Heart Songs

Note to Reader

Dear Reader,

I’ve been writing true first-person stories for going on four decades – as a long-time contributing editor for Guideposts magazine, memoirist, and as the author of several books for children – and every day I continue to be amazed at the incredible power of the true, first-person narrative to reach out and touch the human heart.

The truth is, we are all story tellers. Indeed, there are many who believe that the desire and ability to tell stories is the primary characteristic of being human. There’s a reason God made us this way. When we choose to step out in faith, take a risk, and share our stories – whether around the dinner table with our family, over a cup of coffee with a friend, or through the pages of a book – beautiful and amazing things can happen. Through the power of God’s grace, our hearts are opened. We realize we are not alone with our various human frailties, fears and failures. We appreciate in a new way how much we need each other. In a word, we connect. And through that connection, our hearts are mysteriously touched. We experience an increased capacity to empathize, forgive and love. As a good friend once told me, “Kitty, the reason God put us here on earth is to help each other. One of the best ways we do this is by sharing our stories.”

When it comes to life I am no expert. Perhaps like you, I’m just a regular mom, daughter, sister, wife, and friend – struggling each day to appreciate and not take for granted the good and joyful moments in life, while at the same time trying to learn lessons from and somehow make sense of life’s heartaches, disappointments and unexpected challenges.

I read somewhere once that the world is a broken place made up of broken people, and because of this, we sometimes cut ourselves on the broken pieces. At first this might seem a discouraging way of looking at life. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a person of faith, it’s that while we may, indeed, begin life “born broken into a broken world,” what life is about is the transformational journey of being gently and tenderly put back together by our loving God. About being made whole. This restorative, healing process doesn’t happen all at once, but gradually… season-by-season… day-by-day… one insight at a time. Over the years, I’ve come to think of these incremental spiritual discoveries, these mini-epiphanies, these life-affirming “Ah-ha!” moments when God sings His tender melody of hope and healing in our hearts as heart songs… Hence, the title of this book.

When you stop to think about it, the stories of our lives are a lot like songs – beautiful, eternal songs, composed by our loving God. Here on earth, especially during times of trial, we struggle to comprehend the Composer’s intentions. Indeed, there are dark times when we cannot hear His song at all. Our hearts are silent. “For now we see through a glass darkly,” the apostle Paul wrote, “But then in heaven, face to face. For now on earth I know in part – but then, in heaven, I shall know fully – even as I am also fully known.”

But even with our human limitations, there are moments on earth when heaven breaks through and we hear with breathtaking clarity a completed stanza of our life’s song. We are forgiven, and discover that we can forgive. We are loved, and discover that we can love. We are saved… set free… healed… reconciled. When such amazing moments of grace occur, we marvel at their beautiful harmony and perfect rhyme. We sense the Composer’s loving presence. We hear His gentle voice resonate in our hearts like a perfectly pitched tuning fork, and in response our spirits sing out with deep meaning, purpose, faith, and hope.

In heaven, God promises that we will see and hear everything clearly. In heaven, everything will finally make sense. The good and loving Composer will take His children by the hand and show us how all the heartache, troubles, loss, and tears of this earthly life were just unfinished stanzas of our songs waiting to be rhymed with the miraculous ink of His redemptive grace. In heaven God will show us how nothing in life goes to waste. How everything in life has value – even the pain – and how something beautiful and good can rise from the rubble of life’s most difficult circumstances and mistakes. From illness, He will show us His beautiful song of healing… from addiction, a song of deliverance… from a hardened heart, a song of compassion… from hurts and misunderstandings, a song of forgiveness… from estrangement, a song of reconciliation.

But we are not in heaven. Not quite yet. So for now, we incline our ears and listen – carefully – for those divine and fleeting moments when heaven’s music breaks through, and our hearts sing in perfect harmony with our loving God.

It is my fondest hope and prayer that this book will serve as a powerful source of hope, encouragement, and inspiration for you and your family. May God be with you as you read, and may your heart be touched and your life eternally transformed by His gentle, loving grace.

With Blessings Always,

Kitty

Visit Kitty at www.KathrynSlattery.com, and on Facebook at: Kathryn “Kitty” Slattery.