Lori McBride

• Lori McBride
• 7 years ago

Dear India

Thank you so much for your deep heartfelt honesty! Your words blessed me and I sincerely appreciate you sharing your feelings about how my poem caused your deep love for your parents to be brought to the surface.
We all have a past you know. I choose to believe that the mistakes we make are all used to teach us the value of love and forgiveness.
I hope this message finds you healthy and whole, surrounded by your parents, family and loved ones! May you be blessed and covered in grace and love all the days of your life.
Sincerely,

Lori McBride

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• Lori McBride
• 7 years ago

Dear Sydney,
I am the author of this poem and your very kind words have blessed me far more than you could ever imagine. Your response is what my heart has been longing for. I have truly desired to positively touch the lives of others and you have made me feel that in some way I possibly have. If even for a moment! Thank you so very much for taking the time to respond to me and for blessing me so richly by your beautiful words.

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• Lori McBride
• 10 years ago

Hi and thanks to all who commented on my poem "A Broken Family Tree" or who have shared it. I truly have been blessed by all your responses. And I am so honored The Lord inspired my heart in a way that took my own personal pain, struggle and life story to reach others who have walked in my shoes. Though we may not share the same family tree I am certain we are all joined together in the same beautifully broken forest. This poem literally became a fulfilled prophecy for me. I wrote it in 2001 and since then I have lived out the poem. A few years later after writing it, one of my twin daughter's was diagnosed with bone cancer, then over the next few months of treatments she was considered miraculously healed. Though the doctor didn't even know what to do with her case when learning she had % 100 cancer kill in just a couple Months. So as a team we continued her protocol of chemotherapy for a total of 9 months. Doing so caused serious heart problems which she was told then at age 11 she shouldn't have kids because of the stress on her heart. Shortly after finishing all treatment my children's father and I divorced. Just as the poem said "alone I will go and plant the new seeds where a beautiful tree will grow", I went a new direction at that crossroad while taking along my 3 children " NEW SEEDS" we were literally uprooted and The Lord planted us into a whole new life, new way of life and a new family! His Family! We started going to a church that a new neighbor invited us to and it was there that God showed us who we are as His children and gave us an amazing church family. So much has happened but to quickly elaborate a little more on the poem and the reality of it springing forth into life is that the truth is, had those tragedies never happened, me and my kids would not be who we are today. Things could have been quite different and painful. Yet, today I am overjoyed to say with fullness and unending gratitude in my heart that my daughter is now 8 years cancer free, married, she and her husband both earned their AA degrees in Ministry and have 2 absolutely beautiful baby girls ages 19 month's and 2 month's. Through much prayer my daughter carried them both to at least 38 weeks. And my other wonderful daughter, her twin sister is also getting married to a wonderful man who loves The Lord and they actively serve in their church and community. My amazing son who is almost 19 years old now and instead of continuing down a path of struggles in worldly living he has turned his life into a relentless pursuit of the One who created him. His hearts desire is to reach the lost and preach the GOOD NEWS of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like me, he is called to an Isaiah 61 life. I live in such peace and joy no matter what life hands me. By the grace of God, my identity and the identities of every new generation that follows me no longer identify with that old tree but instead will only identify with the new tree they were planted or born into.

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