A Devotional by Novelist and Scriptwriter Jennifer Dornbush

What Do You Do When Your Road is Broken?

A devotional by Jennifer Dornbush, author of God Bless the Broken Road

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
~Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

What do you do when your life takes a turn and you find yourself traveling a broken road? Where do you turn for help when it seems like even God has abandoned you?

These were the top two questions that myself and my script co-scribe, Harold Cronk, started with when we first penned the script version of God Bless the Broken Road that later blossomed into a novel version.

I understood the pain of these questions first hand. I had traveled on the broken road of infertility for over a dozen years. There were many times I felt like God had left me completely. How could he be so cruel as to not give us the gift of children, especially when I had been so faithful to Him all my life? We had never done anything to deserve this. I felt abandoned by Him and completely out of sync with my family, friends, and pretty much all of society. And a lot of days, I still do.

In my new novel God Bless the Broken Road, war widow and single mom, Amber Hill is struggling with her own painful road when she loses her husband to a bomb in Afghanistan. Why would God take away the gift of her husband?

Amber feels she doesn't deserve the suffering and heartache God has put in her path. She's angry, bitter, and determined to "do life" on her own. I get Amber. I've been there. And, like Amber, I've found myself in those yelling matches with God - "Why did you do this to me?! Why would you give me this suffering?!"

When Amber finally reaches her breaking point and has nothing left, she comes to a place where she can be still and hear His voice. The voice comes from an unexpected place—I won't give it away—but it's in that moment she is finally able to see that God's goodness and blessing have been surrounding her, even at her lowest point.

I get that too. And you’ve probably been there too. Most of us have had those moments in our struggles where we are at the end of ourselves. We find ourselves in too much in despair to even want to go on.

The good news is that God doesn’t give up on us. Thankfully. He waits by our side until we have so exhausted our own efforts that He can speak into our desperate silence. His voice calls: "Look up. Look around you. See what I have done for you today. Know that I have been with you and I have a future of hope and promise for you." (Jeremiah 29:11)

And that's the message of God Bless the Broken Road. We just need to pay attention to see what God is doing for us today. If we have even the tiniest mustard seed of faith that God is who He says He is, then He can move the mountains of our suffering and bring us into triumph and hope, no matter how broken our path seems.

All we have to do is to open our eyes. Open our ears. Acknowledge Him. See His blessings. And give Him thanks. Thanksgiving...God With Us...God is with us. And believing this truth is what will save us from despair on the broken roads of our lives.

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Author Bio: Jennifer is a writer, speaker, and forensic specialist creating a diverse range of stories that shed light on the dark places of the human experience. 

Her story creation is bred from a very unsheltered childhood as the daughter of a medical examiner whose office was in her home. She investigated her first fatality—an airplane crash—when she was 8-years-old and from there gathered a decade of on-sight experience in death investigation and 360 hours of forensic training through the Forensic Science Academy.

The stories she creates stem from the unique range of human experiences. Because of her background, she does not shy away from telling stories about tough circumstances and how characters choose to deal with them. Jennifer’s characters encounter light in their darkness… redemption where none seems possible…and bits of levity to sweeten the journey.

Her feature film, God Bless the Broken Road, is slated for release in 2017 in conjunction with the novel released on June 6, by the same title published by Simon & Schuster.

Jennifer has several crime-drama series being developed for television and a bilingual kid’s show, Team Abuelita, in production with Baby First TV.

Wanting to share her love of forensics with other storytellers, she scribed non-fiction work, Forensic Speak: How To Write Realistic Crime Dramas, published by Michael Wiese Productions, hailed as a north star to creating authentic crime dramas.

As a forensic specialist, she has consulted with TV writers on network and cable TV shows. She regularly leads seminars and webinars on forensics and crime fiction and has taught screenwriting on the high school and university level and mentored new writers.

Sign up for her newsletter and YouTube channel at www.jenniferdornbush.com.

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Blurb for Jennifer's book: God Bless the Broken Road is a heartwarming story about a grieving army widow who finds her way back to her daughter, her faith, and a new love.

Amber Hill never imagined she would find herself a war widow and single mom. She feels robbed and is angry at God, and she doesn’t know how to help her nine-year-old daughter Bree through her grief. Where, Amber wonders, are the Sunday dinners, the picnics, the bike rides, the time together they should be enjoying as a family? Instead, Amber is left with a folded flag and an empty heart.

Cody Jackson has a death wish. Or at least that is what his manager thinks, as Cody pushes his race car and his luck in every race. Is he hiding something, or just daring God and other racers to end the path of destruction he finds himself on as he rounds the last turn? When Cody encourages Bree to join in a Derby car race for local youth, she finds a way to channel her grief into something good—and she likes that her mom and Cody are starting to become friends—or maybe something more.

Cody invites Amber and Bree to see him race, but as they watch Cody narrowly escape a devastating crash, she realizes she can’t lose another person in her life. It’s better to be alone than feel that type of grief again. But when Amber hits rock-bottom, she cries out to God and asks for help. With her faith, her life, her family, and her heart hanging in the balance, Amber is forced to decide between the broken road she knows so well and trusting that God will provide a new path.

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Buy Jennifer's book on Amazon and AudioBooksNow

Watch the movie trailer for God Bless the Broken Road https://vimeo.com/191227455

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Connect with Jennifer:
Website - www.jenniferdornbush.com

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.graeserdornbush
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jenniferdornbush/
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/jenidornbush/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/JGDornbush