He Heals the Brokenhearted

“He heals the broken hearted And binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3) Today, I read something to the three girls in my third-grade writing group that brought us all to tears. The reason I wanted to read it to them was because it featured a story told by a four-year-old child as remembered by the author at 85. The author told of telling her father a story to her dad which he wrote down and had published in the newspaper. The story she told was about being chased and pecked by a rooster and how she screamed for her mother and how her grandmother saved her. It turned out that the child never saw her father again because, she found out, her parents were divorcing. I saw the tears welling up in one girl’s eyes and I held back my own. The four of us looked at each other understanding the author’s message. You see, each one of those girls’ parents are divorced and my parents were divorced. The author of that story expressed gratitude to her father for his part in her decision to become a writer, and this was the redemptive element of the story. This was not only a teaching moment, it was a holy moment for me, as I acknowledged that special thread that brought the four of us together The story was published in “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul” by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Bud Gardner (2000). The story was “Papa’s Gift” by Cookie Potter. Both the story Potter told her father as a child and the gift she felt he gave her by publishing her story in the newspaper illustrate the redemptive power of gratitude and childlike faith while navigating life’s challenges. Lord, teach me to be aware of your presence in everyday situations and broaden my understanding of your sovereignty. --Carolyn Cogswell Digging deeper: Matthew 19:13-15; 1 Thessalonians 5:18 This is a practice devotion following the pattern for submission to Guideposts Magazine.