The Mended Heart: A Poet's Journey through Love, Suffering, and Hope

by Rhonda Milner

Overview

In The Mended Heart, author and poet Rhonda Dawes Milner brings readers an inspirational book of poetry and prose, 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. This book is a journey to hope, allowing readers from all walks of life 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632992161
Publisher:	River Grove Books
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Rhonda Milner is a retired licensed physician (graduate of Emory University School of Medicine and a Board Certified Radiologist). She is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Georgia with a B.S. in Microbiology. She is a graduate of Richmont Graduate University (RGU) with Master's in Professional Counseling (2013) and in Ministry (2015). Her Counseling specialties were Spirituality & Counseling and Addiction. She is a therapist in private practice; counseling is a ministry for her seeing clients that cannot afford regular counseling. She completed her certificate as a trained spiritual director fall of 2015 at RGU and sees her directees monthly free of charge. She completed The Renovare Institute's 2 year program in spiritual formation and discipleship 2013 taught by the late Dallas Willard, Gary Moon, James Bryan Smith, Kenneth Boa, and others. She has been a longtime student of Kenneth Boa's. She founded Healing Presence Ministry which can be viewed on Facebook, Instagram, and at www.healingpresenceministry.com. She has a following of over 1.5 million on Facebook. This is a natural audience for her publications. Her blog consists of her spiritual writings and poetry and has been very well received by the public. Rhonda is the mother of four children and has been married for 35 years. She lost her 25 year old son April of 2011 to shallow water blackout. She is founder and chairman of Shallow Water Blackout Prevention. She has spoken nationally on this topic and has been interviewed by Sanjay Gupta (can be viewed at shallowwaterblackoutprevention.org) and national syndications. She was recognized by Aquatics International in 2012 as one of the Power 25 people changing the aquatics industry. She was also the co-founder of New Leash on Life, a companion animal advocacy group. She also speaks to groups giving her testimony about how the power of faith can transform life's worst tragedies.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

The Mended Heart is a collection of poetry and writings about our journey through life as human beings who experience love, suffering, and hope. It is about our spectrum of experiences, both good and bad. It is about joy and happiness, along with pain and sorrow. Love and loss are both four-letter words that begin with L. They are tightly bound. You cannot have one without sooner or later experiencing the other. Like either side of a coin, they exist together.

My poem "On Being Human" expresses and describes this path we all share, and so it introduces the writings I've gathered for you in this book. Despite the varying nationalities, cultures, and faiths we may have — and our different backgrounds and experiences as people — we have the universal feelings of love, suffering, and hope in common. I share with you my experiences in this collection to remind and encourage you that you are never on this journey alone. Life is not easy, and the world can be brutal — even to the innocent — but through love, there always remains hope.

On Being Human

We are all born as trusting innocents Then the world of adults steals our resilience We come with eyes of curiosity and wonder Then the system breaks our will and thunder Hearts born so gentle and so tender Hardened by society they are rendered But our inner child within still lives When nurtured and fed, he still can give Hope, love, virtue, faith, and trust Come as little children we must Hardened hearts can then be broken Through the cracks God's words are spoken Into our hearts God will live and thrive But only we can ask Him and decide Frail humans in elusive, desultory worlds The enemy is us within tortured and furled Death breathes close, capturing us all As we search for significance and meaning before we fall Being human is connection with others using our hearts and head s Otherwise we are sentenced to be the walking living dead All humans need loving, supportive community It sustains us, offering life and opportunity It is about relationships finally in the end Those with God, family, and our friends Then what will last when we are gone?
It has always been love, our hearts' only song We come then go as little children once more As mere humans standing to face death's door.

* * *

In this book, I have grouped the poetry and writings into key parts of our human experience: Love divided into human love (Part One) and God's love (Part Two); then suffering (Part Three); and finally hope (Part Four). What I pray is to bring to my reader encouragement, inspiration, comfort, and hope. I want my words to become a healing presence and a blessing. My ultimate desire is for others to recognize and experience God's love. Then, His love becomes the true healing presence, and I am just the messenger.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Mended Heart"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Rhonda Dawes Milner.
Excerpted by permission of River Grove Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface, ix,
Introduction, xiv,
Part One: Human Love, 5,
Part Two: God's Love, 55,
Part Three: Suffering, 109,
Part Four: Hope, 207,
Author's Note, 289,
Acknowledgments, 293,
Additional Verses, 295,
About the Author, 319,

Editorial Reviews

"The Mended Heart richly illustrates the truth of 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 that our suffering shapes and empowers our ministry to others, and that God redeems what He allows. The author’s eloquent comments and poems on human and divine love, suffering, and hope skillfully guide us on a journey below the waterline of our emotions into the healing depths of God’s truth, goodness, and beauty."
—Ken Boa, ThM, PhD, DPhil, president of Reflections Ministries, president of Trinity House Publishers, author of A Guide to Practicing God’s Presence

“Rhonda Milner is a physician, counselor, spiritual director, wife, mom, and poet. This book, like her life, is a remarkable tapestry. Her writing, in The Mended Heart, becomes a fabric that draws threads from each of those voices. Rhonda writes with wisdom and beauty about the gift of love, redemption of suffering, and pathway of hope. Each poem is offered with a wonderful visual image and commentary from the poet.”
—Gary W. Moon, MDiv, PhD, founding Executive Director of the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and Dallas Willard Center, and the Renovaré Institute; author of Becoming Dallas Willard: The Formation of a Philosopher, Teacher, and Christ Follower and Apprenticeship with Jesus

“Like a modern-day Dante, Rhonda Milner asks us to pause, not just to think deeply on the spiritual meaning of life but to feel deeply its changing rhythms and persevere. Her poetry feeds our soul care. It promises us that Love is transcendent, not subject to the boundaries of time and space, and the ultimate gift from our Creator.”
—Timothy Quinnan, PhD, author, screenwriter, and President of Richmont Graduate University

From the Publisher