Consolation for Care-bearers

Whatever we are bearing...He cares!

Whether we are care-givers of a suffering loved one,

whether we are the suffering loved one,

whether we are caretakers 

or care-worn...

God cares!

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

 

This place of grace and grief and pain

This cradle filled with care

Portrays God’s mercy once again

Where morning hoists its flare

And trust, unable to explain

Love’s wherefore, bows in prayer

How oft our spirits quake with fear

Where beyond our control

God’s thoughts and ways arouse the tear

That vexes heart and soul

As we like blind men strain to hear

‘Thy faith has made thee whole’

From east to west daylight’s pizzazz

Begets what dusk will fell

What waits to test our cheeky jazz

Ah, none of us can tell

Where we are all as needy as

The woman at the well

Where God, so rich in mercy cares

Belief is filled with awe

For He does not ignore our prayers

But beckons us to draw

Living Water where naught compares  

With His word's perfect law

© Janet Martin

 Mark 10:51-52

And Jesus answered and said unto him, 
What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? 
The blind man said unto him, 
Lord, that I might receive my sight.

 And Jesus said unto him, 
Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.
 And immediately he received his sight,
 and followed Jesus in the way.

Utterly Awed...

Looking unto the author of

Our joy and peace, faith, hope and love

Compels us to consider more

The who or what we’re living for

This gracious gift wherein we stand

Runs rife with mercies from a hand

Scarred with the evidence of grace

Where none was fit to take His place

The cross, ah, who can comprehend

A God whose grief and love would send

His only beloved Son, Jesus

To be the sacrifice for us

Thus in return we ought to be

Role models of humility

And follow the example of

The One who taught us how to love

(Forgive us Lord, when we forget

For we are all just learning yet

And my, oh my, so oft we prove

How much we need your grace and love)

Then, looking to the author of

Redemption’s prize; faith, hope and love

Peace and joy overflows its banks

With worship’s utter, awestruck thanks

© Janet Martin

Heb.12:1-2
  ...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, 
 and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; 
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
 despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Mind-setting

 Our mind is the control tower of our life!

Dr. Charles Stanley

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Col.3:2

 

To set our mind on things above

Does not come naturally, it seems

Each sacred, soul-anointed glove

Must learn to bridle idle dreams

How easily the mind can stray

And if we do not rein it in

We might get lost along the way

In pitfalls veiled in flints of skin

The by-and-by that all will brave

Ought to make us more love-inclined

We are either servant or slave

To one master; that of the mind

Therefore we ought to give more heed

(This applies to both old and young)

To what we feed this mighty Stead

That moves our hands and feet and tongue

Thoughts whispers are quick to beguile

With whims Want is quick to applaud

This momentous causeway, Meanwhile

Is all that stands twixt man and God

The mind is kind of like a trove

The treasure that it seeks to hold

Will set its sights on things above

Or be bamboozled by fool’s gold

© Janet Martin

Wonder Upon Wonder

 I eyed a fog-enshrouded woodlot this morning, wondering what wonders I was missing 

as I scrubbed dishes left from a belated family Christmas dinner on Saturday night
that were piled out of sight quickly so we don't waste
precious little all-together time scrubbing pots and pans.

It motivated me to get a move-on with the day's Musts then carve out a bit of a nature-soak!

The handiwork of Nature is a phenomenal glimpse of its Creator!
Sometimes a person just needs to get a closer-up look rather than a longing-distant stare!

Come, stoke the embers waiting to burst into wonder’s flame

Make the most of Today ere it returns from whence it came

Don’t wait but seek out mercy’s extra-ordinary gifts

Before the day like silver thistle seed on echoes drifts

Don’t pine for summertime while winter spills its glory-hours

While wood and fallow beams and gleams with strange, exotic flow’rs

Too soon these ties that cannot bind us long right where we are

Will flutter like an oriflamme of mist or falling star

Then let the loving kindness from the Giver of Today

Fill us with so much wonder that it steals our breath away

Because we feel like honoured guests invited to a ball

Where God rolled out a welcome mat across a worldwide hall

How happy is the heart that leaves to God matters of trust

And bears in mind how brief the wick that winks with dust-to-dust

Humbled to find amidst the grind of duty’s grand employ

Sweet wonder upon wonder until want thunders with joy

© Janet Martin

Psalm 40:4-5

 Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, 

who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—

none can compare to You—

if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

... who does great and unsearchable things, 

wonders without number.

Job 5:9

Life...

 Hopefully we all weathered yesterday's storm!

At our place we didn't get the ice they forecasted, thankfully.

Just enough to add a bit of glass brocade to branches and yester-blooms.

Sadness, gladness intertwines

Trouble, triumph, alternates

Hope and heartache always lines

Dawn’s fresh favour at yon gates

Where God’s mercy always new

Perseveres, faithful and true

Joy and sorrow interweaves

Love and longing’s tender wars

With the happiness that grieves

Seasons snuffed by swinging doors

Where time’s torrent onward rolls

Like a tsunami of souls

Courage is faith’s gleaming gem

From a Hand that cannot fail

Roses crown the thorny stem

Beauty blooms amidst travail

Morning breaks on eastern sash

Like a phoenix from death’s ash

God with us is all we need

Step by step and day by day

His promises intercede

Where fear stalks its primal prey

Greater than our greatest strife

Is The Way, The Truth, The Life

© Janet Martin

 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6