War by Bev Murrill about her husband’s cancer. Read her post to the end for a vision of true victory.

Accepting sickness has never been our stance and fear is not our default position, a fact that has stood us in good stead through many a skirmish with the vicissitudes of life. After standing outside the hospital and crying in each other’s arms, our next action was to gather our weapons for the fight. In our fifth decade of marriage, we went to the tattoo shop and had our wedding ring fingers tattooed with each other’s names. We’d been together since I turned 16 and he 22, and we were not about to meekly give that up. Then we shaved our heads for the leukemia foundation—Rick was going to lose his hair anyway to chemo, and I’m an activist and needed to do something aggressive to fight back against the enemy who had stealthily stolen so much ground of my husband’s health……MORE

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I wrote about my collision with cancer nearly five years ago.

You can read those essays beginning here.

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Life stories knit us together, whether to family or to others who just need to know they are not alone. In these 31 days of October, I have been exploring the importance of STORY. You can read all 31 days HERE by following the links. And, you can read blogs from other writers taking the #Write31Days challenge by visiting the website HERE.

Tomorrow: Sunday Meditation

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Download a FREE copy of my booklet Do Tell! Why Your Life Stories Matter and How To Capture Them HERE.