Broken but Blessed: How to Move from Brokenness to Wholeness

By Doshara "Dj" Trolman and Dr. James E. Jones

Be careful when you are spending more time looking around at your surroundings instead of listening to the voice that is calling you. The winds of life will constantly blow and shift but we cannot afford to focus on the changing winds of life. Instead, we must live by faith and stay focused on Christ. The difference between surviving and sinking is a matter of who you are looking at. In order to live a life free from fear we must remain focused on Christ at all times. We cannot afford to look around or to look down but we must look up. We cannot look at our condition but we must look at Christ. We cannot depend on our friends to support us; we must look to the Savior to save us. Just stay focused. When fear shows up, doubt kicks in, your back is up against the wall, and the winds of life won't stop blowing, broken heart and tears in your eyes, just stay focused.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468563771

Doshara "Dj" Trolman

Reverend Dr. James E. Jones Jr. is the husband of Cheryl B. Jones and proud father of Little Miss Jarae’ E. Jones. He is the only son of the late James E. Jones, Sr. and Mary Turner. He is the founder, Pastor and wonderful leader of Grace Fellowship Worship Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In August 2009, Dr. Jones finally began the kingdom assignment by beginning his personal transformation from brokenness to walking in the abundant blessings and healing of God. During the past two and a half years God has shown unmerited favor upon the life of not only Dr. Jones but his congregation as well. By being obedient to the call of God, many doors have been opened spiritually, mentally, physically, personally, financially and emotionally. I thank God for the personal growth and movement of Reverend Dr. Pastor Jones from brokenness to wholeness. During this season of realness and transparency, many lives have been transformed from those who have been in church their whole life to those who are experiencing church for the first time. Thank you Pastor Jones for not only your personal sacrifice but the sacrifice of your family to allow all those who you have touched personally through your words, testimony, sermons, your trials, your first book, and this book to help us on our roads from personal brokenness to wholeness. Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV) 3When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. 4In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

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© 2012 by Dr. James E. Jones, Jr. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/11/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-6379-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-6378-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-6377-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012904861

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

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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.

Contents

Dedication

Special Thanks To

Foreword

Brokenness Defined

Broken But Blessed

Unbreakable

The Testimony Of The Thorn

Running On Empty

Dead End Situation

It’s Only A Test

Defeating Depression

I Need A Miracle

I Ain’t Scared

I’m Next In Line To

Receive A Blessing

Somebody Called The

Fire Department

Surviving Your Next Storm

You Are A Winner

Not Good Enough

James Vs. Jimmy

Why Do I Feel So Empty?

Letting Go Of My Ego

Broken But Blessed:

Uncut

About The Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all of the persons in my life who have been broken.

Have you ever had a broken heart?

Have you ever experienced a broken bone?

Have you ever experienced a broken dream?

Have you come from a broken home?

Have you ever experienced the pain of a broken relationship?

Brokenness does not have a specific gender preference or economic qualifications; neither does brokenness have a religious bias. Brokenness will hit the best of us and the worst of us.

One day as I was traveling through the airport, I saw something that changed my life. People that were on my original flight, got off at my first stop. As people departed the plane there was an entirely brand new group of people waiting to board the plane. Then the spirit arrested my attention with this thought: As we go through life, we lose some people and we gain some on our way to our destiny. As people are coming in and out of our lives, it is our assignment to remain focused on our destiny.

When I finally arrived at my final destination I realized that each of the persons on this travel adventure impacted my journey. The lesson they taught me was that we are all in transition as long as we keep moving, we will arrive at our destination.

May the words that you read, which represent the meditations of my heart, empower you to move from brokenness to wholeness.

Love Ya 4 Life!

Special Thanks To

Abbey Futrell for beginning the process of this work. To Fran C. and Ruthie Williams, for their passion and dedication to the fulfillment of this work. I am forever grateful, love you ladies! To my family and friends, thanks for all of the love and support! I wouldn’t be here without each of you. To the greatest church and the greatest people in the world… The Grace Fellowship Worship Center Family! Who Dat? In my best Deacon Therman voice! (smile)

Love yall 2 life 4 life and through life!

Foreword

A Woman’s silence is her loudest cry; for months my heart ached when I allowed my mind to think about the promises that I’d made, the vows that I’d taken and the dreams that I’d shared were no more. I felt trapped through my silence while my flesh cried out behind closed doors; the world only witnessed my smile. One would have never known that I was broken. My marriage was ending; I would ask myself How did we get to this point? Could I have done anything differently to save our relationship?" I blamed myself in the beginning. There were a lot of sleepless nights, I was emotionally drained and mentally I didn’t even feel like I was in the right frame of mind to be an effective parent to my child. I wore a mask during the day to hide my pain. I was afraid of being judged and I had nobody to confide in so I let my brokenness consume me. I didn’t like the feeling that had taken over my outgoing personality and I was tired of the darkness that covered my life. I tried to break through the layers of hurt and I knew that I couldn’t get through this alone. This was not a matter that my closest friends, siblings or even my parents could help me with. I realized that there was only one person that could help me, but how could I ask Him to guide my footsteps when I didn’t know Him? How could I turn over all my troubles to Him when I didn’t even have a relationship with Him? Even with unanswered questions I knew that in order to break free I just had to seek God.

I began my walk in the summer of 2010 when I became a member of GFWC and this journey changed my life in ways that I would never have imagined. It took time to get adjusted to this new season in my life. Becoming an active member of church, reading/understanding His word, praying and fasting which weren’t things that I was accustomed to but I quickly adapted as if it was a part of my upbringing all along. I let go of my troubles and turned them over to God and He showed me that even though I was broken I was still being blessed in so many ways, but I had failed to see it for so long because I had let bitterness and resentment take over. God was doing things in