NI mum Catherine Campbell who has suffered great loss: God does not give up on us

Catherine Campbell writes strongly and personally about how brokenness and hopelessness can be the best places for growth and triumph, having herself strived to cope with the loss of her two young daughters.

Catherine’s book ‘God Isn’t Finished with You Yet’ is written from an intimate knowledge of heartbreak and bereavement, and the wondrous realisation that although we may be “crippled by sadness and sorrow, God does not leave us that way”.

Her historically rigorous and sensitive retelling of the stories of Abigail, John Mark, the Samaritan woman who Jesus meets at the well, Judah, and Anna and Simeon, throws into relief the fact the God is in the business of restoring broken people, and using the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Catherine was born in Belfast and now lives in Coleraine, where her husband, Philip, is the former pastor of the Coleraine Congregational church.

She gave birth to three children, but tragically the couple’s two daughters, Cheryl and Joy, both of whom had severe learning disabilities, passed away at a young age.

Cheryl died at the age of 10 in 1989 and Joy aged 13 in 1999.

In 2005 Catherine retired from her role as a nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital to devote more time to writing, and to be able to keep up with her diary of speaking engagements, as well as those of a busy minister’s wife.

Catherine has written a number of books about her family and how they have coped with the loss of Cheryl and Joy including ‘Under The Rainbow’ and ‘Broken Works Best’.

Catherine said: “Over the years, I have experienced first-hand how God can take our suffering, even our sinfulness, and produce something positive from what we believed to be the ashes of our lives.

“Surveying life’s ruins can make us think that God is finished with us. Our souls are saved, but that is all. We feel doomed – forever trapped by whatever ails us. We reckon that God can’t possibly use spoiled or damaged goods.

“But quite the opposite is true for “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). That’s exactly what He did for the six people whose stories are retold in this book.

“Not one of them had it together as far as their lives were concerned. Weak doesn’t even begin to describe them. Yet God used their situations to produce transformation.”

‘God Isn’t Finished With You’ by Catherine Campbell, will be published by IVP on the September 22. It is available via ivpbooks.com/god-isn-t-finished-with-you-yet