But If They Could...

Sometimes we pray for miracles God does not seem to bring

We pray for health and healing for a loved one’s suffering

But in the end God deems it fit to take them from this life

While we are left to mourn the loss of child, husband or wife

…and wonder at God’s perfect way and will we’ll never know

Where “why, God, why”, wafts to the sky as loved ones miss them so

But if they could I’m sure they would from yonder portal call

And tell us Heaven is the greatest miracle of all

© Janet Martin

On Saturday at the wedding, in lieu of traditional wedding favors Jamie and Becca left this;
for so many would-have-been guests, dearly missed...

 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 

How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 

For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, 

OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 

Rom.11:33-34 

 Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.  

See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

 Ps.139:23-24

The Unembellished Truth

Inspiration for this poem here 

There is no fountain of youth

No pie in the sky, save the moon

The sweet by-and-by

Of middle-July

Has thorns on its roses too

There is no Time-holiday

We cannot save what dusk steals

Nor can we hide

From the winnowing tide

Nipping like pups, at our heels

We’re all in the same boat, love

Sailing earth’s ocean of hurt

Before we lay down

This flake of a gown

In urns or hollows of dirt

We all, ‘neath the shawl of our skin

Harbor an Awesome Mystery

'Til that last exhale

When death's guise will unveil

God’s face and eternity

© Janet Martin

 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, 

Till you return to the ground, 

Because from it you were taken; 

For you are dust, 

And to dust you shall return."

Gen.3:19

(M-m-m!! after reading the above verse I feel like making bread today!)

 2 Samuel 14:14
"For we will surely die 

and are like water spilled on the ground 

which cannot be gathered up again. 

Yet God does not take away life, 

but plans ways so that the banished one 

will not be cast out from him.

Of Wily Want...

...and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. 

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, 

and is already in the world at this time.

You, little children, are from God and have overcome them,  

because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 

They are of the world. 

That is why they speak from the world’s perspective,
and the world listens to them.…

1 John 4:3-5 

I planned to peg a quickie today but it seemed another Hand kept pushing mine!

I'm over-whelmed with concern sometimes when I think about the world

 our precious, precious 'littles' are growing up in...

People teaching lies (with an eternal impact) that they believe are truth; 

Trying to teach youngsters not to lie, with a lie!

Why? Some have perhaps never been taught the Truth  

or perhaps exchanged the truth for a lie.

 

Sometimes I feel a sad sort of sympathy

 for country-leaders who seem unaware of what they do not know...

'cause maybe they only know what their daddies taught them!

As long as Bibles stay closed how is anyone armed with Truth?!

Without God's Word in our heart how do we battle the Tempter, full of lies?

What a wily Want, temptation

Fills the mind with silky sigh

Where thought’s wild imagination

Tricks the heart into a lie

Ignorance is like a cancer

Feeding on Moral Decay

Looking for another answer

Rather than the One True Way

Sad, the bane that follows after

The Deceiver does not care

Not in vain his heinous laughter

Sets a sugar-coated snare

Distraction is like pink frosting

Disguising death’s poisoned bite

Sample craves sample, thus costing

Loss of Wholesome Appetite

Without Truth, love has no basis

Wisdom cries loud in the street

While the seeker of it chases

Hope, like rolling tumbleweed

Evil, like a roaring lion

Wanders the earth to and fro

Seeking who he may devour

Luring victims with The Show

What a wily, heartless hunter

After he is satisfied

Leaves his prey with howling hunger

In the street where wisdom cried

Run! Death’s cold, cunning tormentor

Tests the best of you and I

Robed as an angel, the Tempter

Tricks the heart into a lie

Run to One who never falters

He, the Way, The Truth and Life

Beams His Light into heart-altars

Heaped with ashes of Want’s strife

© Janet Martin

 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains would tremble before you!

 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
    and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
    and cause the nations to quake before you! 

 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
    you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 

 Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Isa.64:1-4 

To We Of Numbered Days

Where doubt releases demons

And despair is like a noose

Where unbelief is chief of sin

And faith seems but a ruse

Where knowledge leaves a gaping void

In quests of greater good

And life feels like a lonesome road

Of love misunderstood

When all the answers in the world

Breed questions undeterred

Then we need to get on our knees

And trust God’s faithful Word

When in our search for gladness, oh,

When in our search for peace

In this world rife with madness’ woe

(…the price of Unbelief)

When seeking, but not finding, or

When hoping without hope

When looking but not seeing more

Than dark through which we grope

When confusion strips passion

For life’s purpose pure and sure

The God of all salvation waits

To save, comfort, secure

When what we find is futile

Like vain chasing of the wind

When what binds us bleeds laughter dry

In corridors of skin

When worth of word and labor seems

To waste upon the street

And everywhere we turn our dreams

Are undone in defeat

When we have lost our appetite

For Truth that none can prove

We need to lay aside our pride

And trust God’s faithful love

…and as we let go of our will

His pow’r will intercede

For nothing in this world can fill

The soul’s undying need

Nothing will grant relief from grief

Or bring peace, hope or joy

Until Surrender stirs Belief

In what none can destroy

The Lord’s myriad mercies pour

Without number or law

And as we glimpse His gift of grace

He fills the heart with awe

God, full of pity loves us

Patient, kind and without blame

Though heathen mock His promises

They abide, all the same

His grace bids judgment tarry

For a world confused and lost

Born with a curse we carry

Until broken at the cross

Then, when the blood of Jesus

Washes clean the heart of sin

Redemption’s hope releases us

To precious peace within

© Janet Martin

 Immediately the boy's father cried out, "I do believe; help my unbelief!"

Mark 9:24

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Matt 19:26

 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John 1:12