Archive for Broken

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Angels in the Block

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on August 31, 2023 by Her Broken Wing

“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ..” (Philippians 1:6)

Both of my parents and both of my children are gifted in a form of art. They can look at the canvas and before long a beautiful masterpiece has been created. They knew all along how their work would turn out but as a spectator, I just watch in amazement as the work is revealed in a slow, sometimes painstaking way.

Michelangelo lingered before a rough block of marble so long that his companion remonstrated. In reply, Michelangelo said with enthusiasm, “There’s an angel in that block and I’m going to liberate him!” Oh , what abounding love would manifest itself in us toward the most unlovable—the most vile—if only we saw what they might become and in our passion for souls we cried out, “There’s the image of Christ—marred, scarred, well-nigh obliterated—in that dear fellow, and I am going to make that man conscious of it.” (Author Unknown— book, His Victorious Indwelling.)

In God’s perfection, the only painstaking process is when we try to help Him. 

Maybe we should leave the strokes  of God’s hand to Him as He reveals the beauty of Himself through us. 

What is your art strokes going to look like today?


Connie Barris
2006

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When The Rain Comes

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on August 25, 2023 by Her Broken Wing

“…… I have called you by by your name, you are mine. You are precious in my eyes, because you are honored and I love you…”
(Isaiah 43:1)

As I looked outside that particular morning, it looked like rain. Dreary. It resembled my life lately. Cloudy, dark, uncertainty.

Broken would best describe it…

A friend,,,,once said,”You are in a good place.” He meant, I was right where God wanted me. However, not what I wanted to hear when I was hurting. As a matter of fact, I think it made me angry at my friend, the world, life’s circumstances and yes, even God. It made me cry. The blubbering, snotty, chest heaving and ugly cry.

Time passes and I look back.

Now I can sit and smell it… The rain…The unperfumed pureness of my Father reminding me that His rain falls on us all. The just and the unjust, those who love God and those who have rejected Him. Those hurting and those who are broken.

Brokenness reminds me of the drowning man. The ideal time to save him where he doesn’t drown both the person making the effort to save him and the drowning man is when he is about to go under“……Otherwise, he will fight in his panic. Both shall perish.

Am I living as a broken man, living ready, reaching up to grab the arms of Christ as He calls my name?

All of us. This Reminds us of His promise of love.

My Beloved

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Palm print of Jesus Christ

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on February 7, 2018 by Her Broken Wing

 

 

I just started a new Bible study today With Tanya with an “A”. Hmm I don’t even know the name of the study come to think of it but we talked a lot today about surrender, true surrender. So here ya go.
Years ago I used to pray the prayer of Jabez. “Lord increase my territory…”, I remember that part of the prayer and I remember the impact. I also fasted for two weeks. I’m the most skeptical person out there but if you  (Me)have the faith of a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20) whoa, let it be.

Not long after this, my spiritual life begin to change. And I thought wow this is my spiritual awakening! Little did I know! It wasn’t. Oh I went through Hell. As a matter of fact, I lived in hell. I must of had a lot of pride.

1 Kings 19:11-12 The Message (MSG)

11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”

A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.

My life did not turn out the way I thought. When I asked to increase my territory I think I just must of had to live in the 40 years of desert. The desert is pretty big territory. Not funny.

I should have seen this coming but I thought I was invincible. Three grandparents and both parents are/were alcoholics and drug addicts. So it should be no surprise that I went into recovery for drugs and alcohol 2010, I would be so broken. I just prayed “God if you only…” you’ll have to read at beginning of Her Broken Wing  to find out all that.  I was an angry bitter person. I’m

I did not hear God in my hurricane.  I was finally in treatment.

His earthquake happened. I did not hear Him, Halfway through my. Outpatient treatment something devastating occurred causing me to become very sick. My eating disorder that had been dormant for so long surfaced. Oh but I said this was about addiction. Yes I did. I had been stripped of pride, of everything. I was suffering from PTSD. Having nightmares every night and hyper vigilant. And I was buried in shame and quilt.

God’s fire. I finally hit would I would call or what we in AA a “bottom”. I ended up in ICU for 4 days after trying to end my life for His reasons which I do not know or understand.I’m here.

Quiet whisper happened when I was sitting broken alone with God.  Wondering “who am I that I would question God’s handiwork”? His Son sent to die for all that stuff I was living and I was not terminally unique like I thought I was!

1) I sponsor other women in alcohol and drug recovery.

2) I also started a National Rome’s one and only outpatient  Eating Disorder Anonymous meeting.

3) I teach bible study at my church and I’m open about my journey

4) I am still broken

thank you for allowing me to share. Please use this for good and keep it sacred.

http//herbrokenwing.wordpress.com

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Happy 2,920 Days to Me

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , on February 1, 2018 by Her Broken Wing

 

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, nope! Not the belly button kind. Even better. I am 8 years sober, that means no chemical substances. That is 2,920 days one day at a time. It does not mean I am emotionally sober at times or all the time (like I don’t  even know what that means some days).

Emotionally sober well that is another devotional and another day. For now I just want to thank God for where I am today. It is no less than a miracle. And definitely thank my family, friends and you for allowing me to share my story.

White chip Day 1…..8 years ago (yes I still have my chip)

Psalm 149 The Message. ( …He lifts the fallen…)

living the supernatural

Connie

 

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Daughter of the King

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on January 24, 2018 by Her Broken Wing

Some days, I don’t know, who am I? The oceans’ waves roll in calling me such names like self-pitied , self-destructive , unworthy  , depressed, and  chasing  shadows of the night, haunting my time in seeking peace and serenity.

People (I) gawk at things, my weakness and failure like an anomaly of nature, having come up on a bad wreck, trying to see how bad it really is,  I slow down to take a look. Why do I or we do that? Why do people look and stare and whisper….about me? “Do you know she’s ….?” I look back in wonder at the wreck. The wreck of my life. We  have all been there in a sense, staring and talking. Yes, you have in your human frailties. Denying it does not mske it go away! I don’t know but maybe watching  others in pain and destruction  makes our life’s  look, well normal, tender, loved and safe and more.

I had become the victim. Poor me. I used to believe that was a good place to be. People would feel sorry for me outwardly. But that wasn’t  the case.  A friend told me  when we have the victim mentally it is ugly and not an advantageous place to be. Just think about someone we knew with  the victim mentality, how do we feel about the person?  It isn’t appealing and sometimes grates us the wrong way.

What  I did to pull out of this? Several things

1) acceptance – I am an addict. Life changed  no happy hour. It is what it is

2) Go to meetings. When I was new,  I did 90/90  meeting a day for 3 months. Then, several meetings a week.

3) find a sponsor— I cannot begin to tell you how important this is. They have pulled my ass out of many trenches before! Start with one, you can get another one when you learn personalities.

4) work the 12 steps- start #1 it’s  so important.

Step One. “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol— that our lives had become unmanageable.” I wear this on a bracelet my daughter gave me always reminding me to give thanks

5)  clean my side of the street. In other words, quit blaming others. Find my part in situations

I could not do any of this without God. I wouldn’t be sober if it weren’t  for Him?

At the end of the day when I put my head on my pillow in the darkness of the night, i watch the silhouette of the trees on my wall.  The trees sway to the moons commands. Serenity I am reminded and I am also reminded of who I am…the daughter of the King!! (Psalm 45:9)

Good night and love  y’all,

Connie

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Safe Haven

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on February 18, 2012 by Her Broken Wing

I would like for this to be a safe place for you to come and read—what you already know! We all need a place where we can remove our armor with the prayer that no one will shoot us down. We need a sanctuary to hide out and be ourselves.

Many of us are hurting. A lot. So we come here to cry. A lot. I have not cried much if at all in the past several months. Today I cried. A lot. Brokenhearted over my own inadequacies, I cried. I cried over the roads I have traveled and the roads I have yet to travel.

The Bible says, God “binds up the brokenhearted…” (Psalm 147:3) I often wondered what that meant, maybe because I never allowed myself to feel anything enough to be broken in spirit. But I know what it feels like to hurt now. I also know what it feels like to sense total peace in the midst of emotions run riot. I can inhale and exhale the presence of my Lord. I can smell the aroma of sweet rain and know it is Him. I can hear a song and know the words are God speaking to me. I can look at my kids and know God loves me more than I love my children.

Still sometimes I need to escape the chaos and be still in His presence. Whether I find a quiet lake to sit by or go for a brisk walk with my music, I find God there. He is always there. “Do you feel My presence my child?”

I am overwhelmed by His love at times. And His sweet aroma brings me to tears…

May we sing out of tune, paint outside the lines and dance the Waltz…

Love you,

Connie

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And Freedom Rings

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , on August 20, 2011 by Her Broken Wing

Defective relations along the way have been many a cause of my woes….Not just the relationship with family and friends but God.  The further into my addiction I fell, the more difficult it was to hear the calls of my Heavenly Father…

Willingness to submit to God’s will was an awkward thing for me. In the beginning it was a conscious and painstaking effort. Then my awareness of this stirring became more of a discomfort and unease.  I was self-righteously right on all accounts in every relationship. This only caused more strife in my life.

Once I came to a point of complete brokenness, I had nothing left to interfere with the voice of God. Through my powerlessness, I came to believe a power greater than myself and I could hear that still small voice reaching out to me. (1 Kings 19:11-13) A tremendous love beckoned me. (1 Jn 4:10)

I had been my own worst enemy.

A few pills won’t hurt anyone….But it did.

For a moment in my brief life, I have resolved there is still time… time to clear the wreckage. I sift through the pains of yesterday. I pick up the pieces of scattered sorrows, some I leave.

Discomfort and unrest have now caused me to take action…my unmanageable life is now lived through the love of God…

There is a choice now for I am free.

And Freedom Rings….

Beautifully Awkward

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Another One Down

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on June 26, 2011 by Her Broken Wing

Friday night and another one down…

She had hoped and prayed this time would be different.

But a little too much fighting and not enough love…

The bottle became her escape like days before.

Morning came and the light shone in…

Realization of her sin made clear.

Shadows danced and haunted her soul…

How does she get out of this hole?

She cried her tears but no one could hear…

Lying in her room staring at the ceiling.

Hope was gone, shame set in…

She reached over and took a sip of stale pain.

The night was setting and what had she done…

Her mind was foggy and she didn’t care.

Shadows danced and haunted her soul…

How does she get out of this hole?

Morning came but where was she?

Quietly she slipped out of this pain.

Another one down, dead to disease.

How do we get out of this hole?

When the world takes her toll?

Another one down……

In Memory of a “Friend”

Beautifully Awkward

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The Broken Spirit

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on May 3, 2011 by Her Broken Wing

But it has been a year …or so… I should be… I should be what? Over it? Better?

How did it happen that my physical body heals and the emotional body was left unnoticed –for a time? I was doing so well and then I hit “The Wall.” My emotional breaking point.

No reason, really. Maybe you said something to me, looked at me a certain way, it really doesn’t matter because the break was bound to happen with you or without you. See it had nothing to do with you. I needed this final fracture of my spirit.

Now, I have nothing left.

“It is finished.” John 19:30

My spirit I give to the Father.

Beautifully Awkward

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Save Me From Myself

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on February 19, 2011 by Her Broken Wing

When I was a little girl, there were monsters that camped out in my bedroom. Within a short time, I had my youngest sister convinced of a devastating fate. This happened every night for a period of time. My precious dad set up a vigil in our room saving us from the monsters until we were asleep. Morning would come and the monsters were gone.

Years later, I was once again faced with the monsters of the world. With my heart-broken and shattered, my dad came to my rescue picking up every broken piece. My dad taught me the dance-of-life and chased away the monsters.

The road of happenstance had left me with a battlefield in my mind–a civil war. Monsters wreaked havoc in their words of unworthiness.

My dad has long since gone Home. He can no longer save me from myself and the world I have created. But he left me with his Father for I now face this dance with my Heavenly Father.  (Job 21:11)

Although I have tried to give up a time or two, the road always leads back to You.

And the war rages on, holding on or letting go… Father save me from myself.

Beautifully Awkward

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