How tears prevail when words fail

Let us learn to think of tears as liquid prayers.” Charles Spurgeon

During my cancer treatment, many times—daily—I cried out to God. Pain especially makes me vulnerable to tears. Fear has a similar effect. My default response is to pray, talking and often crying with tears to God. To this day, I work hard at holding it together emotionally in public, but in private, just me and God, I hold back nothing from him. I know I can unload my fears, my uncertainties, my anxieties, my tears on him, and he will understand. He can take it. We are always accepted by him, never rejected. We can be vulnerable and open with the Lord, for no one who comes to him in that way is ever rejected. …There is only One who can bear, and has borne, our sorrows, our pains: Jesus. (Taken from Brokenness to Beauty, Chapter 13, Prayer as Our Lifeline.)

In chapter 13 of my book I give you a peek at some of my areas of weakness: pain, fear and anxieties, the unknown. I never said I was strong, but I do know the One who is and I have learned to go to him, where I can unreservedly dump all my cares on him. As fellow blogger, Susanne Maynes, says in her recent blog post titled “Why your faith doesn’t always need to feel victorious,” sometimes we simply need to climb into Abba’s lap and let the tears flow. I think I should be an expert at that!

Picture by Helen Hooker
Picture by Helen Hooker

Take a moment, click on the link and read what Susanne has to say about crying in the Lord’s lap. You may find it to be just what you need. I know I did.

http://www.susannemaynes.com/why-your-faith-doesnt-always-need-to-feel-victorious/

Are We There Yet? Almost!

How do you handle traumatic news? How do you move through each day when it feels like your old familiar world is crumbling around you? Is it possible, and if so how, to live joyfully and confidently while assailed by pain, fear, or devastating loss?

As I contemplated and prayed about what I would say in a book about going through suffering—and getting through it whole and better than when one started the journey—it became clear to me that several principles are of vital importance, both for those who are going through trials and for those who walk alongside them. These principles became the framework upon which I sculpted the body of this book.

So begins the Introduction to Brokenness to Beauty: Transforming Your Brokenness into a Beautiful Life. The book that came out of the blog Jacque’s Journey (www.jacquesjourney.blogspot.com), is now only weeks away from going public. I feel I should type an exclamation mark behind that sentence!

Whereas, I once was beginning this journey of writing–

Photo by Sgarton
Photo by Sgarton

 

Now I am in the “Almost” there phase. I can see the Finish line–

Photo from SIS 5K run 2015
Photo from Bakersfield SIS Advocacy Group 5K Run 2015

My book going public: This is exciting and scary news all at the same time! For me anyway. Are you ready for this book? Am I ready for this book?

For years I heard and read comments from my blog readers that I needed to write a book, that I should tell my story. Maybe this is the book you expected, maybe not. But this is the book that grew out of writing it, praying as I wrote.

Brokenness to Beauty is a five Part, twenty-three chapter book designed with you in mind because, as the end of the Introduction states: Most of our days are filled with activities that pull us in many directions at once; therefore, this book is structured so that it may be read in short sections, easily adapted to a busy lifestyle. It is my hope that I have written these few chapters simply and clearly enough so that those who read it may, as with the vision given to Habakkuk, “read it fluently,” or with understanding, so that they may go on in their life journey stronger for it and in turn share it with others (Habakkuk 2:2). 

 

Photo by Gaborfromhungary
Photo by Gaborfromhungary

Are we there yet? Almost! Stay tuned—or keep following this blog—to be among the first to know when Brokenness to Beauty hits the stores!

(And yes, there will be an e-book version as well!)