Heartworks: Silent Yearnings of a Woman’S Heart

By Kathy Ann Tolan

Heartworks grew out of journal entries spanning thirty years. These pages seek to encourage thoughtful reflection to become a whole person in a broken world by discovering the necessity of inviting God into all areas of our livesthrough joy and through pain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512710731

Kathy Ann Tolan

As a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and armed with a degree in journalism, writing a book sounded intriguing. Soon realizing that people fresh out of college rarely have enough experiences in life to reflect upon, she settled for journaling. Thoughts in this book reflect thirty years of writing in journals. After a year of working at UTMB in Galveston, Texas, writing in-house publications, she woke up one morning with a burning desire to teach. Since she had adamantly declared to her father, a school administrator, that she never wanted to teach, she figured it was the Lord’s leading to pursue that career path. What followed was a year at Texas A&M, spent becoming certified to teach and two years of graduate school, ending in a teaching certificate and an MA in British Literature. Kathy Ann retired after twenty-five years of teaching high school English. She lives in Fredericksburg, Texas with her husband, Gil.

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Copyright © 2015 Kathy Ann Tolan.

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 author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author photo by Sarah Medley

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.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-1074-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1073-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015914137

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/13/2015

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Look to Christ to Guard Our Hearts

Chapter 2: Look to Christ to Influence Our Minds

Chapter 3: Look to Christ to Guide Our Relationships

Chapter 4: Look to Christ to Order Our Days

Chapter 5: Look to Christ as Lord of Our Lives

Chapter 6: Look to Christ for all of Our Strength

Chapter 7: Look to Christ for Our Sufficiency

Chapter 8: Look to Christ for Acceptance

Chapter 9: Look to Christ to Learn Honesty and Justice

Chapter 10: Look to Christ to Teach Us How to Wait Creatively

Some Concluding Thoughts

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Many people taught me (and continue to teach me) how to walk with God—exercise buddies, students, Bible study leaders, family, and friends with whom I journey through life. We walk this path together, and my life is rich and full because of those friends in my life. So thanks for letting me be an observer, a learner, a compadre. Thanks for laughing with me, crying with me, traveling with me, hunting antiques with me, and always pointing me to Jesus.

I married later than many women, and although this manuscript happened thirty years before I met my husband and his sons, those three guys, in their own ways, walked straight into my heart, and I am grateful. My immediate family expanded to include a wonderful daughter-in-law and a sweet granddaughter. Together, with my husband and sons, they continue to show me how my heart works.

Preface

How does your heart work? Within its chambers, does it harbor love? Do you know what it means to love you? How do you know when you are loved? How do you show love for other people? Challenged by these questions and a deep desire to encourage you to search your own heart for the answers, this book was written.

It is an offering of sorts, an offering of my own heart. The thoughts have lingered there, as the Lord continues to teach me carefully and patiently that the heart is the sum total, the composite of all that we are on the inside. More than pumping our lifeblood through our veins, our hearts are intricately intertwined with all that makes us who we are.

Our heritage has put us where we are, and literature has recorded that much more honestly than history. Being honest is more of a lifestyle than something we can choose to do when we have a chance to fib. Honesty, in the sense of acknowledging emotions and reactions to them, honesty in perceiving our heritage, and honesty in growing up and facing daily the issues involved