2 Corinthians 1: 3-4

When life becomes too difficult

I settle in your arms.

You shelter me from life’s travails,

Its devastating harms.

You comfort me when I am sad,

Nourish me when I’m weak.

Your love offers me refuge when

My fears are at their peak.

The sanctuary of your love

Brings me security

And I will offer others ease

As you’ve comforted me.

2 Corinthians 1: 3-4

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Hidden Prayers

My prayers lie curled within my heart

Like buds too frail to bloom.

I long to give them all to you,

But dare not thus presume.

For some of them are less perfect

Than I know they should be

And I want to refine them some,

So you’ll think well of me.

I know, however poorly formed,

You love each little prayer

And long for me to open up

Allowing you to care.

But still I hide them in my heart

Hoping someday they’ll grow.

I really need your help with them,

But I can’t yet let go.

Psalm 21:6

I sit, wrapped in the stillness of

The rising sun’s first blush,

Reflecting on all of my joys

Within the morning’s hush.

They number more than all the stars

That fill the night time sky;

They far exceed the blades of grass

That wave before my eye.

The joys that spill through every day

Add up abundantly,

And you love me so vey much

That you gave them to me.

So let me not sit in the dawn

With troubles on my mind,

When all about me are the gifts

You’ve left for me to find.

Psalm 21:6
Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Psalm 34:14

I took a breath and sought the peace

I only find with you.

The world was jumbled all around;

The chaos grew and grew

Until I stepped out of the whirl

And sought the quiet place

Where I know that I can be sure

I’ll always see your face.

I call to you, you hear my voice,

I feel my pulse grow calm.

The world may rack my mind with stress

But your love is the balm.

So I will sit where your peace blooms

And let the chaos go.

I find, most days, I need some time

Where only peace can grow.

Psalm 34:14

14 Turn from evil and do good;
   seek peace and pursue it.

Disappointment to Delight

Frustration and disappointment

Haunted me through the day

Then, in the end, my one great plan

Just wouldn’t go my way.

In spite of my disappointment,

I learned a truth, because

What I was seeking wasn’t there…

But something better was.

The picture that I most wanted

Was not out there tonight,

Instead the moon was wrapped in clouds

That swam in golden light.

My disappointment melted like

The anguish in my soul,

For disappointment cannot live

Where God’s plan takes control.

Isaiah 49:23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

Psalm 37: 8

Anger weaves a bitter web

And poison beads each thread;

Poison which scarce harms the prey, but

Kills the weaver instead.

For bitterness tears at the heart

When anger festers there;

A heart thus rendered impotent

Can never learn to care.

So guard your heart from bitterness

And turn your wrath to grace.

Weave not the poison in your heart,

Let his peace take its place.

Psalm 37: 8
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Learning To Use His Gifts

Dear Lord, You gave me mighty wings,

But I’m afraid to soar,

My will’s not as strong as my wings;

I fear I’ll fall once more.

Oh Lord, you gave me a fierce heart,

But I still linger here,

For, though my heart can tame the wind,

My mind still quakes with fear.

Oh Lord, you gave me great, strong hands,

Your plans for me, to hold,

But I can’t let loose of this fear;

My dreams are not that bold.

So Lord, I pray that you will fill

My mind with your true grace

That I may rise upon my wings

And fiercely take my place

Upon the winds that you have formed

Without a single trace

Of doubt or fear, for only there

Will I behold your face.

A Winter Apple

A single golden apple hangs

Upon a winter bough,

For all the fellows of its youth

Are long since fallen now.

It longs to leave the confines of

This life it lives alone

And join its comrades on the tree

That shines before God’s throne.

But God has not yet called its name,

So it must linger here.

Amid the storms of winter’s life,

It dreams of those once dear

And waits to hear the voice of God

Whispering in its ear.

The Endless Quest

I'm always searching for something, Lord,
Often I don't know what.
I keep thinking there's something more
Than all that I have got.

I know it's greed that drives me thus
To long for something more,
For you have given me a home
Upon a peaceful shore
With shelter for my restless head
And sustenance galore
For both my body and my mind.
I have no need for more.

And yet I feel that longing still,
So tell me what to do,
For I am certain what I seek
Is only found in you.

Psalm 73:25-26

I watch the storms come rolling in,
The rising of the sea;
I know that I'd be overwhelmed
If you weren't holding me.
Though earth and sky are now my home
They will not always be,
For I will dance beyond their reach
In your eternity.
Psalm 73:25-26
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.