The Broken Way Part One

   Since Christmas I have been given three copies of the book 'The Broken Way ~ a daring path into abundant life' by Ann Voskamp. She also wrote the book 'One Thousand Gifts' which I read a few years ago. I had looked through this new book multiple times, read different pages, however I had not committed to letting the words really steep into me. Ann Voskamp writes with a lot of layers and a lot of depth; if you are going to read her book, really read it, it is going to strike some chord in you somewhere because she writes truth. You need to be able to quiet yourself and focus or it will feel like too much. Two other times I have been given three copies of a certain book so I felt like it was obvious it was a book I really was supposed to read. Each time after reading the book I felt a shifting and new revelation for my life. I also was able to give the extra copies to others. I feel ready now to start reading this book with pencil in hand to underline things that stand out to me. I have only read chapter one and some of chapter two so far. The first chapter is called 'What to Do with Your One Broken Heart.' I thought as I read through this book I'd share some quotes from it. I feel like most of the book could be quoted. That is just how she writes.

'He is making all things new. 
So how do you silence the demon-lies that wont stop crawling up the sides of your mind and really believe that? How do you bind up the slow bleeding of your one broken heart and still believe wounded warriors win, still believe that there is no remission of sins or the crossing of finish lines without things getting downright bloody, still believe that scars and wounds and broken places might become you and become who you are? And maybe this is how all the brokenhearted misfits finally fit....what do you do if you're struggling to remember who you really are?'

'Great grief isn't made to fit inside your body. It's why your heart breaks. If you haven't felt this yet, it may be, God forbid, that someday you will. There's absolutely no tidy pattern as to who gets pain and who gets peace.'

'Maybe the love gets in easier right where the heart's broke open.'

'There is no growth without change, no change without surrender, no surrender without wound- no abundance without breaking. Wounds are what break open the soul to plant the seeds of a deeper growth.'

As you read these words do you feel an upwelling of some sort from deep in you? Those demon lies that wont stop? That great grief that has shattered your heart? The no change without surrender? I get all of this and this is me. So we'll see where reading this book takes me ~ it will take me along 'The Broken Way' I guess ~ I mean I am already there but maybe I am a bit lost just now and this book will help me find my way back.
xo