Redeemed: Beauty from Dust, Restoration from Brokenness, Living a Life Redeemed

By Belle Praf

Have you ever struggled with disappointment? Do you feel as if your prayers are unanswered? Has your trust been broken? Are you struggling to forgive? Are you facing battles in your life?

Redeemed: Beauty From Dust, Restoration From Brokenness, Living a Life Redeemed is about God bringing beauty from broken pieces when given to Him. It’s about prayer and trust and forgiveness and fellowship. His victory over sin in my life, and what I learned from my rock bottom. Wherever you are in life or your walk with God, my prayer is that you will find Jesus here, in the midst of heartache and reconciliation.

It’s about who God is and who we are in Him, a God who cares and works all things together for our good. It is a testimony of saving grace and a challenge to reflect and pray. By talking about living in the now and for an audience of one, it gives practical ways on how to live a life reflecting a heart redeemed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973696797

Belle Praf

Belle Praf. It’s not my name, but a name I’m writing under because this story isn’t about me. Belle meaning beautiful and Praf the Romanian word for dust because these words were written to show how, with God, beauty can and will come from the dust, His Kingdom brought glory from your most broken pieces. I’m just a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and I am a sinner, redeemed. From my own rock bottom, I learned more about Jesus and who He is to me and for me personally. I learned that, without Him, we are all only a couple of bad choices away from disaster. I work part time and take care of our three kids, under five years old, and I am learning daily how to find joy in all of the moments because they were given to me. I have been working on and praying for years about how to live a life reflecting the free gift of redemption. My debt was wiped clean, and I want so desperately to follow His calling on my life. I have made sinful decisions that hurt the people I love, and I have been hurt in situations since, but I know that Jesus is working and bringing good from my brokenness. My testimony is one of sin and mercy and a Savior’s arms wide open and pursuing daily, intentions and actions that reflect a heart redeemed.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Belle Praf.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

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without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

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and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International

Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9680-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9681-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9679-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020912976

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/23/2020

Dedicated to my husband who has lived this with me, to family

and friends that loved me at all times, to the ones who constantly

point me to Jesus, and to the little ones who call me Mommy.

Foreword

Belle Praf. It’s not my name, but a name I’m writing under because this story isn’t about me. This is not about my husband. This is not about our family. This is not about the devil or our small town. This is not about cheaters or broken marriages. This is not about churches or our friends. This book is not about us.

These words are about Him; His forgiveness, mercy, and protection amidst brokenness and sin. This story is about Him; His selfless love, provision, and peace in the darkest storm. This story is about a tireless victor, who never gave up, a God who cares and works all things together for our good. This story is about sinners in a dead world, running towards our only Savior, a situation deprived of light, now shining in His glory. This story is about a battle, fought and won by a King.

Belle meaning beautiful and Praf the Romanian word for dust because these words were written to show how, with God, beauty can and will come from the dust, His Kingdom brought glory from your most broken pieces.

I have sat down to write the words in these pages many times over the last couple of years. Some words were written through tear soaked eyes, some words were written in times of joy, and some words were written in months of devastation. But all of the words in this book you hold, were written specifically for you, for me, for anyone going through seasons of soul shattering.

Wherever you are in life or your walk with God, my prayer is that you will find Jesus here, in the midst of heartache and reconciliation. There is power in this story; I know because I have lived it, and I have seen Him move. I have seen Him bring beauty from the most shattered circumstances. I have seen Him make whole the finest pieces of dust, and the finished artwork is nothing like I pictured, like I planned, but it is beautiful, glory-filled, faith promised. You see, God brought me out of the darkness and into light, and through sin and struggles, I grew closer to Him, learned to rely on Him, learned to find fulfillment in Him alone, and that is a love story worth sharing.

I don’t know what is broken for you right now, whether it’s a relationship, an unfulfilled plan, a promise un-kept, but I do know that, whatever your circumstance, He is working. Whether you feel His presence or see His hand, His promise will be unbroken, and His plans for you are good.

I’m sharing these words, this testimony, with you, friend to friend, woman to woman, mom to mom because they are life changing. If we were sitting together, drinking coffee, there would be tears because this life is hard and full of heartache, but I would also tell you there is and there will be JOY. As women, we feel the need to be perfectly put together, but that is exhausting and impossible for us to do on our own.

The fact that you are holding this book, reading these words, hearing the testimony of a loving Savior, a merciful God, is proof that Jesus wins. His is the victory; I proclaim that truth over my life and yours. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past; it doesn’t matter how broken and shattered your life is; it doesn’t matter the sins you are drowning in. He came for you, and He came for me, and He didn’t come expecting perfection, but right in the midst of our brokenness, He chose us to be REDEEMED.

Contents

Chapter 1     Dust

Chapter 2     Redeemed

Chapter 3     Prayer

Chapter 4     Lies

Chapter 5     Battles

Chapter 6     Trust

Chapter 7     Forgiveness

Chapter 8     Audience of One

Chapter 9     Fellowship

Chapter 10   Living in The Now

Chapter 11   I am

Chapter 12   Testimony

One

Dust

Surely, at some point in your life, you have been wrecked with the grief that comes with a disappointment. Disappointments can vary in magnitude, but they always leave a wake of devastation to the life you planned, the life you imagined. At my lowest, I felt like my entire world was crushed, shattered, debris of dust left from the flames of sin.

Did you picture yourself going on dream vacations? Having a well-paying and enjoyable job? Now, you’re struggling with student loans and bills, and your job is less than fulfilling, or the work environment is draining joy from your soul.

Maybe you imagined white picket fences, a home filled with well-behaved children, or the perfect husband who washed dishes and completed every Pinterest project you found without complaint. Now, it hits you, and you realize that the fence posts are broken and chipped, your womb barren or empty, and your husband is falling short or maybe unfaithful. I don’t know what your situation is. I don’t know the life you planned or the heartaches you have faced, but I do know that

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nothing is too shattered for Jesus.

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In my research for this chapter, I found that there are 102 verses in the Bible that use the word dust. The first mention is in Genesis when the Lord formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7, NIV). I’ve heard this verse so many times, but I have never thought about why God chose to make the first living being, the first man made in His image, from the dust of the ground.

In my mind, He could have simply thought a man into being, and poof— there’s Adam. After-all, He spoke and there was light, water, land, vegetation, the sun, and the moon. He simply spoke and there were creatures in the sea and birds in the sky and animals on the land.

But He didn’t choose to speak man into existence. He chose to intricately and personally mold him out of the most unlikely of materials. He could have chosen something more sustainable, something more clean, something more glorious. But He didn’t. He chose the dust from the ground.

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This master Creator dirtied his

hands to weave together the smallest

broken pieces to make a living being.

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It’s more personal than saying for the sun to rise for day and the moon to rise for night. It’s more personal than Him speaking a divide in the water and land. He chose to form us. He chose to form us and breathe life into our nostrils. He wanted to create us from dust, to use His hands, not just His voice, in the creation of His people, His workmanship.

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We are a product of His hands.

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Have you ever taken the time to make something? I often do crafts with our kids on rainy or cold days when we are stuck inside, and it always amazes me how much time and effort these toddlers put into their masterpieces. Their attention span is short with toys or books, but to put them in the role of a creator, to give them the ability to make something, their little tongues are out in concentration, and their little fingers are steady and purpose-filled, even with the most simple art of coloring or threading Fruit Loops on string. Then, when they are done, their eyes are bright, and you can see the joy that came with creating, and the happiness they feel to have made something from nothing.

Think then, how God spent time making you, molding you, forming you perfectly in His image