Turn a sorrow of life into a joy

Pain is inevitable

misery an option
but the sorrows of life
can be turned into joy

We have an adopted family
A son
A daughter
A grandson

Not mine
Not his
Not ours by birth
Not ours by a court ruling
But simply and most preciously,
through love

The sorrows of
no child of our own
became the joys of
a grandchild
to love
and be loved by

Thank you Lord
for this precious blessing!

Thank you Lord
for turning a sorrow of life
into such a joy.

Thank you Lord
for our adopted family

(c) October 30, 2013

I think of you, I miss you

I think of you

I miss you

We were friends

As others believed they were too

Although you said,
you had no friends

I see another
and see you
but you are not here

You are gone

I think of you

I miss you
I considered us friends
as others did too
But you said,
you had no friends.

I tried to tell you
about God
about Jesus
but you would hear
none of it
You didn’t believe --
He didn’t exist

Yet,
I think of you
I miss you

But you are not here
You are gone
Your body laying low in the ground
Your soul in a place of eternal torment

There is no joy, no happy bliss
where you spend your
days and nights

You gave yourself
to  the devil
the path he led you
far removed from
where and what
the Son of God
desired for you

I am saddened

Still,
I think of you
I miss you

(c) October 26, 2013

Love ... we are not

Love
never becomes impatient
never wants to hurry things along
waits over long periods of time
is kind

Have you this love
Do you show this love to another
to yourself

Jesus shows us
example after example
He shows us
but are we seeing
are we listening
are we paying attention

Are we,
do we
as believers in Christ
walk – live
as He

Love
never becomes impatient
Love
never wants to hurry things along
Love
waits over long periods of time
Love
is kind

Love
is Jesus

Jesus
The Holy One

True Love

We are not
We strive for it,
but we are not
for we are not always patient
and continual kindness
is beyond our reach

We act
and react
based on our reasoning
and perceptions
faulty that they are

Love
True Love
is Jesus
The Holy One.

(c) October 23, 2013 

God needs all of me

“With my whole heart I have sought you; Oh let me not wander from Your commandments!” ~ Psalm 119:10

God needs me
Oh how He needs me

Every minute
of every hour
of every day

All of me

God needs my heart
my whole heart
Not part of me
but all of me

I sought
I fought
Then I received
God’s Holy Word
and accepted it
believed it

I sought
I fought
but kept coming back
I wanted Him

No longer
was it pleasing
to stray
from His chosen way

God needs me
Oh how He needs me
But how much more
do I need Him. 

(c)  October 22, 2013

It is all His

His sky
His clouds
The Lord will return
We who look up
expectantly waiting for Him
will see
and those
who everywhere else
see and live
will miss

I see
I look earnestly for His return
to be united with Him
His child
His creation


To paint or photograph
To capture
His splendor
His beauty
I witnessed it
I sat surrounded by it
in awe of it
I remember it
but to describe it
I fail to do justice

Clouds
like mountains
rich with acres and acres of forest
and snowcapped peaks
rivers running through it
a lake of fire
red, bright orange
On the horizon
in the clouds

I sit
enthralled by His
magnificence
what beauty
to behold
In my mind's eye
I see God
God's work
God at work
He shows us
His greatness

Yet we fail to see
and hear
and act accordingly
to His great mercy
responding instead
to the "me" inside
each of us.

 We have failed
We are all sinners
We remain as such
Saved by His grace
but not living in His power.

It is His
We are His
Nothing we are
is ours
It is all His

When will we be HIs desire?

                                                                                    (c) October 20, 2013

Forgiveness...

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” ~ I Corinthians 13:12

Forgiveness is hard to bestow on another

Whose at fault isn't so much the issue
as doing what is right
in the eyes of The Lord Jesus

We say or do
or we stay silent
and act accordingly

The Lord sees
He knows
you and I
you and me

He tells us in His Word
He shows us by His example
how our response should be

It is not about me
or you
It is about Jesus

It is hard to forgive another

God sees the heart
God sees it all

We see so little
Our perceptions are faulty
We see so dimly

We or those around us
proclaim
that cannot be
He or she couldn't do that
but we can …
we do.

None of us,
no, not one, is perfect
The best in us
is not good enough
to proclaim otherwise

Only Jesus is perfect
On Jesus is good enough

We need Jesus beside us,
all around us,
and within us
to be able to walk the path He trod.
We need His Word,
His  example,
His love and mercy
to be and do as He desires of us.

We need to forgive
without thought of what it costs us.

It costs Jesus far more
He gave His life for me and for you.

Have we forgotten?

(c) October 11,  2013