To Be a Mother: Adopting God's Heart [Paperback]

Deanna Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2009

moth•er n.

1. A woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises and nurtures a child.

The bible tells us that the Lord will turn our mourning into gladness and our despair into praise (Is 61:3). To Be A Mother shows us how God turns our sadness into joy, desperation into hope and loss into victory. Follow as Deanna Jones takes you through her difficult childhood and painful abortion decision to miraculous redemption in Christ and victory in the birth and adoption of her children. To Be A Mother reminds us that in Christ we find true empowerment and fulfillment as the Lord turns our ashes into crowns of beauty.

"To Be A Mother truly highlights the healing presence of Christ in Deanna's life. She eloquently travels from her painful past to her redemption and new life in Christ. This book would be an inspiration to any woman, or man, who has suffered, as Deanna has, and is searching for healing."

—Theresa Burke, Ph.D, author of Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion and founder of Rachel's Vineyard Ministries.

"Finally, in To Be A Mother, Deanna beautifully redefines the term Pro-life...Pro-life and Pro-Adoption become one. An elegant portrayal of the choice to give redeeming love that makes receiving it in return so much sweeter.

—Carolyn Twietmeyer Founder, Executive Director, Project HOPEFUL

"Deanna's story, TO BE A MOTHER, is an honest and poignant journey of God's love and redemptive power that is available to all who seek Him."—Mary Singer Wick author of My Heart's Desire: A Journey Toward Finding Extravagant Love

“The poignant and compassionate words of Deanna Jones articulate America’s latent sorrow in the aftermath of our abortion culture. Deanna’s sympathetic perception is borne from a personal encounter with grief. Listen to her and be illuminated, healed, and refreshed.”

—Troy Newman, President, Operation Rescue

“Every pro-lifer, every person of good will should read this book. In it we see the real face of what abortion is doing to the women we love. Thankfully, we also see how the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ not only heals but restores the fullness of life and joy to those who will trust in Him.”

—Kevin Rilott, Rockford Pro-Life Advocates

Editorial Reviews

Review

The poignant and compassionate words of Deanna Jones articulate America's latent sorrow in the aftermath of our abortion culture. Deanna's sympathetic perception is borne from a personalencounter with grief. Listen to her and be illuminated, healed, and refreshed. -- Troy Newman, Operation Rescue

Review

To Be a Mother truly highlights the healing presence of Christ in Deanna's life. She eloquently travels from her painful past to her redemption and new life in Christ. This book would be an inspiration to any woman, or man, who has suffered, as Deanna has, and is searching for healing."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Outskirts Press (August 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432738399
• ISBN-13: 978-1432738396
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,922,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deanna Jones was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois.
In addition to being an author, Deanna is also a professional
bandleader and singer. She considers her greatest
blessings to be her six children--two by birth and four by
miraculous adoption. She and her husband, Mark, are prolife,
adoption advocates and professional musicians.


http:// www.tobeamother.com
e-mail: [e-mail]
twitter.com/40daysmom
twitter.com/Deanna_Jones

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for All Women!, July 29, 2009

By 

J. Tucker "Orphan Hugger" (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Be a Mother: Adopting God's Heart (Paperback)

This is an amazing story of redemption and grace. I expected a predictable memoir, but Deanna is a powerful writer who puts you right inside the story. I could not stop reading! Every woman should read this book...the themes are universal and the outcome is an encouraging reminder of God's amazing love. This book reminded me that it is never too late for any of us. Who doesn't have regrets from her past? Deanna shows us how to rise above circumstances and past mistakes, and continue to evolve during every season of our life. I loved the book and found it very inspiring.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grace that continues to amaze, September 3, 2009

By 

Dennis Gerard Embo (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Be a Mother: Adopting God's Heart (Paperback)

Review by: Dennis Gerard Embo, author of <The God That Prevailed>

St. Augustine of Hippo opens Book I, Chapter 1 of his <Confessions> with a doxology, proclaiming, "You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power and to your wisdom there is no limit." Deanna Jones' spiritual memoir <To Be a Mother: Adopting God's Heart> takes the reader from a very dysfunctional childhood relationship with her human father to her ultimate and joyous discovery of God as her spiritual "Father" and deliverer. Hers is very much the story of a woman who enters adulthood alienated from God, but who in the end we see experiencing God's presence in very intimate and tangible ways. The immediacy of God's presence in so many of her personal experiences as she rises from intense inner pain and despair to wonder and elation is beautifully expressed in the pages of this book.

One aspect of the book I particularly appreciate is Deanna's level of candor in which she shares with the reader her youthful naïveté; her alternating fear and love for her mentally troubled father; her fits of rage against what she came to realize later was a very distorted concept of God as a fearful ogre like her human father; her inner turmoil as she grappled alone with her unplanned pregnancy, her decision to abort, followed by her life literally coming unraveled; her cherished dream of a successful career as an entertainer collapsing before her in a heap.

The remainder of the book can be compared to the aftermath of a violent storm that has just passed. The rain finally stops, the clouds begin to dissipate, and the sun, little by little, begins to break through the clouds. Such was Deanna's slow ascent into presence of One she had once despised and feared: God. But not God in some abstract theological construct, but God as a caring and forgiving Father. Here begins a story filled with fascination, wonder and surprise as the grace of God, manifested through a wide variety of personal circumstances, and even dreams, looms larger and larger in her life until that day when she comes to the realization that God, her heavenly Father, had been with her all along, even in her darkest hours. To paraphrase Augustine, "...you were with [Deanna], but [she] was not with you."

For me one of the most endearing parts of the book is Deanna's self-effacing confession that she is anything but a [Jill]-of-all-trades when it comes to children and what mothers and elementary school teachers have come to know and (not always) love as "arts and crafts." Perhaps arts and crafts are not Deanna's forte, but what she certainly has succeeded in doing is penning a moving personal memoir that once again reaffirms the new life even the most despairing of us can discover in the inexhaustible ocean of God's mercy, and the wonders of His love.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Dead/OneWOUNDED, August 25, 2009

By 

W. B. Baxter "Barney B" (Rockford, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Be a Mother: Adopting God's Heart (Paperback)

Five years ago, at age 75, I awoke from my slumber regarding the plaque which rages in our nation...the plague of abortion. I ventured out of the comfort of my home and joined the 'prayer warriors' on the street outside the walls of the bloody local abortatory in Deanna's home town (a dingy, converted 1898 limestone school building), to pray and to draw attention of the passing motorist to what was happening inside this once happy learning place, now a killing place.

My first pro-life bumper sticker read "Abortion..One Dead One Wounded". I was well aware of the "One Dead" and had seen the signs crying out "I Regret My Abortion" held by the brave...Wounded... women of 'Silent No More' . Brave, indeed, they are.. and that was all I knew. I knew not the depth of their wounds or that those wounds could be fatal...UNTIL I read "To Be A Mother". Deanna Jones tells how deep were her wounds...almost deadly. Deanna exposes the lie that aborting will "solve your problem". We know who is the Father of Lies She tells about sinking into despondence with thoughts of self destruction...One could weep at her pain...but then after the dark night..rejoice with her ,and praise God as we read how God is using her in His quest to save his precious infants. Thanks, Deanna, for teaching me in my old age. Barney Baxter