Bible devotions for troubled times

‘A Certain Brightness’ is the first book written by Philippa Ruth Wilson, an English teacher in Wales, blogger and Evangelical Focus author.   

From the beginning, the author opens up about how her personal experience shaped her writing. “I had been a Christian for five years when I was first treated for depression. A year later I was dumped by someone I thought I would marry”. Months later, she would face more feelings of failure as her mission experience did not work as expected.

Now, after years of writing down her reflections about life and mourning, hope and hopelessness, and how it all related to the Christian message, Philippa publishes this collection for 34 short devotions to demonstrate both “the fact that sometimes the bright doesn’t look how we might expect, and the fact that there is nonetheless a hope of which we can be sure”.

Philippa has a BA in theology and a MA in creative writing. The chapters in this her first book are all titled with a five-word biblical truth based on specific verses from across the whole of Scripture, “in order to demonstrate that God’s, love and kindness to us in Jesus stretch across all time”. A few words of hymn close every reading.

The four short reflections at the end are especially addressed to people going through times of personal suffering (two of them are “Bite-sized advice for depressed days” and “Bite-sized advice for friends of the depressed”).

Theologian and speaker Vaughan Roberts, says about the book: “Philippa writes with raw honesty, gentle humour and, above all, Christ–centred hope”. Counsellor and author Christina Fox, comments: “This devotional is a gentle and quiet whisper that cuts into the cacophony of our minds, reminding us of the One who loves us most”.

‘A Certain Brightness’ has been published by Christian Focus (2021).