Broke

'Broke was not in the cards for me. . . . Girls-then women-like us stay strong through it all. A little (or big) financial setback doesn't break us. Or our connection to God.'And yet, God let Caryn Rivadeneira and her family go dead broke.In the midst of this financial and spiritual desert, Caryn questioned God's goodness, wondering how he could feel so far away. Doesn't God promise blessing to those who serve him? Doesn't he hear his faithful followers' cries for provision and help? Join in Caryn's journey as she pursues God even when bruised, battered and broken by life. You'll laugh and cry with her as she experiences spiritual blessing and discovers God's goodness in ways she never expected.'We survived. I kept breathing. I kept stepping. And somewhere in the cracks, along the ragged edges of my marriage, in the desperate gasps of sudden poverty and all the questions that came with it, there was God. Big and glittering, soft and warm, smiling and beckoning. Somehow in the shimmers of all that, I began to taste and see, and feel and know, and hear and smell that God is good, and he was there in the broke bits.''In this time of longing to know what God was up to and to experience his goodness and presence, God worked me over by showing me where and how I could find him. Which is all over the place. In every last thing. He satisfied my wonderlust-my unquenchable desire to feel his presence and to experience his glory. And I found him. And I found him good.'

Caryn Rivadeneira is a writer, speaker and regular contributor at the Her.menutics blog. At Moody Radio she works on air and as a producer for Midday Connection. She spent years as an editor at Christianity Today's magazines and currently serves on the worship staff at Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church. Her most recent books are Known and Loved: 52 Devotions from the Psalms (with MOPS International) and the novel Shades of Mercy.She has over fifteen years of experience in the publishing industry and is a member of Ink Creative Collective, a community of Christian women writers and speakers, committed to the craft of writing and speaking unity on a diverse range of topics, theologies and personal convictions. She is the author of Grumble Hallelujah: Learning to Love Your Life Even When It Lets You Down and Mama's Got a Fake I.D.: How to Reveal the Real You Behind All That Mom.She and her family live in Elmhurst, Illinois.