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Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness
Azioni libro
Inizia a leggere- Editore:
- Page Publishing, Inc.
- Pubblicato:
- Feb 7, 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781644246177
- Formato:
- Libro
Descrizione
This book is not about formulas, even though we oftentimes wish that we had a fail-safe method that might be employed to insulate us from the harsh realities of life that grate at the core of our being; it is a book about faith. Not a sentimental or simplistic whistling in the dark kind of faith, but the kind of faith that is anchored in a God that empowers us to move on up the rough side of the mountain even when all the external evidence tell us that we should give up. Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness contains a message for everyone. As evidenced by the different scenarios of brokenness portrayed within the pages, we also experience brokenness in different ways; but despite the plight of brokenness that might encumber us at any given point in time, we are reminded that God is sovereign over every life situation and has a unique prescription for what ails us. In finding this book, the reader has found a precious gem that will inspire them to recalibrate their perspective on life and look out on the world with new eyes of faith as they recognize the divine within themselves. Despite the forces that that conspire to deny us our divine birthright of abundant life, we could avail ourselves to a transcendent power that could transformation of our circumstances and move us from a place of brokenness to a place of blessedness..
Informazioni sul libro
Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness
Descrizione
This book is not about formulas, even though we oftentimes wish that we had a fail-safe method that might be employed to insulate us from the harsh realities of life that grate at the core of our being; it is a book about faith. Not a sentimental or simplistic whistling in the dark kind of faith, but the kind of faith that is anchored in a God that empowers us to move on up the rough side of the mountain even when all the external evidence tell us that we should give up. Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness contains a message for everyone. As evidenced by the different scenarios of brokenness portrayed within the pages, we also experience brokenness in different ways; but despite the plight of brokenness that might encumber us at any given point in time, we are reminded that God is sovereign over every life situation and has a unique prescription for what ails us. In finding this book, the reader has found a precious gem that will inspire them to recalibrate their perspective on life and look out on the world with new eyes of faith as they recognize the divine within themselves. Despite the forces that that conspire to deny us our divine birthright of abundant life, we could avail ourselves to a transcendent power that could transformation of our circumstances and move us from a place of brokenness to a place of blessedness..
- Editore:
- Page Publishing, Inc.
- Pubblicato:
- Feb 7, 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781644246177
- Formato:
- Libro
Informazioni sull'autore
Correlati a Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness
Anteprima del libro
Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness - Leary Bonnett
Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness
Leary E Bonnett
Copyright © 2018 Leary E Bonnett
All rights reserved
First Edition
Page Publishing, Inc
New York, NY
First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc 2018
ISBN 978-1-64424-616-0 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64424-617-7 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Dedicated to the Reverend Dr. Arlee Griffin, Jr. and the Berean Baptist Church family.
Foreword
Inscribed on the pages of Moving from Brokenness to Blessedness: Experiencing Healing in Hard Times is invaluable counsel about triumphing over adversity. However, it is not about a quick fix method to overcoming brokenness. Dr. Leary E. Bonnett confronts a universal theme common to the human experience—adversity. From time immemorial, hardship has served as a contemptible foe of torment in the lives of humankind. The author assures the arrival of adversity’s presence by spotlighting biblical and secular unsung heroes who have grappled with such a menacing opponent. Dr. Bonnett invites the reader to face a truth: No one is exempt from pain, not even the author.
Dr. Bonnett speaks from a highly credible wounded-healer viewpoint about the proverbial midnight, a period of desperation in the life of the Believer. Despite the author’s familiarity with brokenness, he remains relentless in his pursuit of never surrendering to a hopeless mindset because his hope is anchored in Jesus the Christ, thereby, making him more than a conqueror.
Because of the author’s prevailing mindset, he willingly and compassionately shares wise counsel with those who have given up on the future or considered it. His advice, Never give up!
coming to terms with the inability to banish brokenness from one’s life, reaffirms one’s human limitations and the need for help from God—who is the healer of brokenness.
Dr. Bonnett targets those who may be inclined to doubt whether God will abandon them. The author allays these doubts through a preponderance of narrative testimony. After reading this book, you will discover that God will bring forth a redemptive good in your life, despite your adversity, because all things work together for the good of them who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
Rev. Dwayne Bynum
Associate Minister
Berean Baptist Church
Brooklyn, New York
Preface
This is not a book about formulas. If you are looking for a formula to transform your life situation, I am sorry to disappoint you. I personally do not believe that there is one solitary method by which God brings about changes in our lives. God is the formula or change agent of our lives. For example, Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus by simply speaking a word of healing while on another occasion, he healed another blind individual by combining spittle with mud, creating a salve, which he then applied to the eyes of the man, making him whole. God has a unique prescription for each situation. Bottom line, there is no single way forward. Any attempt to flatten the biblical response to suffering and transformation tends to distort the biblical witness.
Although there are no formulas per se as it pertains to the transformation of difficult situations, I believe there are concrete actions that we can undertake to enhance the process. By drawing on biblical, contemporary, and personal experiences, I have provided invaluable insights that could qualitatively enhance one’s life situation if they choose to work in a collaborative effort with the Holy Spirit.
I would like to apologize for those rare instances where I might have referred to God in the traditionally masculine image when I was unable to find a suitable way to adequately describe the Almighty. My actions are in no way malicious, but merely, more out of simplicity instead of any rigid concept such as gender.
The journey towards transformation is oftentimes long, difficult, and fraught with disappointments and setbacks; but despite the hardships we might encounter along the way, the Bible indicates that the struggle to reclaim our divine birthright of abundant life is possible because Jesus has overcome the world. As such, we must always remain hopeful in the living of our days.
Chapter 1
Brokenness, a Pathway to Blessedness
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;
In whose heart are the ways of them.
Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well;
The rain also filleth the pools.
—Psalm 84:5–6
It is no accident that you picked up the book you are presently holding in your hands. In fact, divine providence had a hand in it. This work contains invaluable insights that can help transform your life situation if you afford them the opportunity to do so. In all likelihood, you were attracted to the title because the instant you read, it something shifted in your spirit, signaling that it might address some pressing issue that cries out for change. If you embrace this assumption, you are absolutely correct. The writer believes God utilized him as an emissary to provide you with perspectives that may help facilitate the transformation you’re seeking.
Chances are, you might be enduring a harrowing season of brokenness. You are battered, bruised, and possibly embittered—a broken vessel in need of restoration and repair. You probably feel dejected and disillusioned by the challenges confronting you, and you are oftentimes tempted to give up on yourself and the prospect of a better life. Further still, you might have recently emerged from a long tunnel of tribulation and are still in recovery mode, feeling sensitive to the hardships that confronted you during the struggle to regain a semblance of normalcy and make meaning out of your suffering. On the other hand, this might not be the case at all. You might simply be aware of someone that you care deeply about who experienced one of the scenarios mentioned; and because you are a caring and compassionate individual, you believe this treatise could be a source of encouragement in helping them move from a state of brokenness to an arena of blessedness where they could experience shalom—God’s all-around goodness and harmony for their lives. In the Hebrew language, shalom is a fourfold concept encompassing peace with God, peace with self, peace with others, and peace with the created world around us.
This book is not birthed from simplistic sentimentality, nor motivated by abstract speculation, or detached impersonal reflections, but from bruising experiences which the writer has been confronted. Like scores of fellow sojourners on this brief foot span on eternity’s trail, I have been subjected to the crucible of brokenness and consider myself a wounded healer. As such, I frequently consult my wounds as a source of healing whereby I am able to recognize my personal pain emerging from the depth of humanity from which all individuals share.
I had my first encounter with the absurd at the age of twelve when my ten-year-old brother and best friend, Leslie, was rundown by an out-of-control automobile that was operated by an impaired driver. My brother unfortunately did not survive the tragedy, dying a short time after being struck from injuries sustained during the accident. Needless to say, I was devastated by the loss I experienced. Since that pivotal event in my young life, I have subsequently grappled with painful events too numerous to catalog and seemingly too heavy to bear, including the deaths of two infant daughters, my beloved father, an older brother, a cousin that was gunned down during a robbery at his workplace, and a turbulent season of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), ensuing from life-threatening scenarios I experienced while on active military duty in the United States Army. Each experience left a deep and lasting wound on my spirit that served to shape my outlook on life. As such, I realize that the episodes of brokenness I have been confronted with enable me to resonate with the plight of fellow sojourners who oftentimes find themselves in the proverbial valley of Baca—the valley of suffering—because I have walked in your shoes. Like you, life has sifted me like wheat. In truth, every one of us will be compelled to grapple with absurdity in one of its ugly incarnations at some juncture on our pilgrim journey.
Brokenness and the attending suffering usually show up adorned in various costumes. It may appear in the form of anguish unleashed by the actions of crazed gunmen who desecrated churches during worship services and schools during the teaching process, debilitating bodily sickness, financial hardship, relationship issues, or garbed in some other pain-drenched experience that rocks us at the core of our being. Jesus informs us that in the world, we will suffer tribulation. In plain and unvarnished language, brokenness is a democracy for all people. It is one of the great universals of human existence that afflicts princes and potentates, rich and poor, old and young, strong and weak, good and wicked. Try as hard as we might to establish a protective bulwark against the unwelcome companion in an effort to secure a pain-free existence, no one is ever rendered immune to its awful onslaught.
Skeptical minds might assume that brokenness and blessedness are two mutually exclusive entities that could never co-exist with each other. This work, however, references biblical and contemporary scenarios, proving that brokenness and the attending suffering—while at times seemingly debilitating—could be redemptive. Having said thus, I would like to make it clear that I am aware that brokenness and the ensuing pain are harsh realities of everyday life with the potential to degrade our overall sense of well-being. As such, I am not talking about responding to the unwelcome interlopers by spewing pious platitudes, quoting scripture in an attempt to ignore or minimize pain, putting up a brave front, or adopting an escapist attitude with no actual healing and restoration taking place in the spirit. What I am proposing is availing ourselves to a power with the ability to imbue us with strength that supplants our finite strength, empowering us to attain our highest possible potential despite the soul-degrading forces embroidering our existence at any given point in time.
I became intrigued with the interrelatedness of brokenness and blessedness while engaged in an in-depth study of the life of David and other recipients of transformation that were at some point, tossed by the storms of life. Drawing on the corpus of David’s life, I was captivated by the narrative of the thirty-fourth psalm, where he gives voice to the fact that he was prepared to bless God at all times. There is a high degree of credibility in the writer’s declaration because it was made at a time when his life was mired in adversity. When the oath was voiced, David was a fugitive from justice, roaming the wilderness because Saul—his father-in-law and current king of Israel—engaged in numerous attempts to run him through with a javelin. In order to preserve his life, David fled the precincts of Jerusalem, venturing out in the wilderness where his immediate family members subsequently joined him, followed shortly thereafter by six hundred loyal constituents, who were in all likelihood the riffraff of society. Hunted down like an anxious quarry by the insecure king and his unrelenting henchmen, David lived in exile for ten or more years with the stark realization that every day on the run could very well have been his last one on earth; but despite the brokenness that plagued his existence, he was imbued with the assurance of blessedness because he believed that Jehovah God was his light, his salvation, and the strength of his life. In David’s estimation, God was everything that he needed to live an overcoming life.
While evading Saul’s malevolence, David sought out protective sanctuary by hiding out in the cave of Adullam—a military stronghold in the Valley of Elah, thirteen miles southwest of Jerusalem. At one point, he ventured beyond the borders of Israel into enemy territory, seeking
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