July 23
2024 anthology
Last year, Valda Schmacker wrote the title story for our 2024 anthology. By title story, we mean the name of one of the stories submitted to us that becomes the title of the anthology.
The process of selecting the title story takes place after the Stories of Life team decide which stories will be published. From the selection, the team shortlists potential title stories. We look for titles that have a visual element, usually something that leads us to imagine cover art that could be interesting and beautiful.
After the launch of Talking Trees and other stories of life in November 2024, Valda told us how she came to write her story.
‘Talking Trees’ resulted from a conversation with a friend, who knew of my struggles with sickness over many decades, and of my connection to God through nature. I had shared my sacred ‘tree’ with her when I was distressed that I couldn’t pray as I was expected to by other Christians, especially when I was confined to bed and had plenty of time to do so. We had often discussed my difficulties with the Christian faith as I had been taught it, and she encouraged me to share my story. I hoped it might encourage others to imagine their own sacred space and find peace in the presence of God in silence, if they too found themselves unable to pray.
As I described my imagined tree, the many real trees of significance from my life came to mind, and I realised that there was a common theme – the comforting provision and presence of God during tough times. A thread appeared to link these trees in a timeline from my early childhood throughout my life to the present. So many times I had asked ‘Why?’ and, hearing no answer, had totally missed that God was right there with me through all the sickness, suffering, sadness, and setbacks.
Not long before I started writing ‘Talking Trees’, during the sleepless nights of intense and relentless pain of my latest health crisis, the truth behind the ‘labels’ by which I defined myself, and that sat so comfortably with me, was revealed. The result was a vulnerability before God that was necessary for me to hear how God actually saw me. Many of the faith issues I had struggled with resolved themselves as I wrote … clearly God was at work. These truths have become the ‘rock’ on which to rebuild my thinking about myself, others, and my relationship with God.
‘Talking Trees’ has drawn from experiences throughout my 65 years of life. It would not be an exaggeration to say it has taken my whole life to write this one story. I had always wanted to do something special for God, but I gave up all hope that this was possible with this latest illness. God has shown me that what matters is what he can do through people, often without them even being aware of what’s happening. Seeing ‘Talking Trees’ published is one way I can see God working all things together for good, in this instance to present a different perspective on trouble and suffering that may be of comfort to someone who reads the story, and to show how essential each of us is to the body of Christ, as a much loved and unique child of God.
Valda Schmacker, 30 December 2024
Our submission period for 2025 closes next Thursday, 31 July. Please enter your stories for the possibility of being published in the 10th Stories of Life anthology. Who knows? Your story may even become our next title story.
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