Solace...

 

 A few of the many glorious pictures in scripture 

of the Righteous and Loving God to Whom we pray...

From Isa. 40... 

 Ezekiel 34:16
I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, 

and will bind up that which was broken, 

and will strengthen that which was sick: 

but I will destroy the fat and the strong; 

I will feed them with judgment.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, 

how often I have longed to gather your children together, 

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Matt.23:37

He tends his flock like a shepherd: 

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; 

he gently leads those that have young.

Isa. 40:11

Ah, sweet, sacred intimacy
When man to God draws near
Where hearts are poured in prayerful plea
Where only He can hear

Trust's altar, vouchsafed for mankind
Where want and need are bled
Where surrender and faith are blind
And cling to Mercy’s stead

What awesome privilege to rest
Beneath perfect love’s wing
Where He who knows and answers best
Gathers us close to Him

© Janet Martin

I've shared this song many times because I love it!

Holding Fast...to Faith

Thomas Aquinas Quote:
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.
 To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

The cares of life could kill us without faith’s kind confidence

Though ‘substance of things hoped for’ wears no concrete evidence

And cannot satisfy the eye with tactile clarity

Still, truth abides, a steadfast guide faith feels but cannot see

Nothing is greater than our God from whence all blessings pour

Though elephants of Unbelief are too large to ignore

Still, faith clings to The Evidence Unseen that none can steal

While prodigals stoke sorrows that this old world cannot heal

Life’s skein of joy and grief threads longing’s loom with prayer-scarred strings

They weave through parts that tug at hearts and hugs and tear-stained things

To comfort us when words and touch are like salt in a cut

And love alone is not enough to rectify Doubt’s ‘but’…

Where we would all be lost but for the faith to Just Believe

And let the Holy Spirit His profound purpose achieve

And we would all need evidence to prove what none can see

Without repentance and a heart of meek humility

Where care of life would kill us without God’s kind confidence

For ‘substance of things hoped for’ grants no concrete evidence

It will not satisfy the doubting eye with clarity

But waits until faith holds fast to what only God can see

© Janet Martin

Something 'bout September

Dear August, I forgive you for our parting, bittersweet

Something about September always sweeps me off my feet

The Beauty of Her bearing begs me not to waste a day

In sentimental staring at what August bore away

Each month has its surprises; world of wonder is renewed

And something ‘bout September tolls the soul with gratitude

Where from field, garden, orchard, rolls a tide of harvest hymns

Where from each ditch, marsh, creek-bed a wildflower haven brims

Where school buses dot highways with their faithful come and go

Where walnut trees start dropping leaves in flakes of molten snow

Where goldenrod torches beam bright against the paling loam

Where something ‘bout September feels a bit like coming home

As hearts begin to soften at the thought of cozy hearth

As soil begets its extra toil from goodness of the earth

As canning-baling-combining days, excite and exhaust

As summer gains momentum till the will of it is lost

In a euphoric tangle of sun-spangled golden-ness

As something ‘bout September fills us with pure happiness

© Janet Martin

A great start to September!

September Morning Melody

Happy September!

 

 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, 

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14

A sweep of light o’er deep of night

Intensifies its majesty

A symbol of eternal love

From God above to you and me

The misty veil o’er dell and dale

Wafts like a soft gossamer stream

Where peach and plum of summer’s sum

Anoints its crest with pungent gleam

Earth’s musky mane of corn and grain

Cannot restrain its rustling limbs

But brush morn’s thoroughfare of air

With nature’s hallelujah hymns

Man’s avenue of say and do

Is polished with God’s latest grace

Where morn to morn time is reborn

Extending hope for human race

© Janet Martin

This Life We Have...

There's something about going to a funeral-visitation
and listening to what people remember about the deceased person that is a huge reality check...
the memory can be something that seemed like a little thing in the moment,
but made an impression quite unawares! 

So here's to the life we Have before it becomes the life we had!

As for man, his days are like grass—

he blooms like a flower of the field;

when the wind passes over, it vanishes,

and its place remembers it no more. 

Psalm 103:15-16

 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. 

What is your life?

 You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:14

So much of what we do may seem like nothing much at all

The days fly by as you and I reply to sundry call

Where in time’s seasoned swirl that twirls us round and round again

We might forget the awesome Yet that waits and who knows when

Life’s gauzy half-breath veil will fail and ope an Awesome Door

Where all that will remain is what we are remembered for

The give and take that sometimes shakes our will and wallets dry

The yes and no that in the moment is just a reply

The words we say that slip away through lips to listening ears

Melds moments into That which in a twinkle disappears

And thus Becomes the sum of all we said, did, took and gave

How very holy then, this one and only life we have

The plush brush that paints pictures on the canvas of the heart

Seems common but is sacred in its rendering of art

For graves can never gather into bearings cold and staid

The echoes warm with laughter or the memories we made

Where much of what we do may seem like nothing much at all

But shape, for those who yet remain the pictures they recall

...as all who've gone before cannot return to tell the worth
Of total compensation for what seemed so small on earth
Where now the days fly by like flashes on a phantom reel
But then, when the last breath is spent, The Ultimate Reveal
Where God forbid we turned our backs on His amazing grace
Until we open up our eyes and meet Him face to face

© Janet Martin

I wrote the first three stanzas before church
then the message spoke so clearly of The Big Picture I needed to squeeze in one more stanza!
Yes, making great memories is great but at the end of our lives if that is all we have it is not enough!
For all we can keep at the end of our lives is what we gave away!
Beginning with surrender of Self.

Here is a link to the message:
Free To Be Serving 
(one of my favourite quotes in this message is by Mother Theresa...
I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God
who is sending a love letter to the world.)

Job 34:11
For according to a man's deeds, He repays him; according to a man's ways, He brings consequences.

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man will come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.