A Story About Starting Again (Resurrection Year excerpt)

I have just finished the first draft of my next book with Thomas Nelson publishers, called Resurrection Year. It is a memoir about broken dreams and new beginnings. In a few days I fly to Nashville to plan the book’s April/May 2013 release, then there’ll be editing and rewriting to be done. There will be much more to share with you in the months ahead, so please subscribe to my newsletter for updates!

Would you like to a read a scene from the book?

I’ve had a small team reading along as I’ve been writing. The general feedback has been that people have cried through the first two chapters, felt hope awaken in the next two chapters, then had their own new beginnings dreamed up by the end. That’s a good sign.

Here’s a scene where that hope has begun to rise for Merryn and me, after our broken dream. The picture above is of the children it describes.

You can start again after a dream has died.

God is a God of new beginnings.

***

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere—soft, shimmering, translucent. Balls of delight floating gently in the air—with little faces staring in amazement. A young man hoping for spare change works his tricks like a magician—his magic wand a couple of sticks looped with rope, his top hat a bucket of soapy water, his white dove a giant bubble flying into the sky. He soon draws a crowd in the piazza.

A little boy watches in wide-eyed wonder as one of these transparent beauties hovers. It is large enough to pick him up and carry him away, but rises and falls like a feather. At just the right moment the boy gives a shout and jumps up to touch the bubble. It bursts like a party balloon pricked with a pin, showering the boy with suds as he giggles.

Another bubble floats through and a girl rushes towards it, but retreats when she realises its speed. She winces as the bubble pops over her head, splashing her and the pavement with lather.

A girl in a yellow top can no longer resist. She’s been filming the fun on her handycam but throws that to her mother so she can join in. A bubble as wide as she is high hangs just before her. She pretends to carry it in her arms before exploding it with a finger.

Another boy rushes in to play, followed by a fourth child, and a fifth—a flurry of smiles and squeals breaking out on a sidewalk filled with sparkling spheres.

The children run and jump and reach to the sky, chasing and popping the bubbles. Free of reservations, constraints and inhibitions, they enjoy the present moment, revelling in their excitement, delighting in the gift of bubbly, soapy play.

Their happiness is contagious, spreading like pollen in the breeze. They are playful. They are joyful. They are free.

And so are we.

***

Question: Have you experienced a broken dream? How did hope begin to rise again for you? How did you start again?

Comments:

  • October 17, 2012
    Susan Pearson4

    Where do I start, the day starts as a normal saturday, soccer and netball with the kids.  Arriving home decide we will have pizza for dinner,  we all eat together, then something didn’t seem right, looking back I saw this.   My husband turned to me at 11.30om and said he was leaving, first thing I do is check the wardrobe, yes all clothes are gone, he had come home from work during the day and packed while I was at netball etc.   He asks if I want him to come in the morning and tell the kids, my reply no.  I will do that…  Suddenly I realised this was serious.   Had I missed some warning signs during the last few weeks, yes…  nothing could have prepared me.  Was there another person involved.  Yes… have I forgiven.  Yes… in fact they both come to my home, we were all friends… God sure is good, only he can take a mess and well, throw his amazing Grace on it… He sure is good.      My story in short.. Sue

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    • October 17, 2012

      What a heart breaking story, Sue. I’m so glad you’ve expressed forgiveness. I do love that last line of yours: ‘only God can take a mess and well, throw his amazing Grace on it’.

      Thanks for sharing this.

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      • October 17, 2012
        Susan Pearson

        Thanks for taking the time to read my story Sheridan.  My hope is that others would know,  God is the healer, restorer, God of second chances.  He knew before it happened, he prepared me, in fact my mother handed me her engagement ring two weeks before this happened.  Totally out of the blue, two weeks later I was taking mine off.  See God had gone ahead.  My mother also told Mark that she loved him, so I have had a good teacher.  Forgiveness… Mercy.. Praise God.

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