From Dry Bones to Living Hope: Embracing God’s Faithfulness in Late Life

By Missy Buchanan

Though the shadow side of aging is a reality, author Missy Buchanan brings spiritual light and nourishment to people in the later years of life. Older adults struggle with chronic pain and diminished physical abilities. They contend with losses that pile up like the dry bones in the prophet Ezekiel's vision—the loss of loved ones and friends, the loss of their home and belongings, the loss of independence, and the loss of purpose. In a culture that values youth more than age, older adults often feel forgotten and without purpose.

Each chapter of From Dry Bones to Living Hope opens with an intimate, prayerful lament to God from the perspective of the older adult who longs for spiritual renewal and purpose. The authentic voice of lament establishes credibility with older readers who yearn for others to empathize with their struggles. The second part of each chapter, "Cultivating Hope," guides them to God's perspective on aging and specific actions they can take that lead to hope and joy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Upper Room Books
• Release date: Oct 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9780835819787

Missy Buchanan

An advocate for older adults, Missy Buchanan is an internationally recognized author and speaker on issues of aging faithfully, drawing from her personal experience as a caregiver for her own aging parents. She has appeared twice on Good Morning America with coanchor Robin Roberts, who describes Missy as “the rare soul that understands, truly understands, older adults: their fears, struggles, and hopes.” With thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook, Missy provides daily insight and encouragement for the journey of aging. Her first book, Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body, remains a top seller in addition to seven other titles that are often found on bedside tables in senior living communities and in church libraries. Her newest book, Beach Calling: A Devotional Journal for the Middle Years and Beyond, will release in summer 2019. Missy has been a speaker at hundreds of churches, senior living communities, and aging conferences including the National Boomer Ministry Conference, the Festival of Wisdom and Grace, and the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network National Conference. She has delivered messages about caregiving and faithful aging to churches of many denominations, including the largest United Methodist Church in the United States—Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. She has also been a featured speaker aboard cruises for Educational Opportunities Tours. A resident of Rockwall, Texas, Missy enjoys regular visits to senior living communities in her area to see her older adult friends, being a greeter at her local church, and basking in her favorite role of all: grandmother.

Book preview

FROM DRY BONES TO LIVING HOPE: Embracing God’s Faithfulness in Late Life

Copyright © 2021 by Missy Buchanan

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, write Upper Room Books®, 1908 Grand Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37212.

Upper Room Books® website: upperroombooks.com

Upper Room®, Upper Room Books®, and design logos are trademarks owned by The Upper Room®, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations not otherwise identified are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Cover design: Emily Weigel

Interior design and typesetting: PerfecType, Nashville, TN

Print ISBN: 978-0-8358-1976-3

Mobi ISBN: 978-0-8358-1977-0

Epub ISBN: 978-0-8358-1978-7

Printed in the United States of America

I dedicate this book to the memory of Paul Hamm,

a longtime friend whose legacy of humility, faithfulness, and compassion

shines as a beacon of light to a weary world.

CONTENTS

Valley of Dry Bones: Ezekiel 37:1-10

Life in the Valley of Dry Bones

Battlefield

Invisible

Exile

When Praise Will Not Come

Temptations in the Wilderness

From Wasteland to Wildflowers

Digital Divide

Remembering

Grief Before Death

Vulnerable in the Valley

The Path to Purpose

Forgiveness

Persistently Patient

Community

Divine Interruptions

Prayer

Wisdom

Finishing Well

Standing on the Promises

VALLEY OF DRY BONES

Ezekiel 37:1-10

The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, Mortal, can these bones live? I answered, O Lord GOD, you know. Then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

LIFE IN THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES

Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

—EZEKIEL 37:4

There are days when Ezekiel’s vision is my reality.

A scorched valley stretches out before me as far as my eyes can see.

It is a field littered with the remains of once vibrant lives.

There is no sign of life—only dry bones. Very dry bones.

Everywhere I turn there are worn-out bodies like mine.

Frames beaten down by time. Minds bleached by the years.

In this season of life, my hope has shriveled into nothingness.

How long must I linger in this harsh environment, O Lord?

Without purpose and a reason to live, I am spiritually dead.

Nothing more than a heap of dry bones.

Then, from the hush of the desert, I hear a voice.

Can these bones live?

Lord, you alone know.

Prophesy. Speak to the bones.

So I speak of God’s greatness over the ruins. The bones begin to rattle and come together with sinew and flesh.

But still there is no life.

Prophesy. Speak to the Spirit.

I speak and breath begins to fill the lifeless bodies.

Breath. Wind. Spirit. The One who hovered over earth’s creation now blows new life into my declining body.

O Lord, where there is deadness, you bring new life and