Anyone who has ever cared for a child knows a lullaby - a gentle song - can quiet and calm a child's active spirit. As the children of God, our minds can also be full of distractions and worries and a full agenda that competes with God's best for us. In God Loves a Lullaby, Jonathan Herst, himself a young father, examines the Father heart of God. Just as a human parent responds to the cries and fears of his children, God hears our cries and anxieties. Jonathan Herst examines a full slate of our emotional issues - desperation, regret, loneliness, anger, and many others, and contrasts our view of those feelings at the time, with God's eternal point of view. In this simple devotional, the author invites us to consider how God hears our prayers. God's view, Jonathan reasons, is different than ours. Our prayers may seem like emotional desperation, but they are music to the ears of our Father, God. Read on, and you too will find that God Loves a Lullaby. J. Kie Bowman Senior Pastor Hyde Park Baptist Church The Quarries Church Austin, Texas God Loves a Lullaby What God Hears When Our Hearts Cry Out By Jonathan Herst AuthorHouse Copyright © 2012 Jonathan Herst All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4772-4962-8 Contents Foreword.................................................................1Preface..................................................................51. It Only Hurts When I Breathe (loss)...................................92. Pulled from the Wreckage (hopelessness)...............................153. The Horse Stampedes and Rages (desperation)...........................214. Hemorrhage (shame)....................................................275. When the Ashes Scatter (regret).......................................336. Hungry (loneliness)...................................................397. Hell hath No Fury (anger).............................................458. Seethe (bitterness)...................................................519. Until Lambs become Lions (fear).......................................5710. As the Poison Lays My Soul to Sleep (weakness).......................6311. If Only (consequence)................................................6912. Lost (confusion).....................................................7513. Storm (doubt)........................................................8114. Hurricane (discouragement)...........................................8715. Why hast Thou Forsaken Me (suffering)................................9316. And There My Burdened Soul Found Liberty (death).....................99A Lullaby Prayer.........................................................105The Gift of Salvation....................................................107Acknowledgements.........................................................109Endnotes.................................................................111 Chapter One It Only Hurts When I Breathe (loss) If you're going through hell, keep going. —Winston Churchill Loss is ... unimaginable, unavoidable, and unforgettable. There are times in our lives when we are simply pulled through the heartache of losing someone precious to us; the excruciating experience of dealing with a part of our heart being torn out. The agony of waking up to a new day, forced to face it, to deal with it. Maybe a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a son, a daughter, a dear friend ... someone so close to our heart that many times it hurts just to breathe , just to simply stay still and process the pain. As we sit and analyze every part of the situation that caused this loss brings no comfort, only more grief and devastation. How do you go on? How do you recover from this? Taken. Gone. What creates anger much of the time for the person left behind to deal with this is the fact that it is all out of your control. There is nothing you can do. There is nothing that can be done ... to make things undone. It is in these times that we are forced to ask God, "Why? Why me? Why now?" What my heart says ... I cannot carry this cross. I cannot bear this loss. God, why? Why me? Why this? I'm so lost. I'm so angry at you for letting this happen. Why, God, why? It's not fair. I didn't ask for this. I don't want this. I can't deal with this. This hurt, this heartache, this pain is too much for me to take. I'm so angry at you. It's like someone has pierced a hole in my heart and I can't stop the bleeding. Will this hurt, this pain, this loss ever go away? Why has this happened ... to me? Why have you let this happen ... to me? What God hears ... I know you hurt. I know you bleed. I hear your cries. Sing to me your lullaby; your raging tempest. I want to hear and know you in your deepest and darkest hour. What pierces you ... pierces me. I know you are hurting. I know you are angry. I know right now there is no understanding. I fearfully and wonderfully made you, and I long to hear every facet of y