Broken by Love
Val’s incredible story shows that it is never too late for God to work in your life, and will encourage you to have the faith to step out and do what God has called you to do.
Welcome to Broken by Love,
from Val Jeal
An endorsement from Peter Hill
An endorsement from Jude Simpson
An Excerpt
from ‘Broken By Love’
Each Sunday, when going into the Citadel for Sunday services, I had to pass men and women lying in the street because of drug and alcohol dependency, and homelessness. This was a new experience for me and one I found difficult, unpleasant even. I was afraid of people who might be out of control or unpredictable, and this was my overriding feeling towards them – fear.
[…] however, God began a change in me towards people on the margins of our society. Slowly, the faces of those I met in the street outside the Citadel began to stay in my mind when I went home, and I prayed for them. I had started to see them not as threats or dangers, but as real, individual people.
I began to speak to these people – to start with, just ‘hello,’ or ‘good morning,’ or ‘how are you?’ Gradually the fear became less. Then one evening, during the sermon, when Captain Yuill was preaching from Isaiah chapter 6, he challenged the congregation with verse 8:
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
As he read Isaiah’s response, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ I echoed the same words in my heart. There in my seat, in the Citadel that evening, I said to the Lord, ‘Here am I. Send me.’ And that is the real beginning of my story.
CHAPTER 2
(From Northumberland to Jerusalem…and back)
Introduction to the Book
“When God needs someone to go – let it be you.”
“Broken by Love” is the story of Val Jeal. Middle-aged, and having previously led a fairly conventional life, Val tells God she is available to be used by him. When she follows his call to join an inner-city church and work with the homeless, God opens her eyes and heart to what is happening in Bristol, and so begins a remarkable rollercoaster ride of love, compassion, burnout, determination, honesty, defeats and victories.
Finding herself drawn to work with Bristol's female sex workers, Val's own brokenness enables her to offer a listening ear, acceptance, support and a safe place to stay. But is Val's vulnerability an asset or a hazard? Will it enable her to survive in a world dealing in pain, abuse and violence? Or will all her good work come crashing back down?
Val’s incredible story shows that it is never too late for God to work in your life, and will encourage you to have the faith to step out and do what God has called you to do.
About Val
Val Jeal will tell you she is a very ordinary woman. Yet her faith in God and her compassion - stirred into action - have made her inspirational.
Val was born in Northumberland, during the second World War, but was brought up in Bristol, her home town. Val became a Christian in her 40s. She had been a single Mum, a secretary to a veterinary surgeon and a dabbler in enthusiastic amateur car maintenance. Things changed when she heard a sermon about Isaiah and said to God, “here I am, send me.”
Val spent over 20 years in Bristol working with homeless people, drug addicts and women trapped in prostitution. Some of her methods were unorthodox, but her ability to connect with needy people, and show them hope, was remarkable. Her work became the basis for One25, a charity which now employs over 40 people in its work with marginalised women.
In 2002 Val was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to homeless people. In 2018 she was recognised with an Honorary Doctorate in Laws from Bristol University. Val also became the first woman to be granted the Freedom of the City of Bristol, in 2021.
Since retiring from her work with One25, many friends and colleagues urged Val to write down her story and experiences, confident that these would serve as an inspiration to Christians and others drawn to care for the marginalised and overlooked in our society.
Val is grateful to Jude Simpson for helping her shape her story ready for publication, and to Authentic Media for publishing her book, “Broken by Love.”
Jude Simpson
Jude Simpson is a poet, writer, wordsmith and performer based in East Anglia. She undertakes a range of writing projects, and previously authored “Just Walk With Me,” also published by Authentic Media.
To this day, I grieve for the loss of Naomi House. I am still heartbroken. But somehow, I can thank God for that heartbreak, without which I never would have done the things he did through me. I was broken by his love – the love he gave me, and the love he had for all the hurting people I worked with. If I hadn’t loved, I could have stayed intact, I could have had my heart remain whole. But I let his love break me, and because of that, his love flowed out to marginalized women, to their children and their families.
CHAPTER 19
(Nothing is Wasted – be broken by love)
Kind Words
Resources
Authentic - Publisher, One25 - Charity, Fuelcast - Video
Amazon - Purchase, Loved and Liked - Resource, Bara Studio - Website
Jude Simpson - Author & Performance Poet, Eden - Purchase
I arrived at the prison having been given a bunch of leaflets about the scheme, but unclear as to what I was supposed to do there. I was taken by a warder through the prison to a large cell, which had fourteen women in it. The warder said gruffly that he would collect me in two hours’ time. I turned to reply that I would not need two hours, but the cell door closed and I was inside.
CHAPTER 7 (Jesus in Jail)
