Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Friday October 26, 2007

I hope these vignettes are touching your heart as they touch mine as I read the book Inspiration From The Heartland, and write about how they reach into my innards and give me new thought, a chuckle or just plain inspire me to bang away it one more day, trusting the Lord for strength.

Linda Barber has several one minute devotions in the book and they are insights into the life daily lived. I have been told by the Great Blonde that my favorite in the one titled Dazzling Diamonds.

The core of the story is based on a night when Linda and few of her girl friends exchanged diamond stories. As each of the women told the story behind the diamonds on their finger or fingers, tales of love growing or gone filled the room, and blessed hearts or brought a tear of sympathy. Often women with diamonds left over from a break heart relationship had the gift of remembering the good times. Keeping the diamonds from such emotional train wrecks was a reminder that no diamond is big enough to fill the void in the heart created by the betrayal, abandonment of dreams that walk or in serpentine manner slither away.

Linda says,

"There I was, a woman without a diamond story."

My long time friend Bob Harrington tells of being so lonesome and feeling so neglected that he went out and had some fancy award plaques made and gave them to himself, but somehow it's just not the same as receiving the Nobel Prize. Linda found that buying a diamond for herself did not quite ring the bell the same as having one placed on her finger by the love of her life.

Linda tells the story in an offhanded way, but the pain bleeds through and hurt leaps off the page. Inspirational stories are by nature full of pain, but the victory is in the setting down the baggage associated with the pain and one more time mounting up with wings as an eagle and soaring above the humiliation, anger and pain.

Ms. Barber relates how God gave her real diamonds that are eternally hers locked forever in her mind in the vault of her memory called precious.

Whenever we have a heartache caused by loss, a slight or even betrayal, Christ will in His time give something to us that is better. In many cases God uses the stab in the back, the mean words spoken to open our heart to let His light come flooding in to show us the why and the way.

Linda laid down the baggage from much heartache and continues courageous in the daily peace of God that passes all understanding. Get the book.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit
Check www.LarryLilly.com

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