Today, I continue my series, Look What the Lord has Done: Stories of Divine Intervention, with author and speaker, Yvonne Ortega. Yvonne’s unique ministry helps others move from Broken to Beautiful. Yvonne suffered grief when her father passed away. Her story today tells how God led her from mourning her loss to dancing on the beach. God brought her back to a place of hope.
HOW GOD HEALED MY BROKEN HEART
By Yvonne Ortega
“He passed.” I stared at the phone in shock and was speechless — a rarity for a professional speaker like me. My younger brother had emailed me an hour and a half earlier to inform me Daddy would be discharged from the hospital in two days and return to the nursing home.
“What do you mean he passed?” My stomach became queasy, my head throbbed, and my knees felt as unstable as Jell-O. Dad suffered his first heart attack nine days earlier and seemed to be on the mend.
My brother said, “The nurse told me he didn’t eat dinner except for dessert. He was laughing and joking with the hospital staff and suddenly stopped talking. They realized he had passed and closed his eyes.”
My cousin called and said, “I got to the hospital immediately. He looked so peaceful as if he had just gone to sleep.”
That one sentence from my cousin consoled me. In God’s mercy, he took Daddy quickly.
Ten months earlier, I had visited Daddy at the nursing home and felt burdened for his eternal soul.
In the past, he would have insisted he was a good person, paid his taxes, and never murdered anyone. “Besides that, I don’t drink, smoke, or gamble.”
Those things were true, but he didn’t know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. The second day of my visit to Daddy, I woke up with the determination of a mama bear to protect her cub.
Although Daddy wasn’t my cub, he was my earthly father, my last living parent. I said, “Daddy, you’re getting older. You may not have much time left.”
Tears welled up in Daddy’s eyes. With Holy Spirit boldness, I continued. “Where will you go when you die?”
In the past, he would have said, “I’ll go to purgatory.” I would tell him there’s no such place, and he would respond, “Then I’ll go to hell, but all my friends will be there.” To which I would say, “Hell is not a social event.”
For the first time, Daddy didn’t argue with me or get upset. Before I left the nursing home that day, Daddy was a child of God with a heavenly home awaiting him.
I left to attend Carol Kent’s SpeakUp Conference with joy and peace that Daddy would go to heaven when he died.
My plan was to return the following summer to visit Daddy and the rest of the family. It never occurred to me that my next visit would be in April because of Daddy’s unexpected death.
With three viewings—two at the funeral home and one the next day before the church service, I felt physically and emotionally exhausted.
However, my cousin was right. Daddy looked so peaceful as if he had just gone to sleep. I smiled as I thought of his grand reunion with Mama and my only child, their grandson.
I returned in the summer as planned but felt unprepared for the grief that overwhelmed me. A drive in the old neighborhood and a stop at the nursing home where Daddy had stayed until his last hospitalization reduced me to tears.
At Carol Kent’s SpeakUp Conference, I had an interview with a life coach to discuss the business of coaching, but I burst into tears. She looked at me and said, “You haven’t given yourself permission to grieve.”
No, I hadn’t. After all, Daddy had led a full life, had dementia, and couldn’t live on his own any longer. However, with his death three months earlier, I had lost my last living parent. I felt alone, abandoned, and orphaned.
In my quiet time, God showed me I couldn’t allow the pain of loss to accumulate. So I journaled about the emotional roller coaster of grief — a ride I didn’t sign up for. My journal pages curled from the dampness of my tears, but I felt the pain. So important because buried pain won’t die.
Psalm 56:8 comforted me. It says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (NLT, New Living Translation).
With time, the pain and tears abated. I laughed at the thought of the gigantic bottle God must have to hold my tears — enough to fill the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaking of the ocean, I took long walks on the beach. The sound of the ocean waves represented life and energy and still does. God used that sound to calm me down and to give me fresh air and vitamin C. With every step I took, I sensed God’s presence at my side.
Eventually, I would build sand castles, blow bubbles, and dance on the beach. Only God could heal my broken heart to the extent that I could again celebrate life at the beach.
When Mom and my only child died, I left my full-time counseling job to become a full-time speaker, author, and speaking coach for the Lord.
After Daddy’s death, I became more determined to live with purpose and a legacy mindset. My heart’s desire is to “Reach Gazillions for Jesus in My Lifetime” with a message of comfort, peace, promise of hope and healing, and the freedom to embrace the abundant life.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (ESV, English Standard Version).
My next book in the Moving from Broken to Beautiful® Series will be in honor of my earthly father who encouraged me to speak, write, and coach and in honor of my heavenly Father, who has allowed me to do just that and to embrace the abundant life. He has healed my broken heart.
To God be the glory.
Closing Remarks and Prayer
Thank you, Yvonne, for sharing a small portion of your story From Broken to Beautiful. Death is not final. If Jesus is our Savior, we will be reunited with our loved ones.
Dear Father,
Thank You for the hope we have beyond this life. Help us not to despair during times of mourning, but to roll our cares upon Your capable shoulders. Give us Your grace and wisdom to know when we should share Jesus with our family members. Help us to trust You with the results. Thank You for leading us into a life of purpose and give us the strength to live on purpose for You.
In Jesus’ Name I pray.
Amen.
Yvonne Ortega walks with a small footprint but leaves a giant imprint in people’s lives. This power-packed package is a professional speaker and the author of Moving from Broken to Beautiful® through Grief, Moving from Broken to Beautiful® through Forgiveness, Moving from Broken to Beautiful: 9 Life Lessons to Help You Move Forward, and Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer. She’s a licensed professional counselor who has also overcome all she writes about, including the loss of her only child. Learn more at www.yvonneortega.com.
Yvonne welcomes the opportunity to speak to audiences in English or Spanish to share her story and offer guidance for each person’s own journey. Her passion is to reach Gazillions in Her Lifetime to empower women who face life transitions, challenges, and hurts, to move forward through God’s power and live the abundant life. She celebrates life at the beach, where she walks, builds sand castles, blows bubbles, and dances.
“May God take the seed of your story and reap a harvest for His Glory.” —Carla G. Pollard
