Selah
A collection of poems birthed from stillness
With a Foreword by Rev. Wes Sutton
Selah is a Hebrew word that appears in many of the biblical psalms. It is an instruction to the listener to pause and reflect on what has just been sung.
This spiritually nourishing collection of poetry was written as Linda Daruvala paused and reflected on Christian retreats and in places of stillness. From poetic paintings of God’s creation to a Psalm-like outpouring of her heart to God, Linda echoes the experiences and emotions that are common to many of us in our journey with the Lord.
Available formats:
Paperback
ebook (ePub edition)
ebook (Kindle edition)
ebook PDF
…slow down and see God weaving his presence in and through your everyday.
Lockdown Easter 2020
Contemplation
About the Author
Linda grew up in Dorset, fell in love with poetry while studying Thomas Hardy’s poems for O Level English and can still recite some of them! An only child, she has always found solitude a comfortable and creative space to inhabit. She gave her life to the Lord at 18 at teacher training college in Winchester, which is where she also began to write. A love of Jesus, travel, contemplation, quiet, photography and art all enable her to meditate and compose her poetry, reflections and prayers. She especially loves to retreat to ‘thin’ places throughout the UK, those areas of deep spiritual significance such as Iona, Holy Island and Wales. It was at Ffald y Brenin in 2019 that she felt a fresh call from the Lord into “creativity within the healing ministry”.
Linda Daruvala
Linda was a primary school teacher for many years in the UK and four years in Brunei where she met her husband Jung. They live in Surrey and are so proud of their two wonderful adult sons, Pete and Simon. Since being healed from Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2010, Linda has particularly relished every day and is a member of the prayer ministry team at Acorn Christian Healing Foundation. She is passionate to pray in Jesus’ Name for others’ healing in body, mind and spirit with a compassion that comes from the Lord’s heart.
Linda has led a number of creative quiet days to encourage others to express their faith-life in art and crafts. She has herself been inspired by the creativity within many Christian retreat centres, in Ignatian spirituality and new Celtic monasticism. Linda delights to sing in her church worship band and her joy is to spend time at a little rented beach hut on Hayling Island. She loves listening to God, new travels, sunsets, watercolours and Jung’s delicious beef stroganoff.
Events
March 2021
February 2021
28 Feb, 10.30am.
Interview with Rev. Richard Bodle about Linda’s new book at the online service of St Alban’s Hindhead.
Available to watch on St Alban’s Hindhead Youtube channel.
Poem Commended at Poetry Festival competition
At the recent South Downs Poetry Festival, Linda Daruvala's poem titled 'Forgiveness' was commended, in a poetry competition which received 350 other entries. The judge was Naomi Foyle who is a Reader in Critical Imaginative Writing at the University of Chichester and...
Endorsements and Reviews
Jenny Hawke, Author
I have always loved poetry in the same way I love art and music. It has the sublime power to linger in the mind and then move deep into the heart, and Linda’s poems do just this. When I first met Linda, I was immediately aware of the inner peace that she carried. In my experience this can only be the wonderful result of knowing we are fully loved, and that comes from knowing God. And this peace, and love, come through her contemplative and gentle writing as she touches on the beauty of this world, the difficulties we face and the hopes we have. ‘To a God I trust with my life’ is one of my favourite lines. She asks us to trust, to reconnect and to be brave as ‘God calls us out of the comfort zone’. Read on, take a poem a day at a time, and enjoy.
Jenny Hawke
Watercolour artist and author who loves seeing and interpreting expressions of faith through everyday life
Rev. Dr. Russ Parker
Linda’s poetry will help you slow down and see God weaving his presence in and through your everyday.
Rev. Dr. Russ Parker
Author of Wild Spirit of the Living God
Nonie Insall, Psychotherapist
Nature and its beauty is a constant reminder of God’s presence all around us, and these poems say this in different ways… The liminal boundary between heaven and earth is transparent…
Nonie Insall
Counsellor and Psychotherapist
Jennie Fytche, Training Provider
To write with simultaneous simplicity and depth is a skill which eludes many writers, yet Linda captures this beautifully in her poetry. Each poem invites us to pause, reflect and enter not just into the poem but into a holy moment – glimpsing the authentic moving relationship Linda has with Jesus. This gem of a collection invites, inspires and includes us all in glimpsing profoundly God’s transformational love for each one of us every day.
Jennie Fytche
Training Provider, Mentor and Christian Schools Worker
Rev. Elizabeth Knifton, Associate Minister
Linda’s poems are an inspirational aid to reflect and guide you into God’s presence. A book to journey with on retreat or just sitting a while with the Lord. His awesomeness, beauty and presence can be sensed on each page. The relationship the writer has with the Beloved is tangible. It takes you through real experiences of life and expresses in words what our hearts at times cannot say. I can totally recommend this book as a companion to prayer and an aid to faith. What a Lord and Saviour we have.
Rev. Elizabeth Knifton
Associate Minister; Healing Advisor, Diocese of Guildford
This gem of a collection invites, inspires and includes us all in glimpsing profoundly God’s transformational love for each one of us every day.
Linda’s poems are an inspirational aid to reflect and guide you into God’s presence.
