Author Ann Voskamp’s first memory dates back to when she was 4 years old. She was standing on a chair at the kitchen sink with her mother. While they washed dishes, Ann’s 18-month-old sister wandered out the door and into their farmyard.
At that moment, a service truck in search of a neighbor’s farm pulled into the drive leading up to Ann’s farmhouse by mistake. The driver never saw the little girl and killed her. Ann and her mother saw it all unfold through the window.
Instantly, the world became a terrifying place for Ann. She lived in constant fear of something catastrophic happening. At age 7, she was hospitalized with ulcers.In her teens, she began cutting herself. By the time she was 18 and out on her own at college, she was diagnosed with agoraphobia and having full-blown anxiety attacks.
In Ann’s book, The Broken Way: A Daring Path into the Abundant Life, she answers a question we all face at some point: “What do you do with a broken heart?”
In dark times, we often think that an explanation for our pain will ease our suffering. The truth is, more than an answer, we need an encounter with God that reminds us that He is with us in and through our pain. Logic can be cold and sterile. The Lord’s presence renews our spirit.
We wear a mask to prevent other people from knowing the truth about us. We act like we’re okay when our hearts are really breaking. God wants to use our brokenness to transform us.
Jesus broke the bread and fed 5,000 people (Matthew 14:13-21). He can bring abundance out of your brokenness as well. With Jesus, miracles often happen out of brokenness.
Whether you’re reeling from a shocking national headline, an adverse health diagnosis, a wayward child, a difficult marriage, the or the death of a loved one, God asks you to trust Him.
“What do you do with a broken heart?”
We’re answering that question on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Embracing an Abundant Life.” New York Timesbest-selling author Ann Voskamp is our guest. We talked to Ann at the Evangelicals for Life Conference in Washington, DC., and she shared some thoughtful and practical perspectives about growing spiritually in the midst of a broken heart.
Join us on your local radio station, , online, on iTunes, via Podcast, on our free phone app or watch the full program on our YouTube channel.
Let us put her book The Broken Way: A Daring Path into the Abundant Life into your hands. We’ll do that for a gift of any amount. Check our website for details, and if you can’t afford it, we’ll find a way to get it to you.
We also have caring Christian counselors on staff, and it would be their privilege to offer you a free initial consultation. Call us, leave your name and number, and they’ll get back with you just as soon as possible. The number during business hours is 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
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