Everyone is Welcome (in Mercy's Throne-room)

Recently a friend remarked to me,

' It seems, the older we grow the more we pray'

Yes! I replied, and it seems to me,

 the more we pray the less our words!

God knows our hearts 

so He knows exactly what we need

and exactly when we need it!

What peace this knowledge brings!

Sweet Hour of Prayer with Lyrics by Alan Jackson

No fancy phrase demanded

No verbose agility

No reserved rank or status

Or exclusive pedigree

No exam or diploma

Or prerequisites to meet

To cry to God in Heaven

Or to fall before His feet 

No interview or survey

Before we can qualify

To enter Mercy's Throne Room 

Through the door of creature cry 

No uniform required

No strict format to appease

To lift our heart to Heaven

As we pour out praise and pleas 

...and seek Hope's sacred solace

With surrendered heart and soul

Reaching to touch the hemline

Of the One who makes us whole

No pious prose is needed

Nor grand phraseology 

A groan is interceded

When cried in humility   

...and everyone is welcome

To believe and call on He

Who beyond comprehension

Ever cares for you and me 

Janet Martin

1 Pet.5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, 

so that in due time He may exalt you. 

Cast all your anxiety on Him, 

because He cares for you.

Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; 

He will never let the righteous be shaken.

Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, 

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:25-27
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

 Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 

 Look at the birds of the air: 

They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, 

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Psalm 116:1-2
I love the LORD, 

for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy. 

Because He has inclined His ear to me,

 I will call on Him as long as I live.

Psalm 28:6
Blessed be the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy.

1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, 

and His ears are inclined to their prayer. 

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Just As I Am with Lyrics by Alan Jackson

Fernando Ortega Pass Me Not With Lyrics

Intricately Intermingled...

Breath-robbing joy/awe

and soul-penetrating sorrow

or

breath-robbing sorrow

and soul-penetrating joy/awe.

This is love.

This afternoon I picked up our grandchildren and their parents,

from the airport, after a two week visit in Nova Scotia with

her husband's family.

My heart thrilled with joy as they emerged from the airport 

(I missed them!!)

and I couldn't help but think of their Mimi and Poppy at the

other end of love's spectrum; the tender sorrow of farewells.

This is love; the fine intermingling of joy and grief.

Last week as I sat in our lawn with dad

(whose dementia often leaves him confused)

the joy of loving such a dear dad

rushes through my heart with breath-stealing sorrow

as he struggles to complete the sentence,

with 'I just can't seem to think how to say what I was going to'...

Across the road wedding prep is escalating as the last of

their children plans to be married/fly the coop on Saturday,

and our neighbours will be empty-nesters!! 

Again, bittersweet are the joys of love!

The end of one era and the beginning of another 🙏💖 

1 Cor.13:7-8

Love...

bears all things, believes all things,

 hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Intricately intermingled

Joy and sorrow's part

Rushing, crushing,

Waking, aching

Taking us by heart

Making us, of diverse nature

Stature, trait and frame

Bitter-sweetly

and completely

Very much the same 

  So then, having love in common

We weather life's storms

Laughing, weeping,

Giving, keeping 

Love, in all its forms

Manifesting Something Greater

Beyond love's façade

 Ceaseless Wonder

Over, under

Ultimately, 

God

Janet Martin

Thank God, Because His Mercy Is Renewed (every morning)

Lam.3:21-23&25

Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness...

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;

Imagine if, for one morning 

God did not renew His mercy and compassion,

and man was left to fend for himself!

All would fail, for all we have is from God;

all light, all love and all life

come from and belong to Him!

Rom.11:36

For of Him and through Him

 and to Him are all things,

to whom be glory forever. 

Amen.

Behold! Morning is breaking; mercy is renewed again

Thank God for all He orchestrates beyond our wildest ken...

What holy reason to proceed, anoints each step toward

What waits to be, (ultimately the glory/return of the Lord)

Behold! Morning is breaking; mercy is renewed again

Thank God for all He orchestrates beyond our wildest ken

What wealth at our disposal waits, beneath visual façade

We are so prone to trusting what we see, rather than God

Where to the eye, it may appear we are sky-worlds apart

Thank God for all He does to draw us nearer to His heart

In spite of all the times we do the Thing we should not do

Our Father in Heaven loves His children through and through

And delights to surprise us with gifts of goodness and grace

Thank God for all He gives to grant us glimpses of His face

When we repent, and put our hope and trust in Him, what peace

In a world where trouble abounds and wars and cares increase

His faithfulness sustains our faith no matter how we feel

Thank God for all He holds and nothing in this world can steal

Human nature oft overlooks and undermines The Best

Forgetting to do our part then leave to God the rest

But look! Morning is breaking; mercy is renewed again

Thank God for all that He forgives and then forgets. Amen

What holy reason to proceed, anoints each step today

What love at our disposal cheers us onward, come what may

What purpose and what power spurs and stirs our gratitude

Thank God for all He does because His mercy is renewed

Janet Martin

Great is Thy Faithfulness

From a Garden-Lover's Point of View

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,--

One is nearer God's heart in a garden 

Than anywhere else on earth.

From God's Garden by

Dorothy Frances Gurney

Gen.3:8

And they heard the sound of the Lord God 

walking in the garden in the cool of the day...

Time began in a garden; little wonder then that we

Feel closer to God's heartbeat in nature's tranquility

To witness the unfolding of a seed, to bud, to flow'r

Grants the sacred Beholding of God's majesty and pow'r 

What privilege to labour where the world's noise is subdued

By He whose lavish Favour fills our hearts with gratitude 

...and kindles genial ardour for the holy ground of soil

Beneath cloud-tumbled arbour we worship with sweat and toil

We find friendship in flowers and soft serenade of breeze

As we linger in bowers with birds, butterflies and bees 

Content with wonder driven from a plot of awesome worth

Gleaning glimpses of Heaven from the gardens of the earth

Where, though this is no Eden; (Adam's curse is ours to bear)

God still walks in the garden; oh, what joy to meet Him there 

Better than lust for leisure or the futile quest for Things

Is the unparalleled pleasure only a garden brings 

Janet Martin

of seed...

to bud...

...to flow'r! 

In The Garden- Alan Jackson

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August Soul-Steep

Job 9:10

He does great things past finding out, 

Yes, wonders without number.

Today's poem began as I spent a

slow-paced day with dad, while mom

enjoyed a visit with her sisters!

I was feeling a bit restless at one point as we sat on their front porch

until I concentrated on doing what I sometimes wish I could do more of...

Steep my soul in an August-afternoon, 

taking note of all its luscious details!

like skies so blue and fields so gold

it almost hurts one's eyes to look at them!! 

August's bowers akin to rooms with sapphire canopies...

paradise for bees...

Of aromas of pickling spice and dill and vinegar 

Panoramas of chop and slice as we preserve summer...  

As morn by morn summer's milestones are met, like a parade 

Of joy soft-torn twixt grins and groans as flowers flare and fade...

And wheat falls prey to harvest blade while we humbly rejoice

In each new day the Lord hath made to give our gladness voice ...

We steep our souls in sultriness of August's afternoon

A flushed breeze rolls through leafy tress and stokes a sleepy tune

The cricket-minstrel starts to tweet a bittersweet prelude

From stubble tinsel 'neath our feet staccato cheeps exude

And from tree-rows along the fence cicada-monotone

Jars the shadows, tuneless cadence of rusted saxophone

From yesterdays beneath our skin we sense a turning leaf 

The subtle ways endings begin to dare delight with grief 

As morn by morn summer's milestones are met, like a parade 

Of joy soft-torn twixt grins and groans as flowers flare and fade

And wheat falls prey to harvest blade while we humbly rejoice

In each new day the Lord hath made to give our gladness voice 

The holy ground of happiness is full of thorns and rocks

Still August joys confound; and bless gardens with hollyhocks  

And sunflowers and zinnia-blooms; a paradise for bees

August's bowers akin to rooms with sapphire canopies

Where wonder-storms are oft unfurled in unquenched poetry

Where thunderstorms refresh the world and drench its dusty lea

We cannot get our fill of this; the bliss of August days 

Where toil and sweat is worth the kiss of Nostalgic replays

Of aromas of pickling spice and dill and vinegar 

Panoramas of chop and slice as we preserve summer  

And thank God for dear August's pleasure of garden and field

To take time to be awed by treasure-troves of fruitful yield 

Ditches burgeon with Queen Ann's Lace and black-eyed Susan-blaze

Beauty surges in petal-grace that captures our gaze

At every turn; a color-blur of purples, pinks, gold, blue

Gilding an urn we call Summer; ere earth collects its due

Of spent applause; as each day rolls like waves that disappear  

And so we pause and steep our souls in August's atmosphere

Janet Martin 

Still August joys confound; and bless gardens with hollyhocks ...

And sunflowers and zinnia-blooms; 

Ditches burgeon with Queen Ann's Lace and black-eyed Susan-blaze...

Heaven's Grand Event

Ps.5:3

In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice;

at daybreak I lay my plea before You

and wait in expectation.

Darkness dwindles; daybreak kindles toil and trouble’s transient wick

Silence thunders with fresh wonders waiting to cut to the quick

Season-beauty graces duty with God’s grandeur to behold

Skyline blushes; mercy rushes like a river, rose and gold

Worship savours unearned favours from a fount where blessings pour

Hope and heartache humbly partake of love’s Bread of Life once more

Unplumbed essence of God’s Presence cheers us through days good or bad

Overflowing The Unknowing with enough to make us glad

Glad to labour, love our neighbour, with a heart of gratitude

For God’s tender, steadfast splendour; Goodness and Mercy renewed

Gone forever, yester’s-nevermore of moments spilled and spent

Darkness dwindles, daybreak kindles Today; Heaven’s Grand Event

What an offer! From yon coffer run riches none can descry

Today given, down from Heaven where God waits for our reply 

Janet Martin

Ps.118:24

This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

While We Wait...Quietly

God's Waiting Room is a Garden...

From Eden to Gethsemane/Calvary mankind awaited The Messiah (Saviour)

In Eden, perfection marred by sin. Sin, the author of death, trouble and sorrow.

In Gethsemane, utter surrender to the Father's will.

The Father's Will? 

Salvation/Redemption

Today's devotion struck a deep chord in my soul.

Our church family, while still mourning the loss of of our pastor this past winter

are seeking and waiting on the Lord to prepare and provide another.

The tension between seeking and waiting is not a light matter!

Prayers are deeply appreciated on the behalf of our church staff and leaders,

whose 'violin/cello strings' are being sorely stretched!

Waiting introduces suitors 

That test soldiers of the cross

While goodness and mercy tutors

Faith's students with seeming loss  

Waiting without being anxious

Is not for the faint of heart

Beneath God's perfecting purpose

Oft our own ways groan and smart 

To wait quietly, while hoping

Jars with natural desire

To trust without interloping 

 Tries the wise, as if by fire

God's Waiting Room is a garden

Eden and Gethsemane

First the curse and then the pardon

Waiting unveils Calvary 

Then be of good courage, fellow-

Partaker of suffering 

While we wait God's tunes faith's cello

And repairs each broken string

While we wait, hark! God is speaking

To the likes of me and you

While we wait He too is seeking

Worshippers whose love is true 

Janet Martin

Here I Am To Worship | Maranatha! Music (Lyric Video)

The Secret to Joy through an Infallible Power-Source

Today, a little heart-to-heart...

Today's post is inspired in part by our summer sermon-series

entitled Joy in the Journey,

in part by today's devotion from Springs in the Valley 

(or aka Streams in the Desert Vol.3)

and in part by a heart-to-heart visit with a dear friend yesterday,

as we encouraged each other to 'keep on'.

Phil.1:21

For to me, to live is Christ...

Acts 17:28

...for in Him we live and move and have our being, 

as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

1 Pet.1:8

...whom having not seen you love. 

Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, 

you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

CityAlight ~ Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me (Lyrics)

What melds the simple and sublime

Our hurts with hope and peace

What transcends the titles of Time

And bids its tensions cease

What makes our woeful weakness strong

And satisfies each want

And cheers our hearts when things go wrong

And doubt and despair taunt

What draws us to glorious praise

With Self-will sacrificed

And bids us to rejoice always

It is the pow’r of Christ

It is to love without restraint

To forgive and forget

It is to walk and not grow faint

To trust rather than fret

It is to live and move and have

Our being held in Him

To fear not, as we walk by faith

With courage naught can dim

Because greater is He in us

Than any foe we face

Redeemed by the blood of Jesus

Through the pow’r of God’s grace

What frees us from indebted strain

Of ‘have I done enough?’

What eases our ‘waiting/growing-pain’

With quietness and love

What equips us with all we need

Whether aged or youth

What makes worthy the words we heed

Of righteousness and truth

In each sorrow we undergo

What restores joy again

With power none can overthrow

This; Christ in us. Amen

Janet Martin

God's Opportunity

Tip 'o the hat to cement truck drivers and cementers.

That is some seriously hard work!!

Some of my brothers and nephews are carpenters so they are a huge blessing

as we build a granny-flat onto my parent's home

for them to hopefully move into by the end of the year!

Lots of hard work is happening but I think cementing must be one of the hardest.

First, the hard work to install heavy cribbing,

then, after the hard work of cementing,

the hard work of tearing it away.

This week I learned what a rebar is and its purpose!

So many metaphors to apply to life;

how what seems like the 'hard work' is actually the preparation 

for the 'pouring' of the foundation!

How there is so much more to the foundation and footing than meets the eye!

Every day we are each God's opportunity 

to work through and in us with the abilities and gifts He has given!

Let's not miss them, because there is no other me or you to do

what he has deigned for each of us to do!

The rebars in our own life-foundations are not visible to others,

nor theirs to us, reminding us there is so much more 

than meets the eye in all of our 'temples'.

It's almost more than my dad (almost 85 and a former carpenter)

can do to simply watch...

What we see never grants enough

to justify disregarding what we cannot see!

(like spiritual rebars, or the lack of them)

God is faithful;

faithful when we are tempted

to fear

to doubt

to despair.

1 Cor.10:12-13

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; 

but God is faithful, 

who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, 

but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, 

that you may be able to [d]bear it.

We are God's opportunity;

Through people just like you and me

He ministers His faithfulness

So we may live to love and bless

...and though no person can fulfill

The part only His Spirit will

He helps us love the way we should

And through this love works all for good

We are God's workmanship; His grace

Equips us for all that we face

So we may daily shed abroad

The light, hope, joy and love of God

Janet Martin