The Sweeter, Calvary

 The heavens offer an endless buffet of awe...

from morning to evening yesterday, a constant declaration of God's glory!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Psalm 19:1

The less earth has to offer

The more we start to dwell

On what awaits hereafter

(Either Heaven or hell)

Heaven, the glorious promise

To those who trust in He

Who sent His Son to save us

From hell’s eternity

The less earth has to offer

The more we start to think

About the Divine Author

Above life’s little blink

We ponder the estrangements

That cut us down to size

And start to make arrangements

For Soul that never dies (if we are wise)

The less earth has to offer

The dearer Heaven waits

Time’s tear-anointed coffer

But the Segue to Gates

That will either swing open

To faith’s focus revealed

Or, past the point of pardon

Remain forever sealed

The less earth has to offer

The more our spirit yearns

For a Place so much better

Than this world’s brief returns

As eager expectation

Begins to override

Our natural inclination

To selfishness and pride

The less earth has to offer

The more we cling to God

The trials that we suffer

May seem a grievous rod

But wakes in heirs of heaven

A weight, worthy of care

The gift of sins forgiven

And hope beyond compare

Far sweeter than the laughter

That thrills this death-stoked dome

The endless ever-after

Of Heaven’s home-sweet-home

Forbid we stoop to scoffing

Truth’s Sole/Soul Supremacy

The less this earth's cold off'ring

The sweeter, Calvary

© Janet Martin

 Future Glory

And if we are children, then we are heirs: 

heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ

—if indeed we suffer with Him, 

so that we may also be glorified with Him.

I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable 

 to the glory that will be revealed in us.  

The creation waits in eager expectation 

for the revelation of the sons of God.…

Romans 8:17-19

Take Heart; The Cross Is Not The End

 Life since COVID-19 makes us really miss

'the good old days' doesn't it?

But these days many are turning to or turning back to God

What do we choose, suffering to draw us nearer to God

or ease and prosperity with God forgotten?!

 This Easter season we are without excuse

to kneel at the cross!

Love comes in many forms

So does hate

Life’s spirit-testing storms

Will abate

Nothing stays where it is

Forever

The bond that fastens This

Will sever

The loom that weaves and weds

Life’s duty

Entwines contrasting threads

For beauty

Take heart, when dark of night

Compasses

God’s everlasting light

Surpasses

When life turned upside down

Unsettles

And longing is a crown

Of nettles

When courage is a groaned

Surrender

God still abides; enthroned

Defender

Love comes in many forms

Staff and rod

Beneath the testing storms

Hand of God

Take heart, this woebegone

Hurt and loss

Pales in comparison

To Christ's cross

The cross is not the end

Then take heart

The eyes of faith, my friend

See in part

When death full sight imparts

We will find

A mist of broken hearts

Left behind

© Janet Martin

 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

    In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?

 In God, whose word I praise,
    in the Lord, whose word I praise— 

 in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can man do to me?

Psalm 56:3-4-10-11

Momentous Hierarchy

 It's Monday just in case you are having trouble remembering! ugh!!

Night shattered in a myriad of masterpieces...

To stand tall we must bow

To run well we must kneel

What is past happens now

Interlaced silk and steel

Forge a momentous wheel

To live well we must die

To be strong we must break

To be rich we must try

To give more than we take

So much future at stake

To succeed is to fall

But to get right back up

Life’s bucking bronc is small

Compared to mercy’s cup

So heave-ho and hup-hup

To hold on we must reach

To let go we must trust

To learn, Someone must teach

(We never outgrow Must)

Till

Soul to God, dust to dust

© Janet Martin

Praying for true strength today...

 That is why, 

for Christ's sake, 

I delight 

in weaknesses,

 in insults, 

in hardships, 

in persecutions, 

in difficulties. 

For when I am weak,

 then I am strong.

2 Cor. 12:10

This song was my leaning post exactly half a year ago 

when we suddenly bid farewell to one of our beloved pastors

Ron Seabrooke

Author Annie Johnson Flint's Story here

who knew many 'greater burdens and added affliction'

Another hymn of hope for these dark days... 

By God's Grace And For His Glory

I think we are learning there is still
SO much to learn through what we are learning!
Turning our eyes to Jesus like never quite before and seeing ourselves like never before...
prone to wander...in fear, anxiety, doubt, want, pride, selfishness, etc...

By God’s grace and for His glory Pray that we will learn to live

Not for foolish self’s mad dash of worry-riddled take and give

But with mercy as our mentor and with Heaven as our goal

Pray that we are meek contenders for the prize claimed by the soul

By the witness of forefathers by the same faith that was tried

By the storms that strew and shatter monuments of deadly pride

By yielding, not to the Doubter but to perfect promises

By the Inner, not the outer to secure true happiness

Pray that we learn to be kinder than we were in yester-days

Sometimes loss is the reminder that we need to reappraise

Reappraise mindset’s direction lest some flaw we overlook

No one is above correction or the Master’s pruning hook

By God’s grace and for His glory pray that we make this our quest

Soon the pages to the story we are writing will be pressed

Into Past’s vast recollection where pray, we have learned to live

With a more thankful reflection which God’s grace and glory give

© Janet Martin