The knockout punch…
I have eaten nothing in three days.
The pain in my chest is a slow agony.
I have no memory of warmth with others of my kind.
Although fading, my longing drives my soul forward.
A primal memory of Joy beats like a captured bird in my brain.
Yet somehow I know Him and see the full Glory of God.
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. Genesis 16:13
Camellias are blooming stout and ruffled in oh so many rosy shades of pinks!
Azalea bushes lay a thick carpet for Gulf summer heat and rain.
The golden-green sea oats weave and spin the island’s core in an endless ballet.
All the while, the Faithful Morning Glories, pink and yellow, vine along the sand like a hodgepodge of holiday lights.
The salt sits thick upon my skin and hair.
I am baptized in a wave and the horizon melts into carnival colors of pulled taffy in my Watercolor Garden.
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When hardship comes your way, will you tell yourself it’s a tool of God’s grace and a sign of his love, or will you give in to doubting his goodness? Paul Tripp
When the road seems shorter than before.
Wherever you turn there is no open door.
Your life is in convulsions like vomit on the floor.
All the paperwork of your life is yellowed and rotted.
Is the God’s grace of love or is it cruel?
Who do you worship and let rule you?
Will you head for the hills of Babylon?
Look for ways to numb your sorrow?
Will you turn to the One who made you?
Will you cry out and hang on to your pew?
Will you doubt God’s goodness in the dross?
Will you walk away or toward the cross?
Blackbird screaming in the top of a tree, the Sun goes passing by.
A full moon shines at the crossing in the road exposing all the lies.
Good girl hiding in the alley in the night, she’s praying no one sees.
Looking for love in the darkness, now alone, it’ll bring you to your knees.
Our children are riding on the wing of a plane, the want to try to die.
Looking for peace from pain in their lives, they’d rather crash then try.
Poor boy in hell at the top of a bridge, he’s praying he can flying.
He’s looking for love in the water down below, it wasn’t in his daddy’s eyes.
Can this bring us around or does history say we lose,?
Does the Cross mean no one goes to Hell or do we have to choose?
Hope for today and tomorrow in not gone, nor does it fall asleep.
Jesus is waiting for us to seek His face and only there will we find peace.
I have long been running toward that Morning light
trying so hard to be the holy one with all my might
Then you whisper in my ear, “Peace, be still.”
I have long been kneeling in that Cathedral in the sand
trying so hard to form my self into a holy jar
Then you whisper in my ear, “I am the Potter.”
I have long been wading in that River of life
desperate to drink the holy water that cleans
Then you whisper in my ear, “I am the water that never ends.”
No I lay me down on the Alter of Holy Rest
Trust my hands to the maker of all that grows
and drink every drop form the River of Life…
oh how Peaceful it is to “be still and know.”
The end of the day, that hour where the Sun keeps her promise of love
Before the day is done, I love to sit quietly with you.
The crickets start their humming song and the dusk is full of the coos of a dove.
These sweet sights and sounds are the day saying goodbye as night ensues.
I am reminded that the designer of these miracles is You.
I am reminded that you want to be my one and only.
Your Faithfulness is shown by your Mercy that you are Worthy
To hold this day and all my days in your arms.
Finding Courage…I sat by my window. It was a trial this summer with many days in distress and concern. I would love to tell you I handled it so spiritually but at times that is not the case. I cried. I prayed. I talked to the whole tribe of medical people but of course the most important thing is that I went to the Lord and God’s Word.
My heart was longing to have courage but I really wasn’t sure what Courage looks like. So, to the Bible I went. Then I went to prayer. I told God I don’t really know what courage means and asked him to help me find some.
In the many weeks I was housebound I began to read about men and women in the Bible who took and had Courage and as I read I realized that none of these people had courage of their own. They had Courage WITH them. Courage is not only a verb but it is also one of the very definitions of God himself. Courage much like grace, mercy, and love are not earned they are GIVEN and who is the giver of all thing? God of course, through Jesus!
People who have Godly Courage have it because the Holy One saw fit to send His Son to be born, live, die, and rise again, and then send His very on Spirit to live in us and give Holy gifts!. Courage is God’s gift to us as His children.
Oh, don’t get the idea that Courage is especially beautiful. This gift might be torn and tattered. It might be beaten and bleeding. It might be weeping until dawn. Courage is the opposite of Fear. Fear is never a gift from God. He does not give fear. Fear tells you God is NOT with you. Fear says you are weak and frail and alone.
I sit by my window. I am gaining my strength as summer is drifting away with a thunder in the heavens.
I sit by my widow. God’s presence abides as faithful and as sweet as ever and I have found his gift of Courage.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
I quit dancing with Fear, such a vicious dance it is.
That same old dark day over and over no longer exist.
Yes, there are days when I hear Fear’s discorded melody.
Now I am mindful to Trust in the Holy One’s remedy.
So, He helps me lift a Holy song and begin His song over me.
Quickly Fear is on the run as this Coward must flee.
Kill or be killed.
How can a baby tell?
How can the government know your heart?
How can the abuse drum on?
Politicians poison consistently flows.
The children all die inside and out!
Kill or be killed.
Who made you this way?
Beat the drum until all is in ruin.
Drums pounding our sanity away!
Jill Autrey Dorman 