We asked Colleen: How many books have you written? Include a small book recap for each.
Answering the question “how many books have you written” is different than answering the question, “how many books have you published.”
Technically, I have written three books, but Through a Broken Heart is the first one I have published. The other two are patiently sitting on my laptop waiting for the inspiration (and perspiration!) needed to finish them. One day, they will make it (in one form or another) into print.
Through A Broken Heart (or TBH for short) is a 6-week, 7-day devotion written to women who find themselves stuck after a particularly difficult breakup. The title was taken from a quote by Oscar Wilde: “How else but through a broken heart can Lord Christ enter in?”
I love this quote because of the simplicity and truth of it. Most people I know who have a real and honest relationship with the Lord have walked through a season (or two!) of difficulty and despair. I will sometimes joke that if Jesus had an “office,” a place where He met with people, it would be located at “rock bottom.” You hear this in testimonies all the time: “I was at rock bottom when the Lord…”
For women, it is very often the loss of a relationship, a breakup that sends them there. That was true for me. After a particularly difficult relationship that I couldn’t get past, I found myself at this place, rock bottom. I was stuck for over two years, not able to shake the pain and loss the breakup had left me with. A friend (probably sick of my wallowing!) encouraged me to go to church with her one day – something I didn’t do often, but often enough to where I felt like I had this “god thing” covered.
That invite changed the course of my life forever. That day I surrendered to the Lord’s leading.
TBH enters into the place of pain and heartache that comes with a breakup. It begins there, focusing on the shock and insecurity that can overwhelm you in those first weeks. It continues to travel with you as you walk through the fear of uncertainty that occurs once the shock wears away and the truth sets in: He is not coming back. However, the best part of this devotion is that it doesn’t leave you there at rock bottom, in the darkness of fear and pain. The final two weeks are focused on helping you climb the slope out of the pit and back to higher ground – even higher than where you were before the breakup.
To put it simply, this devotion is meant to draw you to the One who created you and knows what you need and who you were meant to become. It will encourage you to be brave and to move forward – whatever that looks like for you. Will you date again? Go back to school? Change careers? Follow the Lord’s leading? That’s between you and Him. My job is to simply bring you to Him.
