Seed of Faith

I have a seed of faith

And oh how small it feels some days

But You say a seed is all I need

To move mountains as I pray

So here we go little seed

Show me the way

Matthew 17:20

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

 

A Cross to Bear

The trial I want You to remove

Is the one You’re asking me to face

The longing I’m trying to fill

You want to suffice by Your grace

I see You up ahead

Asking me to carry my cross

Telling me Your burden is light

And Your joy surpasses all loss

Matthew 11:28-30

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Stillness

Your eyes see ahead

Your hands hold all the cards

You’ve made and erased all the rules

You’ve let me taste your heart

So when You ask me to be still, I will

Lest I err in my own way

I’ll take life slowly, let it unfold

And keep waiting with you today

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Aristotle

Blessings Will Come

So let me embrace the difficulties

that feel unending

Until in me their full work is done.

For You know the plans You have for me

And the blessings will come

once the battle is won.

Faith in Trials

Can I believe what You say to me in the midst of my brokenness?

Will I believe Your promises when life feels like one big mess?

Can I trust your plans for me to fulfill a holy destiny

When trials get the best of me and everything looks different than it ought to be?

James: 1: 2-4, ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Dawn

Lord heal us from the shrapnel left behind
from the war that waged in our lives
The cuts were deep. Alone, we can’t go on.

Lord teach us the lessons we refused to see
But continued on in our stubbornness
We battled for way too long.

Lord carry us into your loving light
Through the brokenness of this night
Awaken us to a new dawn.

You Will Sea

We’re getting closer to the sea

Torrential waves and armies surround

Our hearts now feeling the fear

That Your promises will not be found

Were our steps not led

By Your Sovereign hand?

Was our destruction

The goal of Your plan?

Oh, why bring us this far

Just to watch us fall?

But a voice reassures us

That’s not You at all.

So we take a step in faith

Our last option before defeat

And before us appears dry land

Where once was only rough sea.

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” Exodus 14:21

At Your Door

Certain things I’ll never understand 

And some of them cause me pain

But when I place them in Your hand

They never quite feel the same

The sting is dulled, hope gets brighter

Faith feels renewed and restored.

So I’ll keep placing life in Your hands

And keep my torn heart at Your door

Hebrews 4:16

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Discernment

My name is discernment

Trust what I reveal and know

I show you the hidden things

You’d otherwise never be told

I show you opportunities for blessing

And how to count sorrow as joy

I whisper God’s wisdom 

Amid this world’s noise

I sense when something new is brewing

When it is time to block an attack

I sense calmness and times to be still

When to move on and when to hold back

I’m a gift, don’t ignore me

Shut me out or throw me away

Embrace me and listen

Trust what I say

My Pain

It’s taken me captive 

Been ruthless and cold

Gripping my heart

Unwilling to let go

I’ve pressed on despite it

Used it to grow

Gotten used to its presence

And welcomed it home

It’s had purpose, made gains

Inspired me to change

Been my friend, left me slain

My daily reminder, my pain

2 Corinthians 12: 8-10

8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Sailing

You steered me into the storm

On my trusty boat I went

But the winds picked up

Soon flailing overboard

All my senses spent

This was the way to go?

Why on such a rough sea?

Isn’t there a smoother path

Somewhere designed for me?

But the wind against my sails

Taught me a lesson or two

Gave me new strength and courage

And pointed me straight to you

Vulnerable

I’ve laid myself down

Raw and exposed

No safety net laid out

Fully vulnerable I suppose

Trusting You to do as You say

Believing in Your love

And even more so in Your grace

As You walk me safely through this place

Alone Together

When I see You, nothing else matters

When I feel You, the rest of the world disappears

When You gently whisper to me

Contentment replaces all my fears

Let me hear Your voice

Let me feel Your embrace

Let it just be me and You today

For Sinners

Jesus is with me

because I have the greatest need

He didn’t come for the Saints

For those strong in good deeds

He came for sinners

He came for me

Mark 2:17

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Hard Road

This is not the path I had in mind

These are not the troubles

I would have designed 

But my easy roads

would never have known 

The beauty your paths have shown 

so I will trust in you

Tested Faith

In the darkness, hope becomes visible

It’s the glimmer of light around the bend

In doubt, faith becomes tangible

Turning trials into a dearest friend

James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance

Doubt, Faith, Possibilities

What if…

I never discover a solution

My battles never find resolution

My actions never match my words

My thoughts are always disturbed

I never write a famous song

I never find a place to belong

My worry doesn’t cease

My soul never finds peace

What if…

Promises are fulfilled

I perfect the art of being still

I continue to grow and gain

I find purpose in the pain

I gain insight and faith

I discover new strength

I hold fast to the truth

I stay beside You

What if…

Soul

a little spark…

burning inside

Untainted by night

Shining so bright

a little flame…

inside my frame

Burning the mire

Directing desire

a little light…

persistently

Working to be

My own melody

These Three

Pride quiet yourself

You will not be entertained

Suffer silently through

your offense and inflated pain

Regret you’ve been replaced

This is no longer your domain

You ruled uselessly for years

Now turn and go on your own way

And last but not least

I am abandoning you fear

For all the missed opportunities

You caused me while here

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Are You There

Maybe I’ve done life all wrong

Maybe it’s been my fault all along

Maybe I was a person I couldn’t even see

And the fingers I pointed should’ve been pointed at me

 

God are You there

God do You hear

My cries and my plea

To rest beside thee

Leading

Here in this discomfort

You work out your will

Wrestling with my desires

You call me to be still

Watching and waiting

Trusting Your heart today

Patiently anticipating

Your hand to lead the way

Grace

Just when I think I’ve found the right to judge

The right to hate, not forgive and not budge
You pull me aside and remind me of my sin

You remind me of your love and the grace You keep me in

1 Corinthians 13:2

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 

Give Him Praise

Should there be any comfort in Christ

By His blood, should we be saved.

Should His arms ever hold us tight,

Then let us give Him praise.

 

Should our failures ever meet His grace

Should our tears be wiped away

Should our hope be restored again

Then let us give Him praise.

 

Should our lives reflect His name

Should we be rescued from our shame

Should He speak to our hearts each day,

Then Let us give Him praise.

Friend of Sinners

I don’t look the way you think I should

I won’t fit inside your box

I can’t get enough of the people I love

You may disagree with the way I walk

Don’t expect me to condemn I won’t

These are the people I long to know

They need me and I died for them

To walk along side wherever they go
Luke 7:34

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 

Reflection

And when I looked 

And saw my reflection

It broke me to the core

But that brokenness

Has driven me

To become so much more
Proverbs 27:19

As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.

Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Jericho

I walked up and down the wall 

Seeing if my hammer would chip away

I said “it’s not working Lord!”

He whispered “Let me lead the way”

Pray as you walk the wall each day

Don’t fear the giants inside as you go

Keep marching and believing me

Stop looking at Jericho

No strength of man can beat this

So do as I say each day 

Take your trumpet and your prayers

The wall will crumble when I say

Walk silently around the wall each day

Ignore their sneers as you go

Look and listen to only me

Stop looking at Jericho

No matter how big the giants are

They are not comparable to me

Do as I say and keep walking

I’ll bring you to victory!

Hebrews 11:30

It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.

Your Junk is Worse

My junk isn’t as bad as yours

I’m comfortable in mine,

I’m familiar with every crumb

It’s been here all my life

But when I see yours, 

My goodness what a mess!

You should really clean that up

Keep working, try your best.

See all my junk has a reason 

An explanation for every hurt

A story behind every bruise

But I’m comfy in my dirt.

But to me, yours has no reason

I wasn’t there and didn’t see

I don’t understand your mess

So your junk looks worse to me.
Luke 6:31

Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

Matthew 7:1-5
Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

I am

I am the woman at the well

The sinner thrown to her knees

The woman wiping perfume with her hair

Mary, Martha – and the rest of these

 

I am the thief on the cross

Zaccheus and a Pharisee

Judas, a friend and a traitor

I am the least of these

 

I am Saul as he was blinded

I am Mary at the open grave

A witness on the road to Damascus

By my faith, I have been saved

 

Luke 7:47-48, 50

47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Battle Scars

I wish I could say I’ve been a victor

And stayed the course with You

I wish I could say I kept my faith

And never truly doubted You

 

I wish I could say I’ve been stronger

And stood on solid ground

I wish I could say I learned my lessons

And never looked back or turned around

 

I wish I could say I’ve been good

And won this war for You

Truth is I’ve been a traitor and a fool

And the only real hero is You