STEPPING STONES

7 Devotionals for the Discouraged and Brokenhearted

This series is for the hurting and disillusioned. It contains practical spiritual insights for dealing with pain, loss, and suffering and addresses areas that trip us up.  We’ve been hurt in the deep places that are difficult to address and embarrassing to talk about. These thoughts offer hope for the Christian who is wounded and suffering. 

I wrote each devotional with the intent to help others in the crush of circumstances, those people buried in the grip of emotional pain. If you have not been hurt in such a way, you can not fully appreciate or understand how crushing and devastating are the wounds of rejection from someone you dearly love. Loss, in general, is a host for all kinds of inner torment and pain. It is for such wounds that these devotionals are offered.

STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 1 – A Hope and a Promise
STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 2 – Looking in the Mirror
STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 3 – A Healing Time
STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 4 – A New You
STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 5 – Beauty from Ashes
STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 6 – Regaining Spiritual Health
STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL 7 – The End Result Matters

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~7~

THE END RESULT MATTERS – HELP FOR THE HURTING

Stepping Stones Devotional

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 9:1

Embrace your metamorphosis. What happens as you deal with pain and suffering is much like the butterfly’s life cycle. While in its cocoon during its time of wait, a transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is taking place. The butterfly will never emerge if this process is interrupted. It takes time and a season of change though not observable since its metamorphosis is hidden from view by the fiber walls of its chrysalis.

When the time is right and the metamorphosis is complete, the butterfly must be left alone as it makes its exit from its hidden place to re-enter its environment. It must be left alone to dry it wings before taking its virgin flight. To interfere will bring harm to the butterfly, preventing it from becoming the beauty it was meant to be.

We, as well, must endure a time of being closeted within a private cocoon of God’s design. The transformation of our hidden life through the tempering of troubles and difficulties mixed with trust and spiritual refreshment is a process we must personally experience—alone—uninterrupted by human, well-meaning detractors. To deny ourselves this effort will abort our destiny’s end.

It becomes possible to see the true nature of the miracle of God’s grace. This is seen through our changed and transformed lives. Those times when a person emerges from the dark places to reenter the light. When our metamorphosis is complete, we will have become what we were always meant to be—a divine created soul with exquisite beauty and gentle graces of great worth and value to God and to fellow human-beings.

Do not resent the troubles or hard times.  They are the means to bring you into close fellowship with your Father God in the intimacy of relationship. It is where spiritual needs are met and faith is developed. It is your new beginning.
Praise God!

Dear Father God, so much I love Thee. You are the potter and I am the clay. Mold me into the shape you wish me to be that I may be used of Thee.

©N. L. Brumbaugh

~6~

REGAINING SPIRITUAL HEALTH | HELP FOR THE HURTING

Stepping Stones Devotional

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

A person’s spiritual health must regain its balance in the aftermath of broken relationships. It is an untidy business. One has to navigate through a complicated maze of thoughts and feelings to sort out what is true and what is not true about ourselves, about the other person, and about other contributing factors. Getting past self-pity and stinking-thinking is needful for a healthier spiritual self.

The microscope of God is uncomfortable but necessary for a Spirit-led recovery. Many people prefer to not go there. They wear blinders and put up a facade, a pretense that says I’m okay while exhibiting a false image, a projection of wholeness, a pretending. It soon derails. The deadness will remain. Life will dry up. If the person doesn’t deal with it, they are at risk of history repeating itself or continual complications from unhealed hurts.
What to do?

A person’s pain has a way of numbing reactions, circumventing the ability to move forward. A person can get lost in the hurt. There are times when loss is so devastating that we feel totally upended, unable to carry on. All we can do is cry out to God. That is where it starts. It is in this that we quit doing it our way. We can’t do it.
But God can.

It is essential to release our needs and desires to God. This is necessary that we may access his healing grace and divine intervention. Lifting our prayers in openness and brokenness is a process that God uses to unfold a greater master plan for our lives. God knows what we need—and he will provide. He is in the business of binding wounds and healing hearts.
God doesn’t waste anything.

A stronger Spirit life is something we receive as we draw from the deep well of God. He has resources to help us restore, renew and revitalize. In making something new out of something broken, God gives us helpers. He gives us friends and mentors to guide and encourage us, scripture and writings to teach and illuminate our minds, prayer and meditation to comfort and console our hearts. He uses all of these to transform our life into a masterpiece of rare beauty.
Trust God to do this for you.

Dear Father God, when I am weak you are strong. I ask for strength to carry on and the courage to move forward.