Even Broken Can Be Beautiful


Book Description

“No human language possesses adequate words to describe what it feels like to watch as life slowly leaves your newborn baby. I have never felt so palpably and sickeningly helpless in my entire life. I was strong like wet tissue paper is strong. The moment felt like a horrible dream . . . except this bad dream was my reality.” How can a good God let babies die? Does He really have my best in mind? Will He ever heal my broken heart? The Bible tells us that God is good and that everything He does is good. But what about when the pain of this life bristles against that definition of God’s undeniable goodness? It is in those times when the deepest questions of our souls emerge. After learning that her unborn daughter would not be able to survive outside of the womb, author Sarah Rieke was pressed face-to-face with these difficult questions. Three years later, following the fatal diagnosis for her unborn son, Sarah was once again forced to reconcile God’s goodness against the brokenness of the world. Even Broken Can Be Beautiful is the story of the author’s own personal journey to find purpose in the most difficult, confusing, heart-breaking moments of life. It is the story of learning to lean hard on the God who can bring good from even the most despairing situations, an honest story of deep pain redeemed by the beauty of the cross of Christ. In this book, you, too, will uncover the sacred truth that because of Christ, even our most deeply broken places can be made beautiful.




Broken but Beautiful


Book Description

American church participation has plummeted in recent decades. Abuse scandals and hypocrisy hang in the air. Weekly, I talk to friends and neighbors who have left church, even as many still identify as Christians. I get what they're saying. When I consider the pain that so many have experienced in church life, the body of Christ sure seems broken. It's no wonder many don't find church to be worth it. But maybe there's more to the story. As a child, my family experienced deep crisis. I felt alone and vulnerable. Into that void, the church stepped in. I discovered a family, a people that have my back and forever changed my life. Even now, I see tangible ways the church works for the common good. The church possesses a resilient beauty that continually pushes through the brokenness. If we love Jesus, we have to eventually ask what Jesus loves. Surprising to me at times, Jesus loves the church, despite her brokenness. If we learn to see what Jesus sees, we'll discover a powerful, often untapped means towards human flourishing. No other social group offers what the church offers. Yes, the church is broken, but there's more. She's beautiful.




Beauty of the Broken


Book Description

As if her parents' heavy drinking and her father's abuse--which nearly killed her half-brother, Iggy--were not enough, fifteen-year-old Mara is caught kissing her girlfriend, Xylia, by the preacher's son and becomes terrified that her own life is at risk.




Broken and Beautiful


Book Description

Turning Tragedy into Triumph Do you ever feel stuck? Overwhelmed by fear? Do you worry that if people really knew the secrets you hide, they wouldn't want you? Do you wonder why you're even here? The things you hate about your life are the very things that excite God most. Your past doesn't repel Him and your present doesn't intimidate Him--because He knows what He can do with them! The places where you feel hopeless are exactly what He wants to redeem and fill with beauty, dignity, and strength. He has a plan for your pain. A wonderful intention for your failures. A purpose for your hardest, darkest stories. In Broken and Beautiful, Christine Soule shares the message of hope as she tells how God took the pieces of her own broken life--childhood abuse, poverty, human trafficking, and more--and turned them all into breathtaking joy and purpose. Told with honesty and humor, this is the story of a drug-addicted stripper's transformation into an exuberant Jesus lover with a passion for meeting others in their journey and watching God's love mend them together.




The Beauty of Broken


Book Description

Find beauty and hope by facing and dealing with the messiness of family life. The family is an imperfect institution. Broken people become broken parents who make broken families. But actually, broken is normal and exactly where God wants us. In The Beauty of Broken, Elisa Morgan, one of today’s most respected female Christian leaders, for the first time shares her very personal story of brokenness—from her first family of origin to the second, represented by her husband and two grown children. Over the years, Elisa’s family struggled privately with issues many parents must face, including: alcoholism and drug addiction infertility and adoption teen pregnancy and abortion divorce, homosexuality, and death Each story layers onto the next to reveal the brokenness that comes into our lives without invitation. “We’ve bought into the myth of the perfect family,” says Elisa. “Formulaic promises about the family may have originated in well-meaning intentions, but such thinking isn’t realistic. It’s not helpful. It’s not even kind.” Instead she offers hope in the form of “broken family values” that allow parents to grow and thrive with God. Values such as commitment, humility, relinquishment, and respect carry us to new places of understanding. Owning our brokenness shapes us into God’s best idea for us and enables us to discover the beauty in ourselves and each member of our family.




Broken Beauty


Book Description

In the world of Early-onset Alzheimer’s, here is a book all about life, love, and hope. ​Broken Beauty is the story of Sarah Smith’s mother—known as “Beauty” to her family—and her family’s journey through the devastating world of Early-onset Alzheimer’s. Smith was a young mother in her thirties when her own mother’s illness struck, so the family’s shock and pain at the disease’s manifestations is nearly unbearable. Not only is Beauty still young and fit; she is also Sarah’s best friend. This powerful and personal story about a daughter facing the unthinkable and the love she found to carry her through will touch the hearts of everyone who reads it. Sarah Bearden Smith is a housewife, mother of three, and a woman of deep faith, who has lived in Texas all her life. Sarah was born and raised in the Houston area, and remained there until her departure for the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a speech communications major, varsity cheerleader, and a member of Tri Delta sorority. After her marriage to Thad Smith in 2002, the couple moved to Dallas, Texas. During their years in Dallas, Sarah and her husband have served on various boards and committees, including the Greer Garson Gala, Presbyterian Hospital Healthcare Foundation, East-West Ministries, AWARE Dallas, and Providence Christian School of Texas. They actively serve with their children in assisted living and memory care facilities and support organizations such as Council for Life, Alzheimer’s Association, Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, and Community Bible Study. Sarah and her family are members of Watermark Community Church.




Beautiful Broken Girls


Book Description

Remember the places you touched me. Ben touched seven parts of Mira Cillo: her palm, hair, chest, cheek, lips, throat, and heart. It was the last one that broke her. After Mira's death, she sends Ben on a quest to find notes she left him in the seven places where they touched—notes that explain why she and her sister, Francesca, drowned themselves in the quarry lake. How Ben interprets those notes has everything to do with the way he was touched by a bad coach years ago. But the truth behind the girls’ suicides is far more complicated, involving a dangerous infatuation, a deadly miracle, and a crushing lie. BEAUTIFUL BROKEN GIRLS is a stunning release from Kim Savage, the author of the critically acclaimed After the Woods.




My Beautiful Broken Shell


Book Description

Already a bestseller with more than 100,000 copies sold, Adams' comforting words are now accompanied by D. Morgan's exquisite watercolors that summon the very sounds and scents of the ocean. Words of wisdom and peaceful images bring encouragement to those buffeted by life's storms.




Beautiful Broken Things


Book Description

Beautiful Broken Things is a moving story of friendship from debut author Sara Barnard, shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and selected as part of Zoella's Book Club. Now with a bold cover look. I was brave She was reckless We were trouble Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne's past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realizes, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own. 'I felt like I was living this book' - Zoella 'This book is exquisite, and exactly what YA needs . . . This author is one to watch!' - Holly Bourne, author of Am I Normal Yet?




Even Broken Can Be Beautiful


Book Description

"No human language possesses adequate words to describe what it feels like to watch as life slowly leaves your newborn baby. I have never felt so palpably and sickeningly helpless in my entire life. I was strong like wet tissue paper is strong. The moment felt like a horrible dream . . . except this bad dream was my reality." How can a good God let babies die? Does He really have my best in mind? Will He ever heal my broken heart? The Bible tells us that God is good and that everything He does is good. But what about when the pain of this life bristles against that definition of God's undeniable goodness? It is in those times when the deepest questions of our souls emerge. After learning that her unborn daughter would not be able to survive outside of the womb, author Sarah Rieke was pressed face-to-face with these difficult questions. Three years later, following the fatal diagnosis for her unborn son, Sarah was once again forced to reconcile God's goodness against the brokenness of the world. Even Broken Can Be Beautiful is the story of the author's own personal journey to find purpose in the most difficult, confusing, heart-breaking moments of life. It is the story of learning to lean hard on the God who can bring good from even the most despairing situations, an honest story of deep pain redeemed by the beauty of the cross of Christ. In this book, you, too, will uncover the sacred truth that because of Christ, even our most deeply broken places can be made beautiful.