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July 18, 2018

Writing with the Bible



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.
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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 https://authormasterminds.com/rebecca-j-wetzler book purchase site www.rebeccawetzler.net Holy Spirit Dove blog https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-j-wetzler-7b763a49/ https://www.facebook.com/authorrebeccajwetzler/?ref=bookmarks https://twitter.com/rdove1919




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