RedeemedPioneer
I’m Lulu van Aswegen—a wife, mother, grandmother, and writer from Bloemfontein. Life, faith, and family inspire the reflections and short stories I share here. I write in English as RedeemedPioneer and in Afrikaans as VrygekoopteBaanbreker.
Explore, enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts—I’m delighted to have you here!
RedeemedPioneer
MELANIE FOXWORTH
A life lost, a lesson learnt “Look Nana, this is the lady we saw in the store last week. She was the...
NOT PICTURE PERFECT
The perception of imperfection “Look, Amelia, it’s a helper monkey! He is helping the poor fishy.”...
RETURN TO DARKNESS
—my Gethsemane, revisited— I sit there, in the darkness It gnaws on my bones It smothers my soul It is so...
TROUBLED SOUL
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ODE TO HER
Carli van Aswegen (30 March 1995 - 25 January 2022) My beloved daughter-in-love Today would’ve been...
BROKEN FIXTURES AND FIXED BROKENNESS
Not the whole picture…. Last year I wrote STIL SKEPPER, STERK STORMS EN ‘N STUKKENDE STRANDHUISIE (click...
THE GOODNESS OF MY GOD
I find myself in a place where I have a deep desire and yearning to consider the pure goodness of the Lord,...
JESUS, MY ETERNAL HOPE
Three passages of Scripture have grabbed a particular hold on my heart over the last days and weeks. Upon...
FROM A FREE STATE SUNRISE TO A FALSE BAY SUNSET
A journey from the heart of the Forgotten Capital to the outskirts of the Mother City for a thirty-ninth...
BLEEDING BOTS & PROGRAMMED PEOPLE
“Hello Zinzi.” “Hello Mikey, how can I help you?” “I feel overwhelmed, Zinzi. Nobody listens...
FILL UP ON THE FIX OF 2026
I have been around long enough to know and admit that when end-of-year fatigue hits, we tend to disconnect...
ANNIE‘S GIFT
You introduced Spring 1995 And Spring became like you Force of nature, a whole season You came to...
WHEN THE FOGHORN’S SIREN IS DIFFERENT
A silent call to discernment “Nana, what is a foghorn?” “A foghorn is a powerfully loud, low-pitched warning...
ANOTHER DAY FEATURING A HAMMER & NAILS
When a concerned Catholic priest called a spade a shovel and nailed the truth, in written word, to a wooden...
ONE YEAR OLD
Another letter from Nana to Stitchie














