The “H” Path to Hope

~ Barbara ~ 1 Comment

Maybe your own brokenness will help you relate to the Israelites of old. Like you, they were in a place they didn’t want to be, held captive by adverse circumstances, enslaved in a strange land, and overwhelmed with dismay. When you were wrested from your safe environment, you may have reacted as they did, weeping over bittersweet memories: 

“Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.”
Psalm 137:1

They wept with longing—for home, for a normal life, for a way out. And they complained.

Perhaps your questions and complaints are similar to theirs. Didn’t God see their plight? Didn’t He care about their pain?… Where was He now?

Isaiah asked the Israelites a series of questions that would lead them to the answer. “Do you not know?… Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He [God] sits enthroned above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22).

In effect, he was saying, “You’re looking for God’s presence—apparently you’ve forgotten that He is here and has been since the earth came into being.” God has not forgotten you. He is not unaware of your suffering. He has not abandoned you…

Isaiah offered them the H of hope: Lift up your eyes…

In chapter I reflected on daughter Stacey’s death:

I was shattered. My prayers were moans… And yet, in that trupor of grief, God’s grace pulled my eyes upward, compelling me to hold them higher.

Tenaciously, without cooperative emotions or enlightened understanding, I forced my eyes to look to the heavens, to the One who created and ruled my personal world. It was there that the threat of despair was beaten back…

Hold your eyes higher than your earthbound problems and look at the One who is above it all—you will find hope. It worked for me, and it will work for you.*

Next week, we will step onto the “O” Path.

*Excerpted from I Was Broken, Too, chapters three and four.

Now available on Amazon: I Was Broken, Too: Four Paths to Restore Hope and Finding Hope: 65 Meditations for a Broken Heart

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Help! I’m Broken, and I Can’t Get Up!

~ Barbara ~ 4 Comments

Happy September everyone—a tree in our backyard is already boasting red leaves! This month we will embark on a journey to hope.

After countless hours of frustration, I contracted a Pakistani creator on the other side of the globe to design new covers for my companion books, I Was Broken, Too and Finding Hope. After many (emphasis on “many”) attempts, it came together. To celebrate, I will share a thought from one of the books each week. I hope this first post resonates with you.  

Fading hope is like fading light; it darkens our surroundings. We don’t choose to go to this dark place, but neither do we choose not to go. Life’s assaults weaken us and, in our diminished state, they carry us to places where fear threatens and vision dims. In the midst of the darkness we can’t see a way out, and the prominence of our problems obscures the hand of God. It’s a shadowy, murky place to live. Who of us wouldn’t want to experience a miracle… in the midst of our desperation?

The path of hopelessness is a downward spiral that will continue to deplete your spirit. I know. I lived there—the place where you may now live. The place of brokenness.

Under the weight of sorrow upon sorrow, amazingly, somewhere deep within, hope still flickered. Haltingly, I made choices that set me on a course that would restore my hope. This book tells of my journey and the four paths I walked to find hope again. I share them as a weary traveler who was dangerously close to losing her grip. My struggle, sadly, is not uncommon.

I cannot erase your pain or restore your loss. But I can offer you four paths to renew your hope.*

Next week, we will step onto the first path to hope.

Now available on Amazon:
I Was Broken, Too: Four Paths to Restore Hope
Finding Hope: 65 Meditations for a Broken Heart

* Excerpted from I Was Broken, Too, chapters one and two.

Summer Loves: Spontaneity

~ Barbara ~ 4 Comments

Summertime: unstructured days, impulsive drives through the country, unplanned meet-ups, spur-of-the-moment walks, spontaneous barbecues.

These are the carefree days of summer, when calendars are uncluttered and schedules are light. They bring out the child in all of us. I hope you enjoyed this relaxing season because when we meet next Thursday, it will be September. Fall and full calendars await us!

What will be the focus of this blog? I’m open to suggestions… Is there a particular topic you would like to consider?

In the words of an oldie but goodie by the Tempos, “See you in September.”

Image from Pixabay

Summer Loves: Fabulous Fruit

~ Barbara ~ 2 Comments

Feelings may differ about summer’s heat, but one thing we all agree on: we love summer’s fresh, juicy fruit. Did you ever consider the most common adjective that describes fruit? Juicy!

Try to talk about the peaches you picked up from the farmstand without saying, “juicy.” Think oranges, plums, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Just the thought makes you want to reach for a napkin, doesn’t it?

Maybe the second-most-used descriptor is sweet, as in Bing cherries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and all the aforementioned juicy fruits.

Let’s not ignore pears, nectarines, honeydews, grapes, or the lemon in our iced tea.

Then there’s the poor banana, often overlooked because it’s faithfully available in every season. And alas, we have the tomato, which we know is a fruit but will forever be thought of as a vegetable.

I saved the peculiar pineapple for last. There is no other fruit like it. It’s prickly and pungent, sweet and acidic, neither an apple nor a pine. Here are some fun facts:

  • It grows as a small shrub that produces only one fruit.
  • It takes up to three years to grow a pineapple.
  • It stops ripening as soon as it’s picked.
  • It appears to be one fruit but is actually a cluster of dozens of individual berries that fuse around the core.
  • Due to their rarity and expense, pineapples were a status symbol in the 17th and 18th centuries. Wealthy people rented them to carry as a luxury accessory at parties!

Just some things to think about the next time pineapples are on sale for $1.99.

Tell me, what’s your favorite fruit?

Image by flockine from Pixabay