The Blessing Of A Broken Heart

Memoir of the mother of a boy stoned to death in the Judean desert.

Koby Mandell was just thirteen-years-old on May 8th 2001, when he and his friend cut school to go hiking. Their bodies were found the next day. The boys had been brutally stoned to death in a cave in the heart of the Judean desert. The extreme cruelty of this act of terror shocked the world. How does a family cope with the loss of a child through such horror? Koby's mother Sherri has penned this absorbing, deeply painful and yet strangely beautiful account of her loss, sharing her thoughts and emotions as she moves through the first stages of mourning. Struggling to find a way to carry on, she embarks on a journey of discovery and growing faith as she endeavors to understand her pain in the context of 3,000 years of Jewish history and tradition. The Blessing of a Broken Heart is at once heartbreaking and life-affirming, shot through with immense pain and yet also with immense beauty and courage. Book jacket.

When Jan Richardson unexpectedly lost her husband and creative partner, the singer/songwriter Garrison Doles, she did what she had long known how to do: she wrote blessings. These were no sugar-coated blessings. They minimized none of the pain and bewilderment that came in the wake of a wrenching death. With these blessings, Jan entered, instead, into the depths of the shock, anger, and sorrow. From those depths, she has brought forth words that, with heartbreaking honesty, offer surprising comfort and stunning grace. Those who know loss will find kinship among these pages. In these blessings that move through the anguish of rending into the unexpected shelters of solace and hope, there shimmers a light that helps us see we do not walk alone. From her own path of grief, Jan offers a luminous, unforgettable gift that invites us to know the tenacity of hope and to recognize the presence of love that, as she writes, is "sorrow's most lasting cure."

A woman who is separated needs a friend to walk beside her on her difficult journey. Broken Heart on Hold is that friend, one that will uplift, encourage, and hold her up while offering practical insights and pointing her to God. It is a book of hope. Because it is written by a woman who has gone through the trauma of a separation and the eventual healing of her own marriage, the reader will know she is not alone. This collection of honest, heartfelt messages reaches down into the valleys of a woman's loneliness, travels with her through her mental labyrinths, and sheds light in the dark tunnels where answers seem nonexistent. It provides the emotional and spiritual strength to help a woman sort through her confusion. While winding her way through the maze of her emotions, she will realize there is hope as she hangs on to God and trusts him for the outcome. Broken Heart on Hold is a book she will return to again and again.

She Had Told Him She Was Headed for Blessing. Why Would He Not Take Her There? The Bjorklund family has received word that Augusta Bjorklund is on her way from Norway to join them in North Dakota. When the train arrives in the town of Blessing with no Augusta aboard, the worried family hopes she will be on the train in the morning. But only her trunk arrives, so Bridget Bjorklund insists that Hjelmer, Augusta's brother, go find her. Augusta, after discovering her intended bridegroom had married someone else, decided to leave her broken heart in Norway and start a new life in America helping her mother run her boardinghouse. But knowing no English, Augusta misunderstands a ticket agent's directions in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the harried confusion, she boards the wrong train. When she arrives at the end of the line, she is met by a handsome young rancher, Kane Moyer, waiting for his Norwegian mail-order bride....

From the author of the bestselling Anam Cara comes a beautiful collection of blessings to help readers through both the everyday and the extraordinary events of their lives. John O’Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, has been widely praised for his gift of drawing on Celtic spiritual traditions to create words of inspiration and wisdom for today. In To Bless the Space Between Us, his compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight offers readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. O’Donohue looks at life’s thresholds—getting married, having children, starting a new job—and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory. Most profoundly, however, O’Donohue explains “blessing” as a way of life, as a lens through which the whole world is transformed. O’Donohue awakens readers to timeless truths and shows the power they have to answer contemporary dilemmas and ease us through periods of change.

Astrid Bjorklund tries to stop the horrific epidemic that is ravaging the Red Bud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, but when the man she loves cannot accept her calling to become a doctor, she faces a difficult choice.

In Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn, Gemma had her summer all planned out, but it takes sharp turn when she gets dumped and finds herself back in the Hamptons after a five-year absence. Being there puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend (that is, before Gemma ruined her life). But people don't hold grudges forever. Do they? Gemma intends on making amends, but a small case of mistaken identity causes the people she knew years ago—including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh—to believe she's someone else. As though the summer wasn't complicated enough already. Can Gemma keep up the charade? Or will she be found out by the very people she's been hiding from?