Thank God For Truth

 Tell Me the Old, Old Story

Thank God for faithful fathers

Who steadfastly uphold

The truth that does not falter

From age to age retold

Thank God for faithful mothers

Who teach children to pray

To love God and each other

To trust Him, and obey

Thank God for faithful children

Who love Him in their youth

Seeking firstly, His kingdom

Of righteousness and truth

Thank God for faithful foll’wers

Who do not doubt and stray

But bear truth’s torch so others

May find and know the Way

Thank God for Truth abiding

Divine and absolute

For those, rightly dividing

The word that yields good fruit

© Janet Martin

2 Tim.2:15

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,

 a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

 rightly dividing the word of truth.

School/Leap of Faith- A Sonnet

As we were leaving on Sat. for our annual weekend in TO I realized

the pink eye I was trying to ignore was suddenly getting much worse.

We stopped to pick up a prescription because all the over-the-counter meds were sold out!

(bit of a pink eye epidemic on in our area)

To top it off, a mild sore throat escalated into wild discomfort.

By Sat. night the long anticipated dinner, (and remainder of the weekend)

was more endured than enjoyed!

While I know this is small on the grand scale of troubles

it was/is still super disappointing!

But on we go...

with so much still to be thankful for!

1 Thess.5:18

give thanks in all circumstances;

 for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

I didn't get any photos this weekend except a few at 

Krispy Kreme donuts on the way home...

There's a good parable in watching the process of a donut being made.

A glob of sticky dough, mixed, pressed and fried before the

final, delectable sweet-treat finish!

So, speaking in donut terms, sometimes

 when we're in the gob-of-sticky-dough stage

 or the pressing and frying stage

it might be easy to forget

 there's a 'sweet-treat' finish!

To roam among grave stones of seasons spent

Is but to squander what soon wastes away

To wander in deserts of discontent

Is but to miss the treasure of Today

To mourn for what we cannot change is vain

Distracting us from present precious sands

To dread the unknown is a futile pain

Better to pray and leave it in God’s hands

His grace, always sufficient for life’s lot

His mercy new each morning, praise His name

His love transcends the scope of mortal thought

His promises are free for all to claim

His goodness greater than affliction’s lathe 

His peace, perfected in each leap of faith

© Janet Martin

Jim needed to leave for work when we got home!

I snuggled on the couch and listened to an extremely uplifting message 

from David Jeremiah about faith.

I couldn't find the exact one on YouTube, 

but below is a link to another gem of a message filled with invaluable reminders.

It starts in with this...

From David Jeremiah-The School of Faith

"One of the sobering thoughts about the Christian life is the truth that God is far more interested in who we become and what we are than in what we do. He cares a whole lot more about how we live than about what we accomplish. His purpose is to build Christians, not cathedrals. His focus is on people, not programs, and for this reason, when God is working in the life of a person, he often allows unexplainable events to prepare and perfect those that he is getting ready to serve him in a much bigger way in the kingdom. The New Testament says this: "Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives". Often when difficult things happen in our lives, it's not the evidence of something that is wrong, but proof that something is right."

***

Life aka, 

The School of faith

is filled with highs and lows,

 joys and woes,

 in all shapes and sizes

thorns and rose-

coloured surprises

Everything comes, 

then it goes.

What yet waits

Only God knows...

But,

Whether we are enjoying the flower

or being pricked by its stem

God is faithful.

Forever

Amen 

Donuts remind me of a song from days gone by when

our children were little...

Life Without Jesus is Like a Donut

What Comfort in the Knowing

"They're really nice tomatoes, I admitted as I gaped at my garden in bafflement!

But I have never had tomatoes this early. It's spring and I just planted them!

I am just not prepared to can/preserve tomatoes yet!"

This was my dream this morning just before I woke up completely

😂😂😂

Suddenly I have refreshed appreciation and gratitude for 

the law and order of times and seasons!

No matter how eagerly we await spring,

imagine of we woke up this morning and our lawns needed mowing

(that was also part of my dream; as I looked around

I realized our lawn looked like a field!!

and I wondered how I missed it?!) 

What if we woke up, a child once more?!

Gen.8:22

“As long as the earth endures, 

seedtime and harvest, 

cold and heat, 

summer and winter, 

day and night will never cease.”

...none can withhold morning from the awning of daybreak

(it's been so long since we've had a sunrise that the place I was watching for the sun

to break over the horizon had shifted WAY over from the last time I saw it!)

I gasped as I gazed at the cross formation! Spectacular!

Here's to a Friday full of thankfulness

I’m thankful for the sequence of season-circuits and such

For nature’s law and order not swayed by impulsive touch

What comfort in the knowing that spring waits in winter’s wake

And none can withhold morning from the awning of daybreak

Or trick the bud that cradles flowers waiting to unfold

With rutabaga rather than petals of red or gold

And that the measure of a life moves forward tick by tock

And doesn’t trick us with high noon instead of five o clock

…that babies are born innocent, no matter where or who

And God’s goodness and mercy are not but for favored few

The earth and its fulness thereof and all who dwell therein

Belong to He whose name is love and saves us from our sin

I’m thankful, that midst so much unpredictability

So much, since the beginning is like it always will be

Regardless of the atheist’s emboldened disregard

No one can gloat or boast because of nights, quadrillion-starred

I’m thankful that we are not being constantly perplexed

By midweek weekends or never knowing which day is next

And everyone grows old and gray at threescore years or four

Rather than some who are returned to childhood’s grind/grant once more

I’m thankful that no matter what may change much stays the same

That we don’t wake to face a wild and cruel guessing game

But take comfort in knowing He who ordained nature’s ways

Of times and seasons keeps His Word until the end of days

What comfort in the knowing that for all who have believed

Heaven is worth the waiting for, beyond all we have grieved

That time and all its trouble is but like a bubble's scope

When compared to eternity with He who anchors hope

...and comforts those who mourn with promises to which we cling

Certain of their fulfillment as we are, waiting for spring

While giving thanks to He from whom all changeless order flows

In unerring precision and the comfort it bestows 

© Janet Martin

Or trick the bud that cradles flowers waiting to unfold

With rutabaga rather than petals of red or gold

Like Glimpses Through a Gate

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life; 

In Your presence is fullness of joy; 

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The thrill of February spring was short-lived,

...as was the clean up from previous ice-storms, 

 We woke to a world ensconced in nature's glitz!

How oft the Creator consoles

Earth's happiness, so full of holes...

February is always a struggle for me, poetically-speaking, 

and this February is no exception, so emotionally demanding/draining

 with so much local trouble and sorrow,

not to mention globally!

But hallelujah,

 God Was, Is, and Ever Will Be in perfect control!

We walk by faith, not by sight!

2 Cor.5:7

How oft the Creator consoles

Earth's happiness, so full of holes

Where grief exacts love’s bitter thorn

As dreams are dashed and hearts are torn

…and then the morn heaps hope’s buffet

As mercy’s masterpieces splay

Like glimpses, through a gate ajar

Where everlasting pleasures are

How often our faith could be

Disillusioned by tragedy

This, but part and parcel of Time

Tethered to weathered season-chime

Where rhyme and reason could dismiss

God’s goodness with betrayal’s kiss

Until, like glimpses through a gate

He reminds us of joys that wait

How often we could lose our way

If we relied on logic’s say

Where wise and fool alike concede

Man’s days are few and full of need

But, the best this world can demand

Pales, compared to God’s Promised Land

Glimpsed through a gleaming gate, agape

With impressions of its landscape

How oft the poet’s flound’ring prayer

Could yield to pirates of despair

Where unholy taunt plunders thought

And steals joy with blessings forgot

Until God opens downcast eyes

To impact us with sweet surprise

Unveiled, like glimpses through a gate

Where worship’s endless pleasures wait

How oft life's weight of care could wage

A war that nothing could assuage

Without more than this world can host

Of temporary toast and boast

Hoisted between eternities

A flail of mortal agonies

While glimpses through yon Gate remind

The man of the soul's transient rind 

How oft the Creator consoles

Earth’s happiness, so full of holes

With glimpses of Heavenly Hills

From whence our Help and Comfort spills

To cheer us onward in the flight

Of walking by faith, not by sight

Until Yon Gate eclipses grace

And glimpses become face-to-face

© Janet Martin

Psalm 121:1-3

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

2My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3He will not allow your foot to [a]be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Lord, I Need You

I Need Thee Every Hour

(Temporary) To-do List/Must

The gray, sunless stretch of weather continues!!

sometimes it seems to threaten to seep into our spirits😏😐

Do you ever wake up feeling defeated before you begin

a new day, a new week, as struggles and battles seem to hit 'repeat'?!!

Call on God, call on a friend, 

call on a mother, spouse, sibling

but whatever we do, let's not try to do it alone!

Father Along

Do you ever wish for a life without care?!!

(I confess, sometimes I do! But,

a life without cares would make us 

pretty careless and self-reliant, wouldn't it?!

On the other hand, sometimes we can create cares

 by being careless and self-reliant!

Here is the balance challenge:

To not become complacent,

 yet, to not become discouraged

as we shoulder the yoke of faithfulness!

 The only way to accomplish this requires

constant refueling in God's company/His Word!

(To keep our eyes on faith's prize is impossible

if we love the world...more)

1 John 2:15-17 (BSB)

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh,

 the desires of the eyes, 

and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world

. 17The world is passing away, along with its desires;

 but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Happy Monday!

Let's make the most of to-do lists 

not simply with what we have wherever we are,

but with Who we have wherever we are,

 (if we have believed in He who is able!)

💓🙏

this hard-to-do to-do list kind of unfolded as I contemplated

what to write about, as I weighed wishes and wants with what is, etc.

Some successes, no matter how hard-fought 

seem to evade, maybe because we're not ready for it yet!

...to loathe the pride that lurks inside accolades of success

To hunger for still waters and green pastures of His Word

While feasting on a five-star meal of hope with thankfulness 

And to pray without ceasing, leaning wholly on the Lord

To love our neighbor as ourself without selfish reserve

To be more kind and patient where we all have much to learn

Where only by God’s favor we have more than we deserve

A glorious inheritance that we could never earn

To fight against desires that wage war against the soul

To count spiritual blessings and to covet more and more

Its measure, life’s true treasure beyond time’s transient toll

When at last, we will see what now we are yet striving for

To make Heaven our goal, so that we labor not in vain

To remember, the garment of the soul will soon decay

And what once seemed so far off and arduous to attain

Will be an everlasting crown that never fades away

© Janet Martin

1 Cor.9:24-27 (NIV)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,

 but only one gets the prize? 

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. 

They do it to get a crown that will not last, 

but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

 26Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly;

 I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

 27No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave 

so that after I have preached to others,

 I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

It's Not Easy But It Is Possible

This winter I have committed to sorting through

a lot of long-neglected corners and drawers filled with paraphernalia and plunder

of collections no longer relevant to the season I am in...Older mother!

And while mothering is by no means over, preschool and school children mothering is!

Leaving a lot of hard decisions to be made like

how many old art projects, canvases, folders, sketch-books, keepsakes do I keep?!!

My oldest daughter is at the other end of the spectrum, at the beginning of this journey

 and sometimes the only way I know how to advise her on

how to navigate a situation is because 

though the circumstances may differ the solution is the same for her season as mine;

 Ask God for wisdom then trust Him to provide!

Often wisdom comes through what feels like failure first.

But the important thing is that we don't give up!!

 Keep trying/praying! 

It’s not easy, learning how to fully lean on God to guide

How to trust Him without fretting about if/what He will provide

It’s not easy learning how to yield and say ‘Thy will, not mine’

And to rest in Him untroubled by His unrevealed design

It’s not easy, learning how to sacrifice each selfish choice

Taking God’s Word at His promises without doubt’s vexing voice

It’s not easy to be holy; we need God’s word in our hearts

To undo sin’s dark dominion and to thwart the tempter’s darts

It’s not easy to be faithful if we look ahead too far

But God makes it possible if we trust Him

Right

Where

We

Are

It's not easy, the relying on strength we do not possess 

But as long as we keep trying God unveils His promises 

© Janet Martin

Prov.3:3-8, 33-35

Let not mercy and truth forsake you;

Bind them around your neck,

Write them on the tablet of your heart,

4And so find favor and [a]high esteem

In the sight of God and man.

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall [b]direct your paths.

7Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

8It will be health to your [c]flesh,

And strength[d] to your bones....

...The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked,

But He blesses the home of the just.

34Surely He scorns the scornful,

But gives grace to the humble.

35The wise shall inherit glory,

But shame shall be the legacy of fools.

Faith-forge...

This poem is inspired in part by a few stories I recently read or am reading...

the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and now, Moses!!

Also, the story of George Mueller

(the excerpt below esp.)

Heb.12:1

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,

 and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

The beautiful 'cloud of faithful witnesses' that encompass us

 challenge, inspire and encourage

 the ongoing stories of our own lives/faith still being written!

Take heart, fellow-friend!

Stories of faithfulness cannot be written in a hurry!

I began this poem yesterday morning, but it was not a poem

that could be quickly spilled....then tot-care gobbled up the day!

Last night my energy and concentration tank was so completely depleted

to the point of feeling like I was getting sick (but a good night's sleep resolved)

so this is yesterday and today's poem!

Below: a Celebrate-the-Very-Brief-Splash-of-Sunshine-with-a-Hot Chocolate-'Picnic'!

The answers that we seek in our hurry oft seem slow

When faith’s posture is weak, not meek but impatient to know

Doubt and desire wrestle as God tests love’s utmost part

(To be His chosen vessel is not for the faint of heart)

The high call of surrender grants no accolades unearned

Faith’s Author and Perfecter leaves no stumbling block unturned

But moves in ways contrary to sight’s acumen and whim

God’s rebuke necessary to expose wants not of Him

Encompassed by a cloud of witnesses, faith’s legions shine

As God fulfilled/revealed His promises and purposes divine

While waiting-seasons refined trust and taught them to endure

And be obedient because God’s Word is just and pure/sure

What sometimes seems like pleas ignored or forgotten by God

Or futile ‘waiting on the Lord,’ is oft discipline’s rod

To dredge the depth of the heart’s measure where His Word should be

To test the timbre of the treasure only He can see

What masters of disaster mortal’s lack of patience proves

When we choose to move faster than God's higher way behooves

When foolishly we plunder gates still barred to our request

Blind to redemption’s wonder waiting to reveal His best

God's providence instilling/fulfilling holiness, makes no mistakes

He tugs at ties unwilling until pride's resistance breaks 

And probes the hold that still denies Supreme Authority

Until faith's utter boast replies 'not I, but Christ in me'  

© Janet Martin

2 Tim2:3

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Of Unrelenting Mystery

I'm SO excited to share the link to my friend's

 (and long ago next-door neighbor's) latest venture;

one she has been in training for in a sense, almost her whole life!

Check it out!

Nourish Body and Soul-Bringing peace to your table through nutrition and faith

As I read about her journey to this point

it reminded me to remember no matter what season we are in,

when dreams seem stagnant in streams

 of Commonplace Commitments

or mundane musts 

or dire detours teaching trust,

God is always prepping the soil or

pruning the plant,

for the dream/hope to flourish and flower in

His perfect Timing.

Does it not make us all take heart exactly where we are,

 if but to simply pray,

'God, help me shine and grow for You today?'!

(where the Unrelenting Mystery of tomorrow waits...)

Wherever we are called to be

Whatever we are called to do

We have one charge, ultimately

To be a vessel God shines through

The highs and lows of day-to-day

Serve purposes we cannot guess

While we are learning to obey

And trust God’s faithful promises

Experience is not in vain

How often we are blindly blessed

While wisdom we have yet to gain

Is veiled in the pain of the test

The Here-and-Now that we are in

Is but a steppingstone whereby

We advance, always to begin

So much more than yet meets the eye

Petal by petal, buds unfold

Where masterpieces wait to spill

Like we, cradled in the kind hold

Of God’s perfect timing and will

What sacred common ground we share

Of Unrelenting Mystery

For who knows what waits to prepare

Us for what is waiting to be 

© Janet Martin

1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,

 do it all to the glory of God.

While We Wait (let us not grow weary...of love)

Just as an army general must rally his troops from time to time,

so too, those who put on the armor of God, need to be 'rallied'

lest we grow weary of servanthood and doing good!

Hopefully today's poem serves as a bit of a 'rallying of faith's troops'!

2 Tim.2:3-5

You therefore must endure[a] hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, 

that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 

5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned

 unless he competes according to the rules.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions,

and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

13 while we wait for the blessed hope—

the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness

and to purify for himself a people that are his very own,

eager to do what is good.

Titus 2:11-14

And let us not grow weary while doing good, 

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 

 Gal.6:9

'What on earth are you doing?' asked Hubby on Saturday

as I pulled down the window and stood on the sill so I

could see as much as I could see😅

'I'm feasting on the view', I replied, 

'Don't you see this every day?!' he asked, a little mystified.

'Well, yes, but never quite like this before!!'

...and on that note here's to a new day, a new week, a new year,

much the same as many previous but never quite like this before!

Come, Ye that love the Lord

While we wait for Thy appearing, let us not grow weary, Lord

Weary of love’s awed revering of Thy everlasting Word

Weary of love’s faithful praying for those of faith’s dear household

And for those still lost and straying in a world, corrupt and cold

Weary of love’s exaltation for salvation’s blood bought gift

Of love’s devout consecration to Thy calling, lest we drift

Weary of worship and living to give glory to Thy Name

Weary of love’s glad thanksgiving for what faith alone can claim

Weary of love’s meek pursuit of God-ordained obedience

Of examining the fruit of choice that leads to consequence

Of encouraging and cheering one another on with joy

As we wait for the appearing of Christ’s glorious convoy

As we wait for the unveiling of the hope that we profess

To behold Thee; love’s unfailing Keeper of Thy promises

Let us with unwearied purpose do good without doubt’s despair

For love’s Due Season of harvest will be worth the getting there

Will be worth the persevering of each second mile we trod

…while we wait for the appearing of the glory of Thee, God

By the grace of Thy salvation and the power of Thy Word

With love's renewed dedication, let us not grow weary, Lord

© Janet Martin

There is Rest By and By

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!

He Will hold Me Fast

With Love that Never Fails (As Surely as the Morn)

But as for me, I will sing of Your strength;

Yes, I will joyfully sing of Your faithfulness in the morning,

For You have been my refuge

And a place of refuge on the day of my distress.

17 My strength, I will sing praises to You;

For God is my refuge, 

the [t]God who shows me favor.

Psalm 59:16-17

We can so easily get caught up, attracted and distracted by what we see

rather than what we know is so because God said it!

The One who constantly awes us with masterpieces

of morning sky and nature's my-oh-my,

He is our refuge and strength!

Though so much seems to fail

Never The Hand that draws

The break of day across the vale

That groans with mercy’s cause/laws

And unfolds in the palm

Of grace, the molten sky

And parts the wingspan of the dawn

Like a new butterfly

Where we, creatures of dust

And mist/must of numbered days

So often fail to fully trust

The higher thoughts and ways

Of He who never fails

Is spite of what some say

Even while mercy’s Hand unveils

And grants another day

Where morn-to-morn unfolds

(a twinkle in time’s eye)

Exteriors that man beholds

Beneath fringes of sky

Where so much seems to fail

When weighed by what we see

In worship’s hour of travail

Before eternity

Consider this, dear friend

Before we shake a fist

And curse He whose mercies attend

Both saint and atheist

Who makes the rain to fall?

Who does love emerge from?

Who paid sin’s ransom, once for all?

And calls on all to ‘come’?

He knows each creature care

And suffered every one

Because Love did not choose to spare

The status of His Son

A manger met His birth

A cross displayed His death

Where no one could fathom the work

Fulfilled at his last breath

Then, though so much seems loss

Remember, we behold

As they who stood beneath the cross

But fringes of the Whole

Where, though thought’s logic fails

Never the Hand of He

Scarred with the imprint of the nails

That set death’s captives free

He is the King of kings

He is the Lord of lords

Who bore salvation's sufferings

Beneath the thrust of swords

With love that never fails

As surely as the morn

The landscape of life's path unveils 

His mercies are reborn 

© Janet Martin

As surely as the morn

The landscape of life's path unveils, 

His mercies are reborn