Down the Road, So Thankful Then...

Inspired by my friend's comment about the effort it takes to get a family photo done!

She said' Surely we'll be thankful to have them, down the road!'

Her words impacted me with the thought of how often struggle and effort is

for something 'down the road we will be thankful for'!

For all the times we didn’t take the easy way, for where it led 

And suffered loss for Jesus’ sake to look after the poor instead 

And did not follow after what indulges pleasure’s endless thirst 

Because it did not imitate the example that Christ set first 

For all the ways we failed, yet did not fall prey to the doubter’s lies 

But confessed our sin and then once more pursued the Runner’s Prize 

And threw off all that hindered us; the sin that easily besets 

Fixing our eyes on faith’s Author and Perfecter, and not regrets 

For all the times ‘Thy will be done’ required surrender’s hard parts 

And sacrifices no one knew but He who knows our heart of hearts 

Way down the road (or near at hand, ah, who can tell) when we look back 

So thankful then, for all the times He kept us through the foe’s attack 

So thankful then for hope that did not make ashamed the love whereby 

God poured his Holy Spirit into us in trustworthy supply 

So thankful then to hear Him say ‘well done’ as humbly, joyfully 

We worship evermore the One who said, I draw all men to Me 

© Janet Martin 

(this next little poem also inspired by another friend's remark a few days ago

about trusting the Author and Perfecter of our faith...

and I realized often

The author is easy to accept/trust, but oh, 

the Perfecter; we cannot begin to fathom His ways!

The Author of our faith we gladly acknowledge is God 

But the Perfecter, this is where He tests the faith we laud 

The Author we embrace and hail the grace whereby we go 

The Perfecter; His ways we do not understand or know 

The Author gave His Son to save us from just judgment’s wrath 

The Perfecter (or finisher) tries words with Real Life’s path 

Where both blessing and hardship play a very vital part 

In proving through response who is the Lord God of the heart 

© Janet Martin 

Does our faith dare to utter the prayer of Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3? 

v.2  Lord, I have heard of your fame; 

 I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.

Repeat them in our day,

in our time make them known;

in wrath remember mercy...

v 16 I heard and my heart pounded, 

my lips quivered at the sound; 

decay crept into my bones, 

and my legs trembled. 

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity 

to come on the nation invading us. 

17 Though the fig tree does not bud 

and there are no grapes on the vines, 

though the olive crop fails 

and the fields produce no food, 

though there are no sheep in the pen 

and no cattle in the stalls, 

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 

I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; 

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, 

he enables me to tread on the heights.