Give Comfort In Times Of Grief

 

We each have carried the burden
Of grief too great to bear,
And yet we’ve had to find the strength
To live with our despair.
 
Because we understand such grief,
You’d think we’d know the way
To comfort someone who now fights
To keep such grief at bay.
 
Alas, that is not how grief works.
For each, the pain’s our own.
Try though we might we cannot heal
The pains we haven’t known.
 
I cannot heal their broken heart
Or mend the hole it leaves,
Nor can I take away the fears
And pain of one who grieves.
 
I cannot bid them walk my path,
For their healing’s not mine.
What I can do is give their grief
To the healer Divine.
 
For He can heal the broken heart
And make it whole again.
That’s comfort beyond the power
Of any mortal man.
 
I know because He has healed me
From more than one heartbreak,
And I know He will heal them, too.
His comfort’s theirs to take.
 
The greatest comfort I can share
Is God’s love and His grace,
And simply staying close until
God’s healing can take place.
 
2 Corinthians 1:4
who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
 
Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

I Will Follow You

 

I thought I heard You call my name,
But it could not be so,
For I’m not worthy to be called,
As You and I both know.
 
I heard You call my name once more,
And felt my soul cry out,
“Oh Lord, You know the life I’ve lived.
Of that I have no doubt.”
 
“How could You call me to Your grace,
Knowing who I have been?
The life I’ve lived has been far from
A life lived without sin.”
 
I heard You call me one more time,
Reminding me that You,
Having full knowledge of my sins,
Have cleansed me of them, too.
 
I realized that You have called
Those worse than I have been,
And taught them how to find the lost,
Become fishers of men.
 
If those who once were lost, then found
Can serve You faithfully,
Then I know You have grace enough
For a lost soul like me.
 
Lord, I have heard You call my name,
And I will follow You.
Please lead me with Your truth, Your light,
That I may serve You, too.
 
Psalm 43:3
Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!

This sweet photo is a gift from AC and her trip to Africa a few years back. 

The Path That Leads To You

 

You laid the path before me, Lord,
And I’m called to walk through
The struggles that increase my faith
And draw me close to You.
 
Sometimes the path is clearly marked,
Sometimes it’s hard to see.
There have been days when I broke down
And cried out, “Lord, why me?”
 
Yet, each and every step I take,
I take trusting that You,
Who set this path before my feet,
Will help me walk it through.
 
I know that my strength comes from You
For I’ve none of my own,
And any wisdom I have gleaned
Comes from the seeds You’ve sown.
 
I pray I keep hearing Your voice
With every step I take,
And that I follow where You lead
For my weary soul’s sake.
 
However hard or steep the path,
I know You’re guiding me,
And I’ll find my way home to You,
Where my heart longs to be.
 
Isaiah 30:21
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.'”
 
Philippians 4:13
“I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”

Praise Him And Rejoice

 

Lift up your voices, sing in praise
And glorify the Lord!
Let all His children shout with joy,
For, in Him, you’re restored.
 
Lift up your praises to The Son,
And let your songs be heard.
For He who cleansed you, loves you still!
Proclaim to all, His Word.
 
Rejoice that God’s Spirit still lives
Within the hearts of man.
He will not leave or forsake you!
Rejoice in God’s great plan.
 
Blessed are the children of The Lord,
For you serve Heaven’s King.
Let all your voices praise His name,
Lift up your hearts and sing!!
 
Psalm 92:1-2
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night

Get Thee Behind Me

 

Satan’s calling to the world
And many hear his voice.
Thinking they will hold great power,
They make an evil choice
 
I see him upon the pulpit,
He’s smiling as he lies,
Twisting the truths that God gave us,
Working your soul’s demise.
 
I see his demons bow in the streets,
Demanding you do, too,
That their demonic overlord
Might take your soul from you.
 
I seem them screeching, condemning
All that God’s declared good,
Destroying what they do not own
Because they think they should.

 
Serving the darkness in the world,
Turning away the Light,
Will not lead them to earthly wealth,
But to eternal night.
 
So many voices crying out
In pursuit of his plan
Shall find that serving satan’s will
Does not end well for man.
 
For, if you serve him here on earth,
You’ll serve him, too, in hell.
That service is void of all hope.
Turn back, don’t heed his spell.
 
Put him behind you, walk away,
Take hold of God’s promise.
His is the Word, the Light we seek,
All satan’s calls, dismiss.
 
Matthew 4:9-10
And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

Two Are Better Than One

 

They worked in pairs, spreading His Word
As He'd called them to do.
He knew they’d be more confident
If they worked two by two.
 
So is it still, in many things,
Two are stronger than one,
And when we help each other out
We get so much more done.
 
Don’t spend your days asking for help
Reach out and lend a hand.
You’ll find what’s given out of grace,
Returns ever more grand.
 
God’s plan’s not that we walk alone,
But, walking two by two,
We help each other on the way
As He’s called us to do.
 
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

In Him I Am Strong

 

The butterfly spread out its wings,
Perfect in each detail,
Except that it was missing part
Of its bright colored tail.
 
We each have flaws or weaknesses
Born of our own travails,
And we may have faced ridicule,
Mocking those flawed details.
 
Yet, much like that bright butterfly,
Perceptions can mislead,
For He who formed us, loves us still,
And He will meet each need.
 
We live, not by our strength alone,
But by His perfect grace.
The power we lack in ourselves,
We find in His embrace.
 
It may not make each day easy,
But, what it does instead,
Is teach us to trust in Him first,
As Paul notably said.
 
Let us rejoice and carry on
In faith through each travail,
And, by the way, that butterfly
Flew blithely with no tail!
 
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The End Of The Pier

 

For most of us, the end will come
Outside what we can see,
But, for a few, the end’s in view,
As clear as it can be.
 
Whether by illness or design,
We see the end draw nigh,
And that can lead most to despair,
No matter how we try.
 
The storms of life can rise quickly
And fill our hearts with fear,
We see them rise up, sweep across
The far end of life’s pier.
 
I understand the fear some know
At the end of this road,
We count all we’d chose to re-do,
How we could shift the load.
 
We fall upon our knees in grief,
Regrets for what’s undone,
And wish we could have one more chance,
Once more around the sun.
 
Yet, those of us, who know Jesus
And recall Peter’s fate,
Understand, when we start to sink,
His mercy won’t be late.
 
When Peter first started to sink,
Jesus took hold of him
And lifted him back to His side,
Though Peter’s faith was dim.
 
I may not know just how it’s done,
But I harbor no doubt
That, when I step off of life’s pier,
Jesus will pull me out.
 
I’m in no rush to reach pier’s end,
My life’s full to the brim,
But, when I hear Him bid me come…
I’m running right to Him.
 
Matthew 14:29-31
He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

You Do Not Forsake Me

 

The path before me lay obscured
By all the sins I’ve known.
There were so many, vast, varied,
All the bad seeds I’d sown.
 
I had become blind to the way
That would lead me back home.
I was without the hope of peace,
Condemned ever to roam.
 
I called out to You in despair,
Oh Lord, please lead me back
From this dark trail I’ve walked too long.
Get me back on Your track.
 
There in the dark, a soft light shown,
The path began to clear.
Though I could see just the next step,
I felt Your peace draw near.
 
I took that step, holding to faith
That You’d show me one more.
Each step marked my path back to You,
To redeem and restore.   
 
Though I’d let myself go astray,
You did not forsake me.
When I turned back, You heard my cry.
You love me patiently.
 
Isaiah 42:16
And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

The Unexpected Delights

The party was well underway
When she came on the scene.
She watched from her seat, out of reach,
Hoping to go unseen.
 
Yet, one by one, the party guests
Noticed her arrival
And whispered with a hint or awe.
She held the crowd in thrall.
 
She wasn’t some grand movie star,
Some purveyor of song,
Yet everyone else who was there
Was glad she came along.
 
She didn’t stay for the whole night,
Just long enough to share
The sweet delight her presence brought
To everybody there.
 
I know you’re likely wondering
What praise this tale will raise,
But sometimes it’s not miracles
That delight and amaze.
 
It’s simply the fact that He knows
Just how to make my day
A little more delightful than
Any plan I might lay.
 
Psalm 37:4
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”   

This sweet photo was taken on my phone from across the yard, so it's a bit blurry. I hope it conveys the joy that we all felt when she joined the party for a while.