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Inspiring Voices - Kathryn Slattery

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141 pages

English

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The stories of our lives are a lot like songsbeautiful, eternal melodies composed by our loving God. In Heart Songs, author Kathryn Slattery shares some of these songs through her own life stories, seeking to provide hope, encouragement, and inspiration. In this collection, she explores the joys and challenges of lifes changing seasonsbeing a young mother; being a member of the Sandwich Generation pressed on both sides to meet the needs of her aging mother while also caring for her husband and children; being an empty nester and losing her mother; and being a joyful mother of the bride. Throughout her lifes journey, Slattery discovers fresh, helpful, spiritual insightsheart songsthat she shares as a mother, daughter, sister, wife, and friend. With refreshing candor and gentle, self-effacing humor, Heart Songs captures those divine and fleeting moments when heavens music breaks through and our hearts sing in perfect harmony with our loving God.Praise for Heart SongsKitty Slattery writes not just for the heart but for the soul. She reaches deep into her own life as well as the lives of others to find the stories that lift us up and give us the greatest gift any writer can givehope.Edward Grinnan, editor-in-chief of Guideposts magazine and author of The Promise of Hope Heart Songs is full of heart-tugging warmth and wisdom, a chance to savor the wonder of a life well-lived.Rick Hamlin, executive editor of Guideposts magazine

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Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	08 décembre 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462400294
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Heart Songs
A Family Treasury of True Stories of Hope and Inspiration

Kathryn Slattery

Heart Songs

Copyright © 2012 Kathryn Slattery

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover layout and design by Laura Kagemann.
Interior layout and design by Christian Kelly.

Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1-(866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0030-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0029-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011941950

Printed in the United States of America

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 12/6/2011
Contents
Acknowledgments
Note to Reader
Acknowledgments
Motherhood … a New Kind of Love
Moving Day
City Sunset
Katy’s Kingdom
Family Forever!
Mirror, Mirror
The Broken Vase
How to Recharge Your Churchgoing
Liberty Weekend
Ah, Summertime
Chicken Pox!
How to Grow Your Child’s Faith in God
The Gospel for Kids
The Gospel for Kids
How to Give Good Gifts to Your Kids at Christmastime
All I Want for Christmas …
Emmett McCallister’s Christmas Eve: An Old Tale Retold
Emmett McCallister’s Christmas Eve An Old Tale Retold
My Christmas Angel
How to Be a Great Godparent
How to Make Easter Real for Your Kids
Grandma, I’ll Miss You: A Child’s Story about Death and New Life
Grandma, I’ll Miss You A Child’s Story about Death and New Life
Homecoming
My Secret Garden
Dad’s Flag
The Power of Human Kindness
Important Things: In Memoriam, September 11, 2001
Waiting for the Call
Dear God: Help! An Anxious Mother’s Conversation with God
Prayer for a Teenage Son
How to Say Good-Bye to Worry
Out of Empty Nest Valley
The Dancing Lesson
New Year’s Reflection on “Perfection”
Holy Smoke! The Amazing Story of How I Quit Smoking
Lost and Found
The Black Dress
The Butterfly’s Secret
Squeezed in the Middle: How to Care for an Aging Parent in the Sandwich Generation
Counting My Blessings on Mother’s Day
Max and the Lost Keys
Learning to Let Go in a “Tiger Mom” World
Prayer for Adult Children
The Sixpence
Tired of Junk E-Mails? Send This Story to Every Woman You Know!
My Favorite Interview: Fred Rogers, “I Like You Just the Way You Are”
I Like You Just the Way You Are
What’s Your Story? Kitty’s Writing Tips
Heart Song
About the Author

For story lovers everywhere

Acknowledgments
Every attempt has been made to credit the sources of copyrighted material used in this book. If any such acknowledgment has been inadvertently omitted or misattributed, receipt of such information would be appreciated.
The Gospel for Kids was originally published by Chariot Books, David C. Cook Publishing Company, Copyright © 1989 by Kathryn Slattery.
Grandma I’ll Miss You: A Child’s Story of Death and New Life was originally published by Chariot Books, David C. Cook Publishing Company, Copyright © 1993 by Kathryn Slattery.
Emmett McCallister’s Christmas Eve: An Old Tale Retold , by Kathryn Slattery, appears with permission from Guideposts Books, Copyright © 1980 by Guideposts, New York, NY 10016.
The following chapters in this book originally appeared in whole, or in part, or in some similar version, in Guideposts magazine, Copyright © 2002 by Guideposts, New York, NY 10016, and appear with permission:
“Moving Day” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Sincerely…” Guideposts , May 1983.
“City Sunset” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Fragile Moments … When God Speaks in Whispers,” Guideposts , July 1985.
“Family Forever” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Brin(c)kerhoffs Forever!” Guideposts , October 1986.
“Mirror, Mirror” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Out of Molasses Swamp,” Guideposts , September 1986.
“How to Re-Charge Your Churchgoing” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “How to: Get Your Churchgoing Going Again,” Guideposts , April 1989.
“Liberty Weekend” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Afterglow,” Guideposts , July 1987.
“Ah, Summertime” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Sincerely…” Guideposts , July 1992.
“All I Want for Christmas” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Kitty’s Crown,” Guideposts , December 1990.
“My Christmas Angel” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Sincerely…” Guideposts , December 1986.
“How to Be a Great Godparent” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Godmother,” Guideposts , January 1990.
“How to Make Easter Real for Your Kids” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “How to: Make the Real Easter Real for Your Kids,” Guideposts , April 1992.
“Homecoming” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Getting the Message at Last,” Guideposts , November 1993.
“I Like You Just the Way You Are,” by Fred Rogers with Kathryn Brinckerhoff (Slattery), originally appeared in Guideposts , September 1980.
“The Six Pence” by Kathryn Slattery, originally appeared as “Mother of the Bride,” Guideposts , June 2011, Copyright © 2011 by Guideposts.
The following chapters in this book are adapted from Lost & Found: One Daughter’s Story of Amazing Grace , Guideposts Books, Copyright © 2008 by Kathryn Slattery:
“Motherhood… A New Kind of Love”
“The Dancing Lesson”
“Lost and Found”
“The Black Dress”
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Other Scripture quotations are taken from the following sources: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version (RSV). Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1973 by National Council of Churches of Christ. All rights reserved. The King James Version (KJV) Public domain.

“Take hope, for writing is magic. Even the simplest act of writing is almost supernatural, on the borderline with telepathy. Just think: We can make a few abstract marks on a piece of paper in a certain order and someone a world away and a thousand years from now can know our deepest thoughts. The boundaries of space and time and even the limitations of death can be transcended … Our stories have the power to heal, to make the world new again, to give people metaphors by which they can better understand their own lives.”
—Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey

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 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 storytellers. 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 in our various human frailties, fears, and failures. We appreciate in a new way how much we need each other. In a word, we connect . 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. It is about bei