He’ll take the leftovers, the cast aways, the ones forgotten and thrown away
He’ll take the hopeless cases, the given up, the accused, the strays
He’ll take them all, bandage their wounds, love them fully and still have room.
He’ll stand beside them as their proud bridegroom and offer them life outside the tomb.
Maybe this part of the past
Won’t be reconciled
Looking back
there may still be gaping holes
But time to let go of the questions
And focus on the truths I know
Although many days
seemed meant for evil
He’ll use them to produce good
Though oft it appeared
the enemy was winning
I’ll see his purpose in the end withstood
With an increase in wind
All my doubt rushed in
Harder pressure on all sides
Surfaced my pride
Humbled to find
The battlefield
In my mind
“The greatest challenge in receiving great things from God is holding on for the last half hour” selected from Streams in the Desert
Closer closer, Lord to Thee
My spirit gets every day
Trusting You for the desires of my heart
And my earthly needs while on the way
To an ever after in glory bright
Where I’ll behold You, your beauty
Your radiant light
Does Christlike to you mean perfect?
Does it mean proud for all you give
Is it a list of your accomplishments?
Just another boast for how you’ve lived?
Or does it mean humble?
Does it mean sick and dependent on His grace?
Is it awareness of your weakened condition?
And finding peace in His embrace?
I am the daughter of a King
Richly blessed, redeemed
I am a warrior, clothed in grace
Equipped and strengthened for this very place
My rags are removed, washed in His blood
Replaced with a crown sealed with His love
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Photo credit: https://www.artstation.com/irinaplachkova
“Then the Philistines will be thrown into panic, for they counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt! They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.’” Isaiah 20: 5-6
Is there something you have trusted in throughout your life that has boosted your confidence, given you a greater sense of security or maybe even shaped your identity? Maybe you come from a family of wealth, therefore you have never given much worry to where your next meal will come from. Maybe all of the women (or men) in your family have lived long healthy lives, living well into their 90s, so you have great confidence that you will follow in line. Maybe your parents have demonstrated commitment and endurance to their lifetime marriage and set the example for how you believe the story will also go for you. Maybe the church where your faith was born has a leader who has taught you countless truths and been the example of faith for which you look to and live by.
So what happens when that foundation cracks and the most reliable thing in your life crumbles? When the family you depended on makes a bad investment and files for bankruptcy; when you get a cancer diagnosis in your 40’s and your vision of a long life is suddenly threatened; when one of your parents commits adultery and the relationship you trusted more than any other ends. When your church leader is caught being dishonest and has to step down… what happens then?
Maybe we would echo the words of the Philistines in the scripture above and wonder, “If this can happen to Egypt (fill in the blank), what chance do we have?!” And suddenly we are met with the choice to either crumble in despair and hopelessness or rebuild our foundation.
God has a way of illustrating to us over and over again our faith and dependence should be on Him and Him alone. Everything in this world is temporary, every person in this world is flawed. If your trust lies in anything or anyone of this world, it is subject to disappointment.
This is not to say we shouldn’t be grateful for the blessings of financial security, good health, successful relationships and amazing church leaders or walk in fear of their failure. (And check out how to still love people who’ve let us down HERE) But we should never place our confidence in these people, places or things above our confidence in the Lord. He is still who He says He is when we face loss and we can have the confidence in Him to say “I don’t like it, but I trust You. Show me according to Your Word and Spirit where to go from here.”
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
He will always respond to a repentant heart with grace
But come to Him with an argument
and you’ll fight and kick to defend your case
“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.” Hebrews 4:16
In our longing for justice,
We argue, we reason, we explain
Hoping our offender
Will feel remorse for our pain
But where we have been wronged
We have wronged a thousand more
So we look to the cross
And see the grievances He bore
If we all weren’t in need of this grace
We could rest on our arguments
If all we had was our understanding
All through the day we’d lament
But thank God He teaches mercy
Thank God it’s not about evening the score
Thank God it’s not about who’s right or wrong
Thank God, grace gives so much more.
Please carry the heavy load of our pasts
So we’d be free to walk along
Your predestined paths
Please cleanse us from our regret and shame
So our mouths would be confident
To share Your good name
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Religion says I have the answers
But You say I have your heart
Religion tries to simplify
You continue to mystify
And set Your love apart
No matter how diligent
No matter how sincere
Our attempts are
at cleansing our own hearts
We still will fall short
But if His grace covers one,
It covers all.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. James 2:10
You will make a way through this uncertain road
You’ll clear a path and illuminate my stepping stones.
Where will you take me? You will not say.
Only that you love me and you know the way.
Along the path my Lord leads me, whispering as we go.
Invisible safety embraces me disguised as a “not now” or a “no”.
Holding me to say “wait”, releasing me when it’s time to go.
Where he is leading me, I don’t yet need to know.
I see this is by Your hand.
Though not all will understand
How You’ve led me into
Your promised land
The pasture is green
The waters so wide
A land flowing with honey
You there by my side
My soul is refreshed
My heart so content
Each labored step led
By divine Providence
Years in the storm
Now worth the wait
The desires that were born
The mistakes that were made
The changes that occurred
All through grace
Ushering me here
To this moment, this place
Psalm 23:1-6
1The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4Even though I walk
through the darkest valley, a
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
I must be silent
Not a word
Just hunker down
And trust Your Word.
Let this teach me
Let me learn
Let me not be
So self concerned
There are bigger stakes
At hand than me
Let the best picture
Emerge, succeed
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.
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
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
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.”
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
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.
Don’t compare
Don’t stare
Be you
Authentic and rare
Don’t cover
Don’t hide
Be you
Outward and inside
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.
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.’
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 the woman at the well
The sinner thrown to her knees
The woman wiping perfume with her hair
Mary, Martha – I am all 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.”
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
Christian Poetry, Thoughts & Analogies 