Showing posts with label Dave and Karen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave and Karen. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Where Multitudes Still Follow (and many turn away)



Matt.4:16-17&25
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”
   From that time Jesus began to preach and to say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven [c]is at hand.”
Great multitudes followed Him—


It's been a gloomy stretch of weather here...


The billows of snow from a little over week ago reduced
in short order to puddles!

We long for the great light of the sun after a long stretch of none,
yet, this but a mild comparison to the light of the world that has already come
and eternally pierced the darkness of sin and death!
Are you living in the joyful light/awareness of God's great love for you?

***

Multitudes followed Him where a Great Light had dawned
In the manger at Bethlehem, 
then Egypt and beyond
The One, prophets foretold of glory’s suffering
Had stepped to redemption’s threshold, 
the hope of man to bring

…calling all to ‘repent, for God’s kingdom is near’
Goodness and mercy’s covenant 
would pour in gory tear
Where faithful unto death the Lamb of God became
For the believer’s dying breath, 
life only death can claim

…and Jesus is the Name whereby mankind is saved
No minor prophet, He who came 
to conquer death’s dark grave
With a great light unfurled throughout eternity
Jesus, the Savior of the world 
can set death’s captive free

The light that cannot dim still gleams unto this day
Where multitudes still follow Him 
and many turn away
But those who trust behold what bold doubters ignore
Of signs that prophets long foretold 
when time will be no more

When the clouds will be seared, and every eye shall see
And look upon the One they pierced
 with their iniquity
And the whole world will wail at the sight of I AM
His power and glory unveiled 
as all ‘behold The Lamb’

But lo, all who repent and died to self are saved
Their names are written on the hands 
that Calvary engraved
But oh, all who refused 
love’s grace and truth to claim
Are released, by their choosing to 
Hellfire's unquenched flame 

© Janet Martin

I kept veering from the last line,
inadvertently trying to 'soften' it
but why?!!
life/death is a Heaven or hell matter!
there is no in between!

P.S. it feels fantastic to be upright without a spinning head after a day in bed with the flu.
My heart and prayers have been rekindled for those who spend day after day in bed!
My sister-in-law (Karen) is in the hospital since last Thursday 
suffering from a twisted bowel. Please join me in praying for her healing and
her and her family's encouragement!
My cousin who is an invalid due to MS, 
and his family appreciated your continued prayers as well!




Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Analyzing Investments


Nobody knows what will have come to pass by the time the clock's hands pass this way again 
(or if they will!!)
Touch, taste and treasure humbly then, its mien of moment-measure 
as they but once softly spill
And look around to count the ways God's mercy makes 
His Presence known
And thank Him that because He Is 
nobody is ever all alone



Deuteronomy 31:8
The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. 
He will never leave you nor forsake you. 
Do not be afraid or discouraged."


Because we cannot see what waits, soon spilled and strewn behind 
Nobody can afford to be ungrateful or unkind 

Because we cannot tell what farewell will ever enfold 
Nobody ought to not live well the moment that we hold 

Because we cannot know what lies ahead each hour, each day 
Nobody is equipped to forego He who knows/IS The Way

Because we cannot bid what is still hidden to unveil
Nobody has enough without His love that will not fail  

Because we cannot understand all that we wish we could
Nobody ought to shun the Hand held out for our good

Because we cannot see what waits ere gates of dusk descend
Nobody can afford to be anything but a friend


© Janet Martin 
Investing in some laundry, tidy to-do lists today



while listening to this...



How are you making the most of today?
My heart is full of thoughts of my sister-in-law Karen today, 
suffering from ongoing infections and side-effects of them. 
Can you pray for her encouragement and some effective treatment for them?! 
So far what is being tried is not working. 
Today, no matter who, what we do, or where we are,
 it is a gift from the Hand who works for our good!
 May we all take encouragement in this as we work with our own Broken

.
Prayer for the Church
1 Thess.3:11-13

11 Now may our God and Father Himself, 
and our Lord Jesus Christ, 
direct our way to you.
 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound 
in love to one another and to all, 
just as we do to you, 
13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness 
before our God and Father at the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ 
with all His saints.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Who Knows...But This




What waits to be in poetry?
Will it be triumph of success?
Or disappointment's infantry
Marching through tampered happiness

What waits to be for you and me?
Ah, will it author joy or dread
As twilight lowers to the sea
A canopy of bronze and red

What waits to bloom where bud as yet
Has not unveiled the thread within
The Future, a dark silhouette
That Today's colors will fill in

What waits to be a memory?
Where consequence and circumstance
Insist upon the courtesy
Of how and why we choose to dance

Who knows the woe that waits to be
The joy still set out of our reach
Where Love, in perfect sympathy
Lends lessons only tears can teach

What waits to be revealed where we
Walk through a way as yet untrod?
Who knows but this; that we will be
Held and beheld by faithful God

© Janet Martin

 Looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb.12:12

 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,  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.
2 Cor.1:10-11

This poem was inspired in part,
as I prayed for my sister-in-law Karen who is still not able to walk since her fall a few weeks ago.
Hopefully a cat-scan this Friday will give some answers!
Please continue to keep her and Dave in your prayers! 


Monday, June 18, 2018

Believing Without Answers...


My sister-in-law Karen would appreciate prayers.
A week ago she fell and is suffering much pain and some complications due to that fall.
She is battling some discouragement after a winter of health-struggles!
 (it feels like it just never ends for them!!!)
Especially this last year! (click this link Dave and Karen  
and follow posts to last June for a glimpse of prayer-requests,
after my brother Dave fell from a roof )
Dave has never fully recovered from that fall but is learning to work with a new 'normal'.
 But they believe in the power of prayer and are so thankful for prayers that have carried them through rough times so would dearly appreciate them once more!
Please pray for healing of body and spirit!
Thank-you.

 A hymn of kind Assurance   
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 
Isa.41:10

The good that we would choose would not be wrapped in pain and fears
It would not test our trust or make us wonder ‘why’ though tears
"The purpose we are called to’ we do not always applaud
Where we are oft unable to explain the will of God

For God, whose thoughts are higher than mortal can comprehend
Whose ways are far above the way we think His ways should bend
Sees far more than the moment-dots we struggle to connect
As all things work together for the good of His elect

He knows the woes we suffer are not pleasing to endure
But oh, He goes before us and makes every step secure
He levels mountains, breaks bronzed gates and cuts through iron bars
While testing we who follow with the bite of battle-scars

So we may know that He is Lord and His love never fails
…so we may find the hidden riches surrender unveils
…so we may learn to simply trust His love misunderstood
Believing without answers that He works for our good

© Janet Martin

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Rom.8:28

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isa.55:9

“I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. 3I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.…
Isa.45:2-3


Tuesday, November 14, 2017

A Simple Thank-you for Simple This...(and a prayer request)




 Thinking of my brother Dave today(see below) as I survey a mountain of 'mundaneness'
I can lift the laundry up to the clothesline without second thought or pain!


Thank God for the plainness of common mundaneness
The beauty of duty that puts us to work
It saves us from sorrow of trouble we borrow
When idle mind dawdle where demon-lords lurk

Thank God for the wealth of good health, strength and hunger
Driving us to toil with more purposed pursuit
Wild wolf at the door, love, moves us ‘cross the floor of
Plain planting and pruning before gripping fruit

Pity the lazy, lackadaisical dreamer
Weighed with wanton taunt and fat-cat attitude
Thank God for life’s labor and toil’s simple saber
It keens with kind favor, humble gratitude

Thank God for the glamor of swinging a hammer
And pray for those who dearly wish that they could
Thank God for the plainness of common mundaneness
And never forget... it is good, it is good

© Janet Martin

Please continue to pray for my brother Dave and Karen's encouragement. 
(click link for previous update posts)
Dave still has very limited use of his arms and shoulders and is then, unable to work...a true trial! 
They really appreciate continued prayer!




Saturday, October 14, 2017

Time Takes Its Toll...and A Dave update!

 Time definitely takes its toll on bodies, no matter who we are sooner or later something gives out!
I have a friend who suddenly without warning lost sight in one eye. She, so youngish-seeming, will turn 70 at the end of the year, Lord willing, but oh, adapting to one-eyed vision is such a test!
Hard to drive, hard to read, hard to judge distance! Will you pray for her encouragement?
Jenny 15 yrs. old, one day a school-girl, the next in hospital with no feeling in her legs, then a cancer diagnosis, still in hospital and undergoing chemo-treatments!
Please pray for her and her family's encouragement!
I have a brother whose journey of healing after a fall at work in June is a huge test of patience for someone who loved work, and life! Will you pray for him and his family and their encouragement?
We all deal with small surrenders as we age, no matter how hard we fight;-)
Time takes its toll...on all but Soul!
Let's pray for each other's encouragement to fight the good fight!





Time takes its toll on all but Soul
This fragile flesh born for decay
Bears highs and lows as days disclose
High hopes and doubt, joy and dismay
And all that we can know for sure
Where we know trouble will not cease
Is this; nothing keeps us secure
Save God who grants midst mayhem, peace

In days of old wild flood-deeps rolled
Across the world, where Noah’s ark
Because he did what he was told
Carried him through days long and dark
…the ark of mercy waits today
Its door to safety beckons, come
Before grace seals The Only Way
Through His spilled blood to heaven’s Home

Then lest we, caught, when we think not
Are swept from this world up to God
And never scorn what saints applaud
Time does not wait but nears A Gate
Then pray the Lord Thy soul to keep
Lest caught off guard, we learn too late
That only flesh succumbs to sleep

© Janet Martin



 We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
For if the message spoken by angels was binding,
and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
Heb. 2:1-3

The author of this song Fanny J. Crosby, was blind!

So no matter how hard the journey the believer's hope is fixed on things to come!


Dave update: It's been a while! but the journey is on-going.
(for previous updates click on Dave and Karen in labels section at the bottom of the post)
Yesterday he had an appointment with a specialist in Toronto.
 Here is an update from Dave's wife, Karen.
Hi Everyone
Here is the update from today's appointment
Today we went to meet with the specialist in Toronto. Came out of it with a lot of mixed emotions.
He has two problems. First is that he has a frozen shoulder, 2nd that the tear of the rotor cuff is so large not sure if surgery will even work.
He said surgery would not have happened right now anyways until we get the frozen shoulder fixed. He said that Dave's shoulder just doesn't move at all and has no strength in it. So he will be in contact with Dave's Physiotherapist in Elmira and let him know what he wants him to work on with him. Once we get that fixed then I think we will meet with the specialist again and go over our options.
I was kinda surprised,( I was sure that he would have surgery and it would be fixed) so at the appointment we didn't ask a lot of questions, but of course thought of a lot of questions that we should have asked on our way home - First we need to get the frozen shoulder gone- and see if that helps him to move that right shoulder and arm.
The one good thing is Dave doesn't have any pain with that arm ( unless of course he moves it the wrong way)
2nd is I was so worried about Dave going under for surgery with his lung - but I don't have to worry about that now. I know that God has the right time for everything, so please remember us in your prayers for us to have the patience we need with this part of his healing.
Dave ribs are still sore, but we know they said that that can take up to 6 months and we are not at 4 months yet.
Have a great weekend.