About the Book
I Was Broken, Too
The joy of my heart is to encourage women. I regard every invitation to speak as an opportunity to offer hope – whether it be a brunch or a tea, a regular meeting or a special event.
This is where author Barbara Higby found herself when her daughter suddenly died. Previous losses had tutored her in how to renew hope—a failed adoption process, the death of newborn twins, the challenges of a disabled son, the collapse of her calling—but her daughter’s death plunged her to a new depth of hopelessness. Barbara’s story of bringing life to her shattered hope will encourage others who are disheartened by loss.
I Was Broken, Too offers four paths to restore hope in the battle-weary.
- H—Hold your Eyes Higher
- O—Open your Heart to God’s Opportunities
- P—Ponder the Positive, not the Problems
- E—Expect Grace
I Was Broken, Too was written for you, the broken, disillusioned, and wounded. If loss of any kind has assaulted your hope, follow the paths that revived Barbara’s—they are achievable and hope is possible. You will discover that what God has done for her, He will do for you.
About the Author
Barbara Higby
Barbara Higby’s passion is to encourage others, from a podium, one-on-one, and in her writing. She has widely served in women’s ministry and alongside her pastor husband, Rich. Barbara’s experience as a biological and adoptive mother of five, a mother-figure, foster mother, bereaved mother, and grandmother of eleven, has seasoned her ministry with compassion. Barbara claims dual citizenship—her feet walk the streets of New Jersey, but her home is Heaven, where three children precede her.
FOLLOW ALONG
Blogs
Small part, great power: U—Utter Wisdom
My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding. Ps 49:3 This verse links two important components: the mouth and the heart. What we meditate will eventually come out of our mouths. A tongue that releases a tirade is an...
Small part, great power: G—Glorify God
Forgive my stereotyping but I believe most women will agree, it is not enough to know her husband loves her. She wants to hear it and she wants to hear why. So does God. This is not to stroke His ego (He doesn’t have one), but to deepen our love relationship and...
Small part, great power: N—No negativity
“I’m only saying what’s true!” Hogwash! We get to choose the words that come out of our mouths—let’s not excuse negative ones on the basis of their accuracy but filter our words through the sieve of Ephesians 4: Are our words wholesome and helpful? Upbuilding and...
Small part, great power: O—Offer
Have you ever considered a wonderfully generous gesture but somehow your tongue never got in gear? The offer simply got stuck in your throat and died there. Our hearts may have worthy intentions but if we don’t actually speak them, they’re only noble ideas....
Small part, great boasts: T
The tongue is powerful—not the physical appendage in our mouths but what it accomplishes with the words it emits. The Apostle James tells us it’s so strong that if we could control it, we could keep our whole body in check. I’m not going to begin to try to explain...
Tri-State Voice Article
TriStateVoice.com is Metro New York’s Christian Blog/News/Events site.
Barbara Higby Chronicles Pain, Brokenness, and the Path to Hope in New Book
The Tale of the Seven Sisters
In a timeless allegory, seven sisters wrestle their deepest fears when they’re invited to take up residence in the land of Evermore. Little do they suspect that a move to this new land will result in a weightier decision, one that challenges them to the core as they wonder, can King Aric be trusted?
The Tale of the Seven Sisters invites readers to a close relationship with the One who loves them without condition.
Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle at The Tale of the Seven Sisters.
Speaking
The joy of my heart is to encourage women. I regard every invitation to speak as an opportunity to offer hope – whether it be a brunch or a tea, a regular meeting or a special event.
I also offer one day workshops and retreats. I will address a topic you request or choose from the following suggestions:
- I Was Broken, Too is my signature presentation, my heartbeat, if you will. I present four paths to hope based my book, I Was Broken, Too. A condensed 40-minute presentation is perfect for Women’s Teas or special events. I also offer a four-part workshop of 30-minute sessions with delving questions for small groups or personal reflection.
- A Woman’s Self-Portrait is a three session seminar that explores reasons for a poor self-image and helps women see themselves as God does.
- Life is Not a QWERTY Keyboard – Wouldn’t we love life to be as predictable as a computer keyboard? What if we could, by the flick of a finger, bold those things that are important to us and delete those things (or people) that are inconvenient? This message of hope focuses on the One who has all things under Ctrl.
- Rock, Fortress, Deliverer – Discover the all-encompassing care of a loving God and feel fears subside in the light of Psalm 18.
Stacey Joy
Some readers have expressed curiosity about Stacey Joy, the daughter I wrote about in I Was Broken, Too, so here are answers to your FAQs and a few extra tidbits.
Stacey came to us on Flag Day, June 14, 1974,
through Holt International.
You could update this facial expression annually. She had a stubborn determination and would not be intimidated by her brothers.
This is one of my favorite pictures, taken at LBI during the period I refer to as the Camelot years. I’m flanked by my daughters Stacey (left) and Bethany (right) with my daughters-in-love Shannon & Amy kneeling in front.
One of the last pictures we have of Stacey shows four generations: me, my mother (“Grandma B”), Stacey, and Kaylee at her three-year birthday party.
Stacey was everyone’s favorite cheerleader—her oft-spoken words of encouragement were “You go, girl!” She loved fun & laughter and nobody laughed like her—there was no doubt when Stacey was present.
The cause of Stacey’s death was an undiagnosed, progressive, and rather newly identified heart disease, Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD). It is not curable but can be controlled with medication. Johns Hopkins now has a department dedicated to ARVD. Thankfully, Kaylee has been evaluated there twice and received a clean bill of health.
Two years after she married Phil Touw, they had Kaylee, the love of Stacey’s life.
Writers
Are you looking for encouragement as a writer or aspiring writer? As facilitator of the North Jersey Christian Writer’s Group, I invite you to join us. You will find my monthly Focus Points and our meeting information at NJCWG.blogspot.com. Our goal is to write for Him, whether it’s a page-turning novel, an article for a periodical, or a personal blog post. Also visit our face book page at facebook.com/NJCWG.