Amy Sylvestre | Let’s Chat | Wholehearted Devotion
Welcome, everyone
Amy Sylvestre, author, coach, and speaker, loves to laugh with her handsome pilot husband, chases her little ones, quotes the show “Friends,” and constantly tries to break up with Diet Coke. Her family expanded through the beautiful and messy journey of adoption . . . twice in a year and a half. What a story!
She founded the WHOLEHEARTED Retreat in 2019. This event serves moms who have suffered child loss, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Also, she writes and speaks about walking and wrestling with our good God in every season of life through joys, deep despair, grief, and disappointment. She encourages vulnerability, expressing what you really feel, and clinging to God’s eternal words even when your faith is shaky.
As a mom to her oldest biological son, an adoptive mom, a mom of loss, and a heart mom, Amy tags herself as one tired mama.
She earned a master’s degree with a concentration in International Relations and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and French (mais, oui!) from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She worked for over five years for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Now she speaks regularly at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicagoland and teams with Nothing is Wasted Ministries.
Amy Sylvestre: From Her Heart
I always processed my emotions through writing. Even as a teenager, I poured my longings, dreams, and tears into a little pink journal. But when crisis hit our family, the words stopped flowing. And for almost two years, I avoided writing entirely.
However, when my heart was ready and I finally sat down at my computer, the words rushed out of me like a raging river.
As it turned out, letting my story live somewhere outside of my heart and mind required two years.
In 2015, I discovered I was pregnant with our second son.
We were so excited to give our first son a little brother to grow up with. But about halfway through my pregnancy, we learned that our precious Hudson had a severe heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Our handsome, big cheeked boy fought for eight months and went through two open heart surgeries, liver surgery, and many other procedures. Many loved this strong, brave boy with his distinct personality. He honored me as his mama. When Hudson’s heart was made whole in heaven, my heart broke into a million pieces.
Consequently, I discovered in my grief journey that a broken or wounded heart is susceptible to powerful lies. And I forgot my own identity and who God proved Himself to be. Sadly, I lived as if the lies were true, and I became a captive to those lies.
As I wrote Hudson’s story and my wrestling with God through heartache, a devotional study emerged. But I knew other people experienced profound loss, trauma, abandonment, betrayal, and disappointment. They also questioned their identities and their relationships with God. So I searched for truth to replace the lies and to offer a place where others could be set free.
I hope to help those who feel buried under their pain to see a way out.
So I share my story of outliving a child and invite readers to share theirs. In this way, I hope to encourage them to find healing, connection, and freedom.
Your healing is not just for you.
Join me in my journey to launch my first book, Wholehearted Truth: A Devotional for a Heart in Pieces. Sign up for the launch team on my website, https://amysylvestre.com, and receive a free eBook version. To qualify for giveaways, visit my Instagram (@amyasylvestre) during launch week in early 2023.
Pray with me that this devotional will reach those who need it most.
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich and free
Wholehearted Truth: A Devotional for a Heart in Pieces by Amy Sylvestre
Sylvestre’s devotional offers a lifeline for anyone whose heart has been broken in some way. She presents her story of wrestling with God and the lies that submerged her in darkness for too long. Also readers investigate their own stories of pain through questions and a journaling prompt.
Each devotion moves individual readers, church small groups, and book clubs through content that draws out those who are walking through seasons of pain. It also grounds the reader in God’s Word and includes a prayer.