Love-lessons

 God's love is never misrepresented...

only misinterpreted!

 Strange times, isn't it?!

"This will someday be in the past", my dad called over to me across the yard

(with good distance between us because they are quarantined/self-isolating) 

"but for now it is a serious present that will take Time to pass"

So we drop our 'sunshine' boxes on their porch

 filled with goodies they can see and prayers they can't

...pause to marvel at the beauty of white birch on blue...

 ...and by the grace of God, carry on. What else can we do?

Once more the orb of daylight climbs

Above a world of troubled times

Where our responsibility

In spite of all we hear and see

Remains unchanged; the circumstance

Does not estrange two great commands;

To love the Lord above all else

Then love our neighbour as our-self

Once more Mercy renews its creed

Above a world of utter need

Where God, whose form we cannot see

Remains unchanged; though misery

May make us feel strange or alone

Take heart for God is on His throne

No height or depth or breadth enough

To separate us from His love

Once more the day eclipses night

Where faith does not satisfy sight

But on a threshing-floor of pain

Love separates chaff from the grain

And what may feel like punishment

Is love we cannot comprehend

As it suffers for you and me

With love proven at Calvary

Sunrise, sunset, do not forget

Love is not finished with us yet

But longs to burn away the dross

And draw us closer through a cross

Where high or low does not estrange

Us from His love that does not change

But leads us through the vale of woe

To prove the love whereby we go

© Janet Martin

Romans 8:37-39

 …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 
neither angels nor principalities, 
 neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 
 neither height nor depth,
 nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.…

Welcome, April

Happy, Happy April...

A complete darling of a poem...

 ...from this magazine

Welcome wind, with warmer whispers

Welcome world, more comely clad

Welcome work that turns to blisters

Welcome weather, April-glad

Welcome, sunshine between showers

Welcome, dapper daffodil

Making worthwhile all the hours

Leading to ‘welcome April’

Welcome brook-bedazzled cello

Serenading sky and sod

Welcome, purple-green-pink-yellow

Bursting from the hand of God

Welcome, welcome, winter-farewell

Welcome, wonderland of spring

Welcome, welcome sweet, sweet April

Primed with buds waiting to sing

© Janet Martin

Believe To Receive

He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. 

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Mark 5:34

Luke 18:42
"Receive your sight!" Jesus replied. "Your faith has healed you."

Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Luke 17:19

Luke 7:50
And Jesus told the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Matthew 8:13
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! As you have believed, so will it be done for you."

 And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Matthew 9:29
Then He touched their eyes and said,

 "According to your faith will it be done to you."

Faith is unlike any other gift;

We have to believe before we can receive.

Often, in this world we believe when we see!

Not so with faith...

How can we get faith?

By getting to know the One in whom we place it.

How can we get to know Him?

Only one way; by getting into His Word and

acquainting ourselves with His loving promises.

This poem came out of my personal struggle with letting go

of anxiety and to put my trust wholly in God

(to let faith make me whole) 

When we believe

Then we receive

Faith cannot first behold

Trust must rely

On God’s reply

With courage brave and bold

Lord, God we pray

That come-what-may

Our faith will make us whole

When we believe

And then receive

The healing of the soul

Belief, my friend

Cannot pretend

Faith has no seen façade

But we receive

As we believe

The promises of God

Then pray we trust

And yield this dust

To He who knows all things

As we believe

We will receive

The perfect peace faith brings

When we believe

Then we receive

There is no other way

 But we will find

Sweet peace of mind

When we trust and obey

© Janet Martin

The artist below (David Wesley) is a nurse here in Ontario, Canada. 

Let's remember to pray without ceasing for 

healthcare workers all over the world!

Isaiah 12:2
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. 

For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, 

and He also has become my salvation."

Isaiah 26:3-4
You will keep him in perfect peace,  

Whose mind is stayed on You, 

Because he trusts in You.

Trust in the Lord forever,
For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

The Gain of Loss

 

The pain of loss grants gain because we start to realize

That all we have God’s goodness gave; the prelude to The Prize

When we shall see His majesty then we will understand

How loss was but love’s albatross before the Promised Land

When deathless soul flies to its goal like a bird from a cage

Then we will see faith’s Mystery unfold on Heaven’s stage

The pain of loss that shaped the cross that we are called to bear

Will melt like snow when warm winds blow as we shed ev’ry care

The pain of loss carries an awesome opportunity

To lean on He who calms the sea and keens humility

for mortal mold of have and hold is but the brief prelude

That shapes and hones the steppingstones to endless gratitude

The pain of loss may vex and toss the heart with want and woe

Until we cling, through suffering to He who loves us so

And thus begin to hate the sin of selfishness and pride

And look with awe at He who saw our need and did provide

© Janet Martin

 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  
 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth 
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,
 in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him,
 not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, 
but that which comes through faith in Christ, 
the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 
^Eph.3:7-9

Then, When The Storms of Life...

 this song never gets old...

Ah, here we go again

Armed for life’s high and low

With love to bind the wounds of men

With grace whereby we go

Day breaks and draws us through

A myriad of halls

Until the sky is navy blue

As noiseless, the night falls

Where in between these banks

Of sky and sea and sod

We offer up a life of thanks

And leave the rest to God

For both heaven and earth

And the fullness thereof

Belongs to He who renders birth

And tends His flock with love

Then, when we are afraid

As trouble tests our will

Let’s lift our eyes to He who made

Today and abides still

His love will never fail

His love will never cease

Then, when the storms of life assail

His love will give us peace

© Janet Martin

Romans 8:35-39

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  

As it is written:“For Your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 

neither angels nor principalities, 

neither the present nor the future, 

nor any powers,  

neither height nor depth,

 nor anything else in all creation, 

will be able to separate us from the love of God 

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hallelujah!