safety.

“There are no ‘if’s’ in God’s world. And no places safer than other places. The Center of His Will is our only safety… We must pray that we may always know it.”

–The Hiding Place, Chapter 5

 

 

breathe me

 

Matthew 11:28-30

English Standard Version (ESV)

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

Wholesome Grief

“But thou, O Lord, art forever the same, yet thou art not forever angry with us, for thou hast compassion on our dust and ashes.  It was pleasing in thy sight to reform my deformity, and by inward stings thou didst disturb me so that I was impatient until thou wert made clear to my inward sight. By the secret hand of thy healing my swelling was lessened, the disordered and darkened eyesight of my mind was from day to day made whole by the stinging salve of wholesome grief.”

-St. Augustine – The Confessions, Book 7; chapter 8

Is there not some part of us that feels a sort of rightness when we grieve? It is as if we know that through pain, we have delved into the rich realm that happiness so rarely touches…

“as for me”

-Psalm 69:13 ESV

Lamentations 3:19-24

Lamentations 3:19-24

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[a]
his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

The Good Kind Of Death

 

I am sitting on my screened-in porch, as the afternoon sun hangs low and light filters through the trees. I’m  writing an essay on humanity’s insatiable nature and intrinsic sorrow, and I looked out into the woods, silently requesting wisdom and vision from above.

My eyes were drawn to a cluster of brilliantly red leaves. Then I began to search out the other leaves which had turned to beautiful yellows,oranges and reds.

“Death,” I thought.  How curious that while we, as humans, are repelled by the death of ourselves or sometimes of animals, there is death all around us that we do not mind – that we barely perceive.

The beautiful colors of Autumn are provided by the death of those leaves – yet not of the tree from whence they came, for when a tree is dead, it and its leaves appear brown and lifeless.

But there is something in the annual death of its leaves that is beautiful and screams “Life!”  What is this paradox?

These leaves infuse sweetness into our lives, as we transition in season from hot to cold.

The colors, the smell… the distinct “fall feel” in the cool air… It gives me such enjoyment and such peace.  I know that this is a gift to mankind.

And this gift comes from the death of something – leaves.  Certainly, this is not death to be mourned (unless, of course it is your job to clear said leaves once they land on the ground).

It’s a death that we are accustomed to and a death that we all seem to understand without words that is meant to be.

It seems to me that it’s only a partial death – for again, the tree itself is yet alive and only a part of it has died.  The only thing I can think to compare it to is how we grow hair and nails which we clip off and feel no pain as a result of this separation.

How is that out of living things (trees, people) grow things dead or soon to be dead?  -Things that seem to have been created for the sole purpose of dying.   Hair and leaves both have their being in that they grow and die for the sake of the enjoyment of their beauty… (Yes, they have other functions,but poetically speaking, they are truly beautiful and that is what is most immediately striking when you see them.)

I can’t quite wrap my mind around the beauty and complexity woven into nature… Nor can I put it into words adequately (although it should be evident by now that I am desperate to try!)

Another good kind of death:  food.  Everything you eat died that you may partake of it and be nourished. Talk about the honor and wonder of a sacrificial death. Just food for thought (no pun intended).

I am so in love with the God who made this place.  If it is so breathtaking… I can’t begin to fathom His Glorious Appearance. I can’t take it in.

These beautiful songs express the euphoria of knowing God. I wish you too could know Him and it is my prayer that you come to.

“I can’t take it in: by Imogen Heap

“I know you” by Bellarive

Just Trust.

Oh dear today, I shall remember

The happenings that you hold.

 

I breathe in deeply, straining to believe

In the beautiful things I was told.

 

Never before have I truly understood

The phrase ‘too good to be true.’

 

I wage war against my little doubting heart

And  beg the LORD to see this good thing through.

 

I look up. He smiles.

I blush with shame.

 

How could I ever doubt the King

Who brought this deceitful peasant into His own Home…

Brought me into His own family

To bear His own Son’s Name.

 

I speak to Him silently,

“Kill my doubt. It seeks to make me forget how beautiful my soul’s Lover is.”

 

Peace fills my lungs,

Giving me the courage to leap off the cliff’s edge

And glide to safety

On the Wings called trust.

 

I doubt on account of mortal man’s track record for letting me down.

How silly of me to forget that You are the one who defied death itself for me.

 

You are great enough

To guide home

The little lost sheep.

 

You can. And you will.

 

I trust You.

 

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  –Philippians 1:4-6

 

“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

 

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? –Numbers 23:19

 

<< Titus 1 >>
New International Version

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1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,

4To Titus, my true son in our common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Will You Save Me?

 

 

 

 

 

Will You Save Me by The Birdsongs

Don’t be hollow anymore.

ROMANS 6

Much love and many prayers.

22

tear-stained globe

Your pain…

I feel it so acutely…

Are you sure it isn’t mine?

 

The scars on your wrist…

Are healing with time.

…So why do I still feel the knife?

 

I can’t seem to help you

Or lessen your wounds,

Although heaven knows that’s all I want to do for you…

 

I hope you know that

If I could take the noise inside your soul into my own

In order to quiet your mind,

I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

But I am unable to take it.  I cannot heal you.

And I die

Each time

That you tell me

You want to.

 

You’ve turned me into a praying woman, my friend.

You’ve turned my face towards God Himself.

 

So although you see no worth in yourself,

You should know that you’ve done my soul good.

 

If you can hold onto the strands of hope

And refrain from disposing of your beautiful life,

I have faith in the One who breathed it into existence

And I can make sure you’ll always have at least one friend

Here on the tear-stained globe.

 

So close your eyes tonight,

Stop trying so hard to be in control.

 

Slumber softly,

Sleep safely,

Cradled in the kind arms of peace.

Child, when life don’t seem worth living…

 

 

“Come to Jesus” by Mindy Smith

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

New International Version (NIV)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

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. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.