Gemstones of the Heart

By Catherine Baker

In this book the author describes what was going on in her heart during her journey of getting to know God. She shares openly part of her life’s journey in this process through personal experiences and poems. It is meant to be an encouragement for those seeking to know their own heart and the heart of God towards those whom He created.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664298378

Catherine Baker

Founder and Director at Sport and Beyond, Catherine Baker is highly sought after as a keynote speaker due to her unique blend of professional background and deep insight into the world of elite sport. She has appeared on speaker panels at a broad range of events, including a Women in Leadership programme (jointly hosted by Goldman Sachs and Deloitte) and the inaugural AllBright FoundHer festival, and a groundbreaking event held at Lords hosted by Women in Sport. Catherine is also Chair of the Steering Group of the O Shaped Lawyer, and has extensive experience as a non-executive director, most recently as a Trustee on the Board of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.

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Copyright © 2023 Catherine Baker.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

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without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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.

WestBow Press

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and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9887-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9837-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023909568

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/30/2023

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book first to my Heavenly Father and then to those who may have received a wrong image of Father God’s heart towards them. It is also dedicated to those who desire to go on the adventure of discovering God’s heart for them and to get to know their own heart better.

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1    How it all began

Chapter 2    Gemstones of the Heart

Chapter 3    Special gemstones

Chapter 4    Knowledge and Wisdom

Chapter 5    The Heart

Chapter 6    The garden of my Heart

Chapter 7    Poems about the Heart

Heart Bypass

Lonely Heart

Heart Connection

Expectant Heart

Forgiving and Accepting Heart

Secret Place of the Heart

Chapter 8    The awakening

Loving Father

Jesus my friend

Walking with the Spirit of Truth

Adam

Eve

Joy

Journey to Love

Celebration of Joy

The joy of the Lord is my strength (song)

Chapter 9    Corona Crisis

Reflections of Life

Courage

Reflection - First Love

Hope

Children of God

Knowledge versus Wisdom

Beloved

I Am

Captive to Captivated

Restoration

Chapter 10    A Unique Design

Chapter 11    Restoration and Healing

Chapter 12    Unconditional Love

Chapter 13    Creativity and Identity

Chapter 14    Conclusion

Grace

Endnotes

PREFACE

He has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God. (Psalm 40:3)

I started writing poems many years ago, to express what was going on in my heart. I never considered sharing them with a wider audience because they are very personal. A few close friends said that when they listened to my poems their hearts were touched. Also, when I wrote poems for people for special situations, they said I had a gift to express in a poem how their hearts were feeling. This was something they themselves could not put into words in the way in which I could. They also said that there were probably many others who would benefit from hearing my poems. I was not sure whether I wanted to share my heart’s expressions with others but these friends encouraged me and so I started writing this book.

In life we may have many situations that bring stress, disappointments, and sadness but we also have moments of delight and joy. Our hearts need to express all these emotions one way or another. I chose to express them in my poems but there are many creative ways you can do this, depending on who you are. What I did find was that when my emotions were expressed in this way it left space in my heart for peace and rest to come in. When I had come to a place of peace, I was more able to sense the wisdom I needed to take the right action.

My poems reveal God’s grace and faithfulness to me over the years. This book is unashamedly autobiographical in that it reveals what was going on in my heart during my personal journey of learning to receive from God and that Father God cares about my heart.

As an older woman who has discovered a lot of wisdom in her life’s walk with God, I decided to share part of my story together with some of the expressive poems so that they can be a blessing to others. God loves and cares about the