The Mended Heart

A Poet's Journey through Love, Suffering, and Hope

Rhonda Milner

• Publisher: River Grove Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781632992147
• eBook ISBN: 9781632992161
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Religious Poetry
• Index: Literature

In The Mended Heart, author and poet Rhonda Milner brings readers an inspirational book of her poetry, prose, and photography, offering them comfort and hope when they are going through difficult times. Drawing from her own experiences of joy and happiness, pain and sorrow, she shares words that encourage and lift the spirits of those who need to be reminded they are not alone. The poetry and writings have been compiled over the past 3 years from her Healing Presence Ministry blog where she has gained a worldwide following of over 2.6 million fans on Facebook, along with Instagram. ?This book is a journey to hope, allowing readers from all walks of life, cultures, and faiths to connect with the thoughts and wisdom of the author as she leads them through the human and universal experiences of love (both love experienced as people and love as shown by God), the pain and yet gentle and inherent beauty of suffering, and the promise of hope. The heart is never the same after it's been broken. But it can be healed. Ultimately, The Mended Heart brings readers to a place where they can recognize and experience God's love, receiving help and blessing through the writings and honest reflections of someone who's been down the road of both heartache and healing. This beautiful coffee-table gift book pairs the author's writings with her original photography, speaking powerfully, gently, and honestly to the soul.

MATTERS OF THE HEART

MATTERS OF THE HEART AFFECT US to our core, and they also produce effects that determine who we are and who we become.

Matters of the heart are the most important things in our lives that move us deeply. They bring joy and laughter, along with sadness and tears. They are things that touch our hearts, fill our hearts, and break our hearts. They are what make us fully human. Matters of the heart connect us to one another and to God.

TO BE LOVED

SOMETIMES IN LIFE, WE MAY FIND a nearly perfect love, someone who loves us close to God’s perfect love for us. Often, we receive this from our parents, especially our mothers. But sometimes, we experience this with romantic love.

It is unusual to find unconditional romantic love. There often seem to be so many expectations and requirements to being loved. Rarely, we find this pure love that is just given as a gift with no demands. When we are loved like this, we feel deep connection, complete acceptance, and like we are fully known. We may never experience this kind of human love, but we are always given this perfect love from God, our Father and Creator. My poem “To Be Loved” describes what it is like to receive this kind of love.

Always feeling accepted, never judged
This special love will never
hold anger or a grudge

To Be Loved

What does it mean to be loved and seen?

To be valued for our worth and true being

It is to be fully and wholly known

To always feel we are protected, never alone

To feel secure, resting at peace

Knowing this love will never cease

Feeling lifted up to soar and fly

Knowing we can climb mountains, no matter how high

To never again falter or waver

Knowing we have never felt safer

To feel entirely and totally whole

Never abandoned, never left out in the cold

Feeling feet firmly planted on the ground

Knowing a love like this can never again be found

It makes us strong, giving us strength

Knowing this love cannot be measured by any length

Always feeling accepted, never judged

This special love will never hold
anger or a grudge

It’s our human nature and core need

We need to feel secure, never to leave

To be loved even when we fail

Knowing no cliff is too steep to scale

Even in life’s most tumultuous storms

One can feel sheltered, safe, and all warm

We were born to be loved and connected

Not to feel inadequate or rejected

When we feel we completely belong

Then we will no longer yearn or long

To be utterly and completely loved

Is a gift alone from Heaven above

It is when we join God in holy communion

His unconditional love forms this perfect union.

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight
in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

ZEPHANIAH 3:17

YOU WALKED AWAY

THERE CAN BE A DARK, PAINFUL side of love, the kind that brings hurt and disappointment when we suffer its loss. This other side of love is heartbreak and unrequited love. When we suffer a broken heart with no options to regain the object of our love, how do we survive? How do we go on?

We can move forward by turning to the source of love. God is the only one who can soften and assuage the pain. All human relationships, at some point, bring disappointment because we are imperfect human beings, but God is perfect and will never forsake us. We’ll come to see that our internal emptiness can never be fully filled with human love; only God’s love will fill and satisfy us completely.

My heart was shattered, torn, left bleeding
It was only you that I was needing

You Walked Away

You walked away

Although I begged you to stay

You left me in shambles with no words left to say

My heart was shattered, torn, left bleeding

It was only you that I was needing

I was desperate, frantic, forced into conceding

How to survive and go on breathing?

When my heart wants to just stop beating

This despair has left me broken and seething

Alone again, forlorn again

By myself to ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part One: Human Love
• Part Two: God’s Love
• Part Three: Suffering
• Part Four: Hope
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• Additional Verses
• About the Author