JUNE 2019
Overcoming
OPIOID ADDICTION a success story
IS FEMINISM MISUNDERSTOOD?
HOW TO CELEBRATE THE SABBATH
A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD TODAY
CU
R RENT
ALL JUICED UP
Go harder. That’s what gym rats tell themselves before their final rep. But steroid abuse? Really?
ALORA GRIFFITHS—UNSPLASH
BY DANIEL KUBEREK
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PAIN:
my journey It’s a tough way to learn, but pain can teach us lessons that are hard to appreciate any other way. BY LYN SCARR
JUNE 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES
PORNCHAI SODA—GETTY IMAGES
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AIN. Just the mention of the word usually causes us to recoil, to shudder at the very thought. I’m sure most of us can identify with that feeling at some point in our lives. Pain can come in varying degrees—a sharp twinge in bending the wrong way or neglecting to warm up before an exercise routine, to prolonged, searing pain that seemingly never finds relief no matter what we do. Sometimes prolonged pain can be productive—it can alert us to further investigate our ongoing distress and recognise that our symptoms are in fact a warning signal of a deeper issue. It’s a prompt to address complications of a more serious nature. Pain is not always physical. Emotional pain can be just as debilitating, sometimes more so, and is often borne privately for many years, sometimes a lifetime. It’s hidden because we feel
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Overcoming
OPIOID ADDICTION A SUCCESS STORY
I felt completely helpless and hopeless— prescription drugs had destroyed my life. But it wasn’t the end of my journey. BY CASSIDY WEBB
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FA IT H
HOW TO
e t a r b e Cel THE
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SABBATH
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Catch a glimpse of how Sabbath observance brings families and communities together.
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BY CHRISTELLE AGBOKA
JUNE 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES
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THE
BIDURA effect
Book review: A young social worker is confronted by the human heartbreak caused by Australia’s Indigenous affairs policies. BY MARITZA BRUNT
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The Bidura Effect. By E P GEORGE (2017, Initiate Media)
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t’s autumn, and a young lady is on a Sydney train, headed for the inner city. She’s fresh out of university and it’s her first day of work. The anticipation and nerves of what’s ahead are familiar to many of us—but her situation is vastly different. “Twenty-one”, as she’s immediately nicknamed by her colleagues, is a social work graduate, and she’s about to be catapulted into a world of heartbreak, loss and profound suffering. This begins E P George’s The Bidura Effect, a fictionalised memoir which won her SparkLit’s 2017 Young Australian Christian Writer award. George, who does not disclose her full name and photograph for privacy reasons, worked with Aboriginal families affected by Stolen Generations policies, and said her experiences inspired her to write The Bidura Effect—a story that’s compelling, inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time. Told through the perspective of Twenty-one, The Bidura Effect offers a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes in Australia’s foster care system. The narrative, which follows a social worker’s year-long journey employed by the Department of Child Services, is centred largely around Twenty-one’s JUNE 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES
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