Balm For The Heart: My Journey Through Loss and Bereavement - Softcover

Jones, D. Anne

9781691319480: Balm For The Heart: My Journey Through Loss and Bereavement

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1691319481 ISBN 13: 9781691319480

Publisher: Independently published, 2019

Balm for the Heart is one woman's story of her grief journey, and how God used her losses to draw her closer to Himself and to enter into a more intimate relationship with Him. When faced with three deaths of three of the most significant people in her life in a 60 day period in 2012, the author had a choice to make. She could either run TO the Lord or she could run AWAY from the Lord. When we think we know God's plan for our lives, we tend to rest in that, and even become complacent. When everything comes crashing down, we begin to learn truths and have insight into a world we never planned for- the painful world of grief and bereavement. Brokenness and suffering become a way of life, and we have to find a new way to live, love, function and exist. In this story, Anne journals through the ensuing months, and shares her pain as well as her restoration- a restoration that the Master alone can bring. As a Catholic, a mother of five, and the wife of her high school sweetheart for 32 years, Anne had to learn how to become a survivor and not a victim of tragedy. Out of the ashes, a new outreach was born when she began using her talent as a portrait artist to help others suffering a sudden, unexpected or tragic loss. She learned to surrender more and more of what was left of her life, we see that God can take ashes and make a new vessel with new purpose and meaning. We never stop grieving, but the journey can become a part of the Master Plan, and He alone can take a devastating life experience and create a new road for us to travel. Learning to depend on God alone, Anne has found that intimacy with our creator results in joy and peace in the midst of suffering and pain. Life is a journey, and we must run the race to the finish line, not quitting when adversity and death try to destroy our faith and love of God. Her life has continued to have tragic losses, but she now feels the comfort of her loving God, and seeks a contemplative life of service as the best form of healing, renewal and restoration -as she trusts and follows the Master.

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