Whether your life is stormy with painful circumstances, drizzly with stresses and anxieties, or sunny with a sense that God is in control, The Gift of Tears invites you to experience God’s peace and presence in deeper ways.
Tears are a gift. Though we long for the constant sunshine of happiness and the comfort of a stress-free life, we need the nourishing, refreshing teardrops of life lessons. Without tears, the garden of our heart becomes parched and barren. Thus, God offers us the gift of tears.
In this award-winning ten-week devotional, you will journey through life stories of learning to trust God in difficult circumstances, parables from times of listening prayer, insights from contemplating God’s word, and prayer activities that inspire personal prayer and reflection. The activities include listening to God and writing prayers to Him, listening to songs and doodling, praying Bible verses back to God, thanking God for 100 things and other creative prayer prompts.
Each week of The Gift of Tears has a different theme: tears of praise, confession, identity, thanksgiving, joy, healing, emotions, purpose, suffering, and encouragement. You can explore the book from beginning to end, or you can choose a theme that speaks to your current circumstances.
This devotional invites you to be honest with God about your struggles and pain, to realize He loves you just the way you are and does not condemn you for your weaknesses, and to turn to Him for encouragement and hope.
The Gift of Tears encourages you to experience tears as a blessing, not a burden, and even in life’s storms to thank God for your tears.
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The Gift of Tears Endorsements
Ebenezer Stones by Candy Ng
THE WORD AWARDS Judge’s Feedback
First Place winner in the 2024 Devotional Category
The author has an endearing manner of sharing her love for Christ. She weaves her personal journey with Jesus into her devotions. The reader follows her through many life changes, including to the mission field. The author draws excellent word pictures, and weaves fiction-like stories through the book. These are pleasant reading. The idea that ties the book together, choosing a stone, is a good one. There is truth and humility in the writer which shows in her writing voice. Her questions and thoughts at the end of each chapter are good and draw readers into their own journey with Jesus. At first, I thought the cover a bit bleak, but after reading the book, I’m more drawn to it. I am sure many readers will be inspired by your gift of writing.
Pastor Alice Li
Toronto Simpson Chinese Alliance Church
I shared your heartfelt prayer book with personal encouragement and signature to a pastors’ prayer group that I was blessed to be able to give your book to bless them. Some asked me whether you have any more books that you can sign to bless others. The book is more treasured with your words of encouragement and signature. Your devotional book helped not only me; better yet, other moms, too. May the Lord continue to bless your writing and speaking to bless others!
Candy Ng
“My best friend gifted me your writing, and we journeyed together for ten weeks. Every day, we shared our spiritual reflections. I am deeply grateful for your writing! You vividly depicted the emotions of your life through countless life experiences, which truly touched my heart. “Very bad day” left a deep impression on me, reminding me of my own bad day and evoking a sense of shared experience. “Come to me” helped me forgive the unforgivable; God healed my pain. Each week’s theme brings me closer to the Lord, and the Ebenezer stones serve as a constant reminder for me.”
Daniel
So moving, engaging, and relatable! It enabled me to experience God in new and creative ways, and to deepen my relationship with him!
Sam & Jess
Thank you Annette for allowing the Lord to use your journey, your devotions to Him, your stories, your poems and your gift in writing to bring healing and restoration to a young couple and young family to trust in Him again. Each night when we completed a devotion together, we both witnessed how our weaknesses and tears were transformed into His strength again. This strength then poured in love, honesty, support, joy, empathy, encouragement, patience, kindness, and every other good thing God promised us back into our marriage, our family and most importantly, left us longing for Heavenly Father more and more. The Gift of Tears devotional truly is a gift.
Rebekka Jensen
Author of Live, Love, & Thrive as A Healthy Controller
I thoroughly enjoyed The Gift of Tears. This devotional guide is beautifully peppered with original parables, poems, practical reflections, and poignant life stories for personal reflection and growth. My favorite part was an exercise in chapter four about gratitude. I’ll be passing on my copy to my daughter who is headed into Christian ministry with her soon to be husband.
Stephanie B.
“Beautifully written and so encouraging! The Gift of Tears shares powerful personal stories and invites you to grow closer to Christ throughout the 10-week devotional journey. I can’t recommend this devotional enough!”
Carolyn
Who has not been affected by tears? The Gift of Tears is a wonderful book that helps us to see that Jesus is with us all the time, walking with us through both joys and sorrows. Annette Ford is a gifted writer with inspirational, practical insights. I love how she offers opportunities throughout the book to respond and to write out our own thoughts of reflection. The Gift of Tears is a beautiful devotional journey!
LJ’s Books
A very well written and encouraging book.
Yau Man Siew
Associate Professor of Practical Theology
Tyndale Seminary at Tyndale University, Toronto, Canada
Can “tears” be a “gift”? Annette Ford, in a series of uplifting devotionals, convinces us that they can. Ford deals with different themes each week: “tears of praise, confession, identity, thanksgiving, joy, healing, emotions, purpose, suffering, and encouragement.” Each devotional contains a deeply personal story, a thoughtful reflection, apt Bible passages, and creative “prayer activities.” Tears can be a gift if we take time to reflect on God’s precious lessons in the humdrum and grind of daily life. Read this beautiful devotional and let God bestow on you “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair…” (Isa. 61:3)
Rev. Kim Poon
Assistant Pastor, Scarborough Chinese Alliance church
This 10-week devotional journey comes as a timely and pleasant surprise to me. This book encourages me to experience tears as a gift from God, a nourishment to my soul, and an invitation to know Him in a deeper way. I enjoy the author’s arrangement of the book as she divides it into10 weeks each with a theme, so that the readers can either start the devotional book from the beginning to the end; or pick a theme of the week according to one’s preference. This book takes me on a spiritual journey with incredible joy, knowing that I do not need to fight back my tears due to embarrassment or regard it as a sign of weakness. It is okay to not be okay, my Heavenly Father accepts me as who I am. Through the author’s authentic life stories, the insights she has gained from contemplating God’s Word, and the interesting parables; the readers are able to access encouragement, comfort, and hope, with the readings allowing God to bring them through to a place of victory.
This is an excellent guide to listening prayer. As the readers follow the bible verses and prayer activities, it helps to create a sacred space to intentionally listen to God and to respond to His voice. My daughter and I were having a devotion together one day on the Life Story: Where Is Joy? (p. 90). We ended up sharing laughter and tears of joy, being inspired by the chaotic situation in the story and knowing that bad days can be frustrating but it is comforting that God sees them and may even allow them to happen in order to help us grow and become stronger. Another inspiring one as we had the devotion together is the Parable: Shadow Meets the Great Horse (p. 141). We can relate to Shadow in some sense at different points in our lifetime, and wonder whether our lives can be used meaningfully or not. We sensed that God encouraged us by Philippians 2:5-13, that we must experience humility and waiting because that is God’s will for us. Humility has its profound power in it. I strongly recommend this book to those who want to walk authentically with God and desire to listen to Him in their Christian journey.
Annette Ford, Author & Speaker 