By
Rebecca J. Wetzler
People
don’t know me very long before they realize I have a strong faith in the
Lord. It’s not from my witnessing per
se, I’m not that bold, instead it’s just a part of my normal conversation. I will say things like ‘the Lord helped me
with…’ or ‘I’m not sure how the Lord is going to work this out…,’ so I make
statements about the Lord being at work in my life. I am also an avid reader, including dreams of
someday writing my own books. An
integral part of these dreams has been the Holy Spirit’s prompting to share my
spiritual walk through the shadowy melancholy that has plagued my quality of
life and threatened my necessary daily functioning since childhood, and colored
how I cope with physical, mental and emotional health issues. How does one conquer deepening internal
blackness? For me, it has only been
through faith in the Lord that my soul is able to challenge the untruths
forecast by the darkness. No matter how
black the darkness gets, there is always the Holy Spirit’s steady glow to lead
me out again (John 8:12).
I
believe the Bible, even though some scripture is difficult to understand. Inspired by a Thanksgiving gift from my
grandmother decades ago, a recipe box with 3 x 5 cards to record blessings
upon, I decided instead to collect my favorite scriptures and write prayers
based on each one. Eventually it dawned
on me this could be my book, a daily devotional. Now, how could I express the Bible’s
relevance for today’s world?
1)
I
chose scriptures which especially resonated with me in the depth of my solitary
experiences.
2)
I
not only considered the chosen scripture, but also the context in which it was
used.
3)
I
used key words from each scripture also in my prayer, which illustrated
application to my problem.
4)
I
organized my collection in progressive order.
a.
Progressive
in the sense of determining quarterly themes that grew in encouragement over time
– ‘Broken Pieces’ begins using scripture to journey through brokenness, ‘Bread
of Life’ shows accepting spiritual bread to heal brokenness, ‘Believe in the
Blessing’ tells of faith, hope and trust despite brokenness, and ‘Bowing before
Him’ ends by acknowledging His sovereignty and worshipping Him regardless of
brokenness.
b.
Progressive
also in the order of the scriptures, meaning each quarter starts with my
favorites, the Psalms, and then the chapters follow biblical order.
Thus
‘Bread Box for the Broken’ was
written over decades of finding scriptures that helped me with my life long
struggles with loneliness, self-esteem, depression, and chronic pain from
migraines and a permanently injured neck, and, recently added to the mix,
unexplained heart failure. So I know it’s
true the Word of God gives strength today to continue the race when we feel
broken by life and it humbles us to give thanks for all the daily blessings
along the way that often go unnoticed because we are overly distracted by trials
and tribulations.
Rebecca J.Wetzler, originally a
California girl, has lived in Alaska since she was eight years old. An avid reader, her
favorite school subject was English writing assignments. To support her two
children, she completed an accounting degree. She has been a believer from her earliest
memories as a small child in Sunday School asking Jesus into her heart. Rebecca has realized her faith gives her a steady spiritual
regrounding to weather the drama of real life, and she wants to share the
spiritual truths with others so they may also follow God’s light past the
world’s darkness. Bread Box for the Broken is her first book, and she has ideas
for more devotionals, some Bible studies, maybe Christian romance fiction with
mystery and suspense. It is important for her to share that faith in Christ is
her foundation for challenging and purposefully overcoming life-long struggles
with loneliness, self-esteem, depression, chronic pain from migraines and a
permanently injured neck, and finally unexplained heart failure. Forced to
early retire, she really doesn’t know what the future holds, but she knows Who
holds her future. Rebecca J Wetzler
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