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Jan
blends Old Testament teaching with the lives of women who've not only
survived loss and disappointment, but thrived in spite of them to be
better than before. I know. I've been there.
—FLORENCE LITTAUER; Author-Speaker
One of the most bitingly honest books I've ever had the pleasure
of reading. With the boldness of a prophet and the graciousness of a
heart full of mercy, compassion, and empathy, Jan Coleman has tightly
woven together stories of devastation, restoration, and the results of
the Mighty Hand of God. Like a good novel, you won't want to put this
book down.
—EVA MARIE EVERSON; Author, Shadow of Dreams
Gutsy. Transparent. Real. Jan Coleman shares honest, powerful,
non-sugarcoated true-life stories of ordinary, everyday women (including
herself) whose lives were once stripped bare by the locusts, but are
now a living testimony to God's glorious restoration plan.
—LAURA JENSEN WALKER; Author, Thanks for the Mammogram!; Ferris Wheels,
Daffodils, & Hot Fudge Sundaes>
Once you start reading Jan Coleman's book, you won't want
to stop. She will touch your heart and encourage your spirit with honesty
and a call to holiness, yet she will lavish you with humor. If your spirit
is sagging and your soul is restless because of the locusts nibbling
at your peace, start reading!
—KATHY COLLARD MILLER; Speaker, Author, Why Do I Put So Much Pressure
On Myself?
PREFACE
Someone once said; joy and sorrow are inseparable. The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can absorb.
I wouldn't have believed it twenty years ago. Not when the locusts of despair swooped into my life and ruined my dreams. But now, after the locusts, there is a deep valley in my soul, not a dark valley but a hollow crevice for joy to settle in. Joy I could never have known without the storm.
Hannah Hurnard defines joy as sorrow accepted and transformed, and I know it's true.
Ten years ago a shattered woman came to our weekly women's prayer breakfast, searching for hope. Because I had been there, empty, confused, and hurting, I volunteered to mentor Ginger through her crisis time. Right away, I shared God's promise from Joel 2:25, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten." In the King James version it reads: I will restore to you the years. .
In my painful yesterdays, someone gave me that promise, and I clung to it. I watched God not only repay me for the years, but mold my life into something better and richer than ever before. If she allowed Him, God would do the same for Ginger.
Do you know the word "comfort" comes from the Latin word, "fortis," which means strong? As God comforts through loss, we are built up, through our resources, our new challenges, and our deeper faith.
After Ginger, I met dozens of women who needed their spirits lifted in dark times, and as I shared Joel 2:25, many found comfort and hope. Some opted to decline the challenge; wishing that God would wave His magic wand and heal them. Instead, they chose their own way.
Some ended up right back where they started, facing emptiness and despair.
Nobody urged me to write this book, but the idea kept tickling my brain, and when I brought the concept to a writers' conference in 1989, an editor said, "Unique idea, send me some chapters."
I went home to my computer and bit my fingernails. A good idea is one thing; executing it another. As I sat staring at an empty screen, it became clear that I wasn't ready to revisit my own pain and loss, yet. Nor did I have any clue how to fill up a whole book, make it interesting and valuable to read. So I silenced the whisper about "locusts" and started writing features and short humorous pieces for magazines.
Humor I could manage.
Then last year the notion came on again, and this time with a fervor. Remember Ginger? Start with her story. Bring it alive on the page. Write that locust book! By this time I felt ready. But, Lord, I need so many stories of ruined dreams, wasted years. Where do I find them?
The answer came so clearly. Look around. You know who they are. They've come through your life in the last ten years.
The vignettes you'll read on the following pages are mostly women whose stories I know well, and each has not only survived loss and regret, but answered the challenge to work closely with God in the process. Each woman has found new purpose and sufficiency, and each agreed that she wouldn't have missed the lesson from the locusts for anything.
I walked a mile with Pleasure
She chatted all the way;
And left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow
A never a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me.
Robert Browning
AFTER THE LOCUSTS - INTRODUCTION
I never set out to get cozy with Joel. Among the minor prophets in the Bible, he's a rather dim figure, and not very well known. But an encounter with this guy changed my life. No wonder; his name, a common one in Israel, means "the Lord is God."
You've got to love a guy with a name like that.
Joel's book, wedged between Hosea and Amos, is thought to take place eight hundred years before Christ. It deals with a locust plague, not such a big deal considering bug blitzes were quite common in those days. But this one was unique. A complete disaster, it wiped out everything. The locusts came in successive swarms, each destroying what the others had left behind.
But God had a purpose, to use the plague to stir the people into a new sense of Himself.
And along comes Joel. With vivid word pictures and powerful emotions, he pleads to the people of Israel to get the message; there are dark days ahead, yes, but God desires to bless His people who live honorably in the face of struggle and loss.
What does He want? Nothing, just your whole heart - - that's it.
That's it? Seems simple enough, doesn't it? But, not when your heart is bruised and weary. Not when your world is upside down in chaos.
Trusting God isn't always easy.
It took me a bit of time to piece it all together. Though I had the promise of Joel 2:25 tacked on my refrigerator, I took some foolish turns on my way to healing. You'll hear about them all as you read this book.
God didn't need to send out great armies to bring people to their knees in total dependence on Him, to stress that he was in control of everything. Or to show his kindness, his every intention of showering them with good gifts after their loss.
All he needed was a swarm of little insects.
I'm not a Bible scholar, but I've studied this man, Joel, and he wins the contest as my most popular prophet. Come and meet him, won't you? After the Locusts highlights women whose lives are a testimony to God's restoration plan, but it also takes you through a bit of the Old Testament with a straight-forward, no-nonsense guy with great compassion for those who hurt.
After each chapter heading you'll notice a scripture verse from Joel that becomes the theme of the chapter. Even though Joel's words apply to a specific event in Jewish history, there's a storehouse of hope in them for today.
This book may not answer all your questions, or cover the exact difficulty you face, but I pray you'll be stirred to a new understanding of your loss. As you read honest accounts of women who've suffered, and not only survived, but thrived, I think you'll be inspired.
As a bonus, you'll get to know Joel and the wonderful promise he offers from the Lord. So, let's get going, okay?