Dear friends & strangers, your responses have blessed my heart. Thank you! Will you help me by leaving a review on Amazon? When I consider buying a book, reviews are the first thing I check—you probably do, too. If you have read enough of Finding Hope to have an opinion, would post a brief review? If you don’t yet have a copy, you can purchase it here: Finding Hope, 65 Meditations for a Broken Heart.

Today I offer a final sample, one with a perspective we all need – DAY 31.

Lord, Remind Me this is Temporary

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
Psalm 84:5

When my pain was most acute, I couldn’t imagine recovery or an end to suffering. The future mocked me, scoffing at any hint of purpose. My strength was gone, my vision dim, and my fortitude frail. At one time today’s verse was a favorite—now it challenged me with the reminder that life is a pilgrimage.

A pilgrim is someone who journeys in foreign lands. I was in a foreign land. This place of loss was untraveled territory that felt strange and threatening. The assurance that I was “passing through” was a glorious truth that prodded hope. My suffering was temporary—this was not my home, not my destiny. I was “passing through.” I was enroute to an eternal home and this valley of weeping was not my journey’s end. As I meditated on this, God gave me strength to face the days ahead.

Fellow pilgrim,  we are on a mission and the path we walk has purpose, bringing us to our final destination. When we reach our road’s end we will be free of sorrow, pain, and regret. These painful valleys are not home, not the end of our story. Our valley of tears can become a place of springs, allowing us to grow from strength to strength, not from weakness to weakness.

Holy Spirit, remind us! Keep us from pitching our tents in the valley. Help us refuse the lies of the enemy that emphasize our weakness. Protect us from the trap of fear. You are our strength and will guide us through our pilgrimage to our final destiny—and it will be glorious!

Finding Hope, 65 Meditations for a Broken Heart, page 101-102

Finding Hope, 65 Meditations for a Broken Heart is now available on Amazon.

Lord, I Feel Numb

For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10

I didn’t feel like God’s handiwork. I was a mess. I could hardly function and certainly didn’t consider myself capable of doing good works. But how I felt didn’t change God’s plans. I was the short-sighted one, not Him. I was blindsided by tragedy that left me broken and bleeding, but God wasn’t bewildered. His plans for me preceded my pain and, rather than thwart His purposes, my brokenness merged with His design. I write this now but it took time and grace to come to this point.

If God was finished with me, I would have died with my daughter, but I’m here, walking with a limp but breathing and alive. In advance of my tragedy—in advance of my life—God prepared good things for me to do. His plans were not derailed when catastrophe barged into my life, despite what my enemy Despair told me.

So, I return to the beginning of today’s passage and confess that God loves me greatly. His mercy is rich. His grace saved me. I live in heavenly realms. The Lord’s purposes for me prevail—and therefore, so will I.

God isn’t finished with you, broken one. You are God’s handiwork and He has prepared good things for you to do—maybe not today, maybe not next week, but there is a future you cannot see. He will restore you.

Wait on Him. Just quiet yourself and wait.

Purchase here: Finding Hope

The new year started with challenges at the Higby Haven, with both of us experiencing health challenges. I couldn’t prepare a post for this week but I do have good news to share! Do you remember way back, when I asked for help to create a book title for a devotional dedicated to those who suffer brokenness? Drumroll please…

Finding Hope

65 Meditations for a Broken Heart

will be released on Amazon on January 15!

I’ll be the first to say, this book is not for everyone. It was written for the broken one, with a broken heart, broken dreams, and broken hope. If this doesn’t describe you, this book is for your friend, neighbor, or sister.

May the Lord use my honest words to reassure others and offer them hope.

Thank you to all my encouragers out there! It was a long road and I couldn’t have succeeded without you.