Media personality, entrepreneur, and single mom Bettina Carlos is no stranger to heartbreaks. Heartbreaks are something everyone goes through at one point, but when there’s heartbreak, she said there’s breakthrough.
This is the message she wants to share through her first book Heartbreaks & Breakthroughs. In this book, Carlos gives her testimony: how she made sense of God’s purposes for pain, and how He has helped turn her heartbreaks into breakthroughs.
Published by OMF Literature, Heartbreaks & Breakthroughs shares her journey—from sickness to full recovery, not just in the physical but emotional and spiritual aspects as well. Authentic, candid, and at times downright hilarious, each chapter shares a “Heartbreak” episode in Carlos’ life that God used to show Himself and His power, as well as the “Breakthrough” where she learned important lessons from the heartbreaks she went through.
Here are some of the important lessons Carlos hopes single mothers, and everyone, will pick up from reading her book:
God has a purpose in our waiting
Chapter 1 of the book opens with a story of how Carlos’ health deteriorated as she juggled multiple responsibilities. As she waited for her medical results, she came to several realizations. She shares, “God used this time to show more of Himself to me—that He’s our Provider, Guarantee, Father, and Comfort—and also for me to discover more things about myself.”
She encourages readers to not panic when it seems that nothing is happening despite constant prayers. “God remains in control and He is still at work,” she assures. “Sometimes God really makes us wait because we need to learn to wait on Him while He is preparing our heart to receive what we are asking for in His timing!”
Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling
The author relates her falling-out with the father of her daughter Gummy, many years past, and how she realized the importance of forgiving him, no matter how hard it was. “I knew I had to forgive though I didn’t feel like it,” she confesses in Chapter 5. “So I had to choose it, even though I struggled with it.” And struggled she did for a while.
But thanks to God’s grace, Carlos found, as she would share in latter chapters, the heart and opportunity to reconcile with Gummy’s father, not as lovers, but as partners in parenting their daughter.
We are never alone
Perhaps Carlos’ biggest breakthrough is the realization that although she is raising Gummy on her own, she has God both as her Father Provider and her Faithful Partner. She narrates various heartbreaks of solo parents, which include making ends meet, time management, decision-making, and loneliness, among others. Then she lists down her learnings about God because of these heartbreaks, like how God is our Companion and Friend, Refuge and Strength, and Healer.
“I share my story with you with hopes that you too will see the loving hand of God on everything happening in your life,” Carlos tells the readers in the opening pages of her book. “May you be convinced that He is above all and in control of everything, causing all things to work out for your good and His glory.”
Heartbreaks & Breakthroughs is available at National Book Store, OMF Lit Bookshop, Passages, and other leading bookstores for P250. The book can also be ordered online through omflit.com.