Beautifully Broken: A Short Collection of Poems

By Vicki Joy Anderson

I can scarcely even remember writing these poems, so distraught was I back then; when I had endured 18 forlorn months on a plane of existence that no longer knew the name of my dear mother. Grief-stricken though I was, I had, by this time, resigned myself to my fate. The dead would not rise; nor would the living. There was I--a Moses in the midst of war with no Aaron or Hur to uphold me. Discovering these long-forgotten hymns nearly a decade after they were penned was like finding buried treasure. Time had crept in. Filled in the blanks. The journals of my mind had chronicled those bleak days and branded me a grief-stricken pile of self-pity and defeat. While there was never a time when I outright betrayed God, I can only remember sinking into a wraithlike state of nothingness where I was neither seen nor heard. I don't remember having any emotion but despondency. I don't remember fighting back. And I certainly don't remember having been able, in the throes of such sorrow, to have the desire or ability to unwind the cobwebs of my mind and reweave their threads into a tapestry of song. Why is it that, in these bittersweet seasons, our memory clings to what was bitter and forgets all that was sweet? I felt, back in those days, that God had left my side. I knew with my mind that He hadn't, but my head and my heart were going down divergent paths of grief and it was not until I stumbled back upon these poems that my mind was forced to reconsider all its befogged recollections. Perhaps my frail heart had been more stout than my fine mind had wanted to admit. These poems are a testimony. A witness of my faith--a faith tested and tried. I did not give up, walk away, shake a fist, or recant. I fought. And I sang. I took the ashes I was handed, moistened them with tears, and used that chimeric ink to pen the suppressed sermons of my soul--a soul that would not be silenced even in the midst of despair. It is my most sincere wish that this volume will find its way into the hands of other despondent, grief-stricken pilgrims, weary on their journey, and tempted to surrender. May these poems be an Aaron and a Hur. May they lift you up. There is no pit so deep that Christ's hand cannot reach you. Take His hand.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CDNC7TRT
• ISBN13: 9798854998895
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.2" x 5.0"