Tag: love

Dancing with a Broken Heart

Charlotte BurkholderLeave a comment

June 10, 2025

Broken hearts don’t dance, do they? If you’ve ever had a broken heart, you know they don’t feel like dancing! I watched as the 98-year-old gentleman danced with his wife at our retirement home’s Sing-along. Watching this couple dancing, smiling, and having great fun at their age was amazing!

What others watching didn’t know–they both were dancing with broken hearts. Just days before, Carol needed to leave her husband of forty-three years in a unit for dementia patients. With eyes full of tears, she bravely accepted the inevitable and faced the challenge. My heart swelled with tenderness, and my eyes filled with tears as I watched her lead him down the aisle to our weekly Sing-along. They danced close together, her eyes held his; a smile lit up her face. Their joy came from within because their Lord lives there.

Broken hearts are all around us. Nurse Carly saw the broken heart of the grandpa who sat by the bed of his seriously ill baby granddaughter. Carly knew just what to do to comfort that broken heart. I hope you enjoy reading about it in “Family Stories for God’s Glory.”

The only way to dance with joy when circumstances are devastating is to know the tender Shepherd, who loves and cares for you.

Giving thanks to the One who heals broken hearts,

Charlotte

Books sold: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or contact author: chburkholder12@gmail.com

Blog link: godinlifesmoments.com

LAUGHTER: A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Charlotte BurkholderLeave a comment

October 28, 2024

The first time I met Mia, we had a lively conversation. She was from Germany, and although she had lived in America for many years, Germany was still her homeland. She loved her country and loved talking about it. I enjoyed her stories. You see, I live in a caring community. Someone from our hospitality committee regularly visits people living in assisted living, many of whom are lonely or never have visitors.

So, Mia and I became friends. After Mia celebrated 90-plus birthdays, she often reverted to telling her stories in German, forgetting that I couldn’t understand her. I reminded her, and she switched to English for a few sentences, and then German took over again. Finally, not wanting to keep bothering her, I quit reminding her and just listened to her talk. When she said something funny and laughed, I heartily laughed with her. I decided that laughter is a universal language.

In my book, “Family Stories for God’s Glory,” Grandson Kyle, who has the gift of making others laugh, pulled a fast one on me. It brought relief into a sad situation. God’s Word has this to say about laughter. “A merry heart does good like a medicine.” Proverbs 17:22.

Find something to laugh about today. It will do you good!

Charlotte

“Family Stories for God’s Glory,” is sold at Barnes and Nobel and Amazon.

May also be ordered from the author at: chburkholder12@gmail.com

CHILDREN: PRECIOUS OR PROBLEMS?

Charlotte BurkholderLeave a comment

June 17, 2024

The day we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, we had our quiver full of children and grandchildren. We had four children, their supportive spouses, and eight grandchildren. Today we have four married children, supportive spouses, twelve grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren with seven and eight on the way. Our bushel of blessings just keeps bountifully being filled.

On page 31 of “Family Stories for God’s Glory” a verse is written along with our anniversary picture. “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward Him.” Psalm 127:3. (Verse 5 is where a quiver full is mentioned.) The book includes a story about each one of our children, spouses, and grandchildren. They are the treasures of my life.

The heart-breaker is children or grandchildren who are not treasured. Everyone of these precious persons is made in God’s image, uniquely created, and of infinite worth. Even the best of parents might forget this at times. A woman whose heart aches to hold her own baby in her arms left a lady’s meeting with hot tears running down her face. Her friend had complained. “My baby hasn’t slept for five nights, my husband has to leave early for work, so guess who has to do overnight baby duty,” she said disgustingly. “I really need a break.”

Children, grown, half-grown, or babies are gifts, and rewards from God.

God bless all you mothers and mothers-to-be.

Feeling blessed,

Charlotte