Not at Trouble's Mercy

Often my prayers for my family (esp. truck-driver husband) include prayers 

for safety and that they may reach their destinations without any trouble, 

but if they do have trouble that God would grant help.

We are all on a journey to a final destination 

and we know we will have trouble but Jesus reminds us to be of good cheer; 

He has overcome the world. 

Our Heavenly Father is with us every step of the way 

and it is such sweet comfort to know He will never leave or forsake us!

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.

 In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

The designer of every flower's intricate detail

knows even more dearly every detail of us🙏💗

We are not at the harsh mercy of this world’s trouble and care

What a friend we have in Jesus, as we lean on Him in prayer

What a comfort in our sorrow, what an anchor in the gale

Yesterday, today, tomorrow, His compassion will not fail

Transcending man’s comprehension is God’s goodness undeterred

Where we should pay more attention to the power of His Word

Because on our way to meet Him we must fight the Tempter’s play

Without God’s word to defeat him we are weak and easy prey

In this world we will have trouble that no logic can amend

Where today wafts like a bubble laden with love without end

Thus, pray we, not at the mercy of this world’s trouble and care

Lift up more than clanging cymbals in an unrepentant prayer

© Janet Martin

Prayer is the believer's sacred solace!

But in coming to Him does it not make sense

if we want Him to listen to us, that first

we ought to listen to Him? 

Does it not make sense we first plead for Christ to reveal

the sin we are unwilling to surrender and confess?

Some of life's trouble is out of our control!

some trouble comes of our willful way when we disobey...

Here, in this first day of a new week I pray for each of you reading this,

that we may be encouraged and convicted to run with endurance

and to give more earnest heed to what we have heard.

To find fresh joy and zeal in laying up treasure in Heaven!

a few more marvelous intricate details...

Dare To Dream But Bear In Mind...

I sat in the garden for a little while this afternoon soaking in the

sights, sounds and smells of fading August...

No longer restless with a dream, but reveling in the bloom!

Dare to dream but bear in mind Dream’s vulnerability

For, it seems life is inclined to vex blind fantasy

Where what we composed in forums with youth still intact

Soon begins to weather foibles and fumbles of fact

Dare to take a leap of faith but be aware of this

Sometimes you will hit the mark! Sometimes you will miss

Sometimes the sweet landing you envision when you jump

Will take you by rude surprise with an uncourtly bump

Dare to hold, hug and embrace but always with this thought

Letting go is juxtaposed with everything we’ve got

Taste today’s sweet laughter; rejoice and be glad because

Everything that is, soon after, becomes what once was

Then the dreamer starts to see what starry eyes once missed

Fantasy will step aside for moments slowly kissed

Where what want composes as youth dons a weathered brow

Becomes about smelling roses blooming here and now

© Janet Martin

 

 

 

Remind Us (Before It Is Too Late)

The law of love is not for the faint of heart, is it?!

It is intrinsically, inevitably attached to a whole bucket-load of care

because love cares!

But we never need to bear its cross of cares alone!

What a tiding of comfort and joy!

Not all love is baby-sweet and child-innocent...

With love comes huge responsibility/accountability...

We have a Heavenly Father who loves us beyond comprehension!

1 John 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,

that we should be called children of God!

So take heart! esp. those in leadership positions;

daddies, mothers, pastors and elders, Sunday School leaders and teachers,

and so many other unseen second-milers💕🙏

Heb.6:10

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love 

which you have shown toward His name,

 in that you have ministered to the saints, 

and do minister...

Thou God, who dost not fail

To we, prone to forget

Remind us where care’s legions hail

You cradle every ‘yet’

Between Known and Unknown

The present hour peals

Before Thy everlasting throne

The humble seeker kneels

…to find strength for the day

To listen for Thy voice

Where this world offers a buffet

And we reply with choice

Oh, may it never be

As step by step, we go

That we rely on what we see

Rather than what we know

No one exceeds Thy might

Thy love will never fail

To those who in Thy law delight

Perfect peace will prevail

Then, in the thick of love

Lest we forget to heed

Remind us, Thy grace is enough

To satisfy our need

And though life’s weight of care

May seem but to increase

Remind us, tis but to prepare

Our hearts for perfect peace

Where faith and sight compete

Unravel doubt’s dark veil

Remind us of Thy joy complete

Thy love that will not fail

As we trust and obey

(in spite of slight and sneer)

Remind us of the Judgment Day

Drawing so very near

Lest Thy Spirit departs

Averse to vain debate

Lord, open the eyes of our hearts

Before it is too late

© Janet Martin

Eph.1:18

I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, 

so that you may know the hope of His calling, 

the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,...

John 15:9-11

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. 

Remain in My love.

10If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love,

just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

11I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you

and your joy may be complete.

Therefore You are great, O Lord God. 

For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, 

according to all that we have heard with our ears.

2 Samuel 7:22

Every Step...

From This Time Forth, Forevermore

The Psalm I keep on our refrigerator door

was this mornings Bible Reading in Our Daily Bread Devotion.

Though I have read this Psalm many times this morning

the last line confounded my comprehension!

From this time forth, forevermore

What joy and peace to know

Our loving God behind, before

Above us and below

Greater is He within us than

He that is in the world

No evil can frustrate the span

Of hope’s banner unfurled

Above, beneath and all around

Goodness and mercy pour

Where nothing can God’s plan confound

Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore

Compassion without end

A kind Advocate to restore

What sin alone would rend

But God’s atoning sacrifice

His pardon once for all

By faith’s confession will suffice

To save us from The Fall

And by His all-sufficient grace

Where doubt’s dark demons roar

Naught can love’s finished work erase

Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore

Oh Lord, renew our minds

Through humble eyes of faith restore

Our sight, where this world blinds

Where unbelieving scads applaud

Sin’s godless diocese

Yet none can thwart the love of God

Who grants faith perfect peace

Whose will it is that none die, lost

Spurning the cross He bore

To pay sin’s overwhelming cost

Both now and evermore

From this time forth forevermore

Thought cannot comprehend

The vastness of love’s reservoir

Abounding without end

Who sits enthroned above the earth

And stretches out the sky

Like grasshoppers filled with His worth

We wait on his reply

As the perfected love of God

Commands us to obey

His Truth established on a Rock

That does not shift or sway

From this time forth forevermore

Oh pray, in Him we trust

Earth’s nations like a droplet's score

Or like a speck of dust

But our God is not like these

He holds earth’s basket-land

He cups the waters of the seas

In hollows of His Hand

He tends His flock with staff and rod

Of comfort; come, adore

Him, our everlasting God

Both now and evermore

© Janet Martin

1 John 2:1-6 (BSB)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin.

 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—

Christ, the Righteous One. Himself is the atoning sacrificea for our sins, 

and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

3By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.

4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments,

he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 

5But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. 

By this we know that we are in Him:

6Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.

Who is our God?!!

Isa. 40!

This Masterpiece of Joy

 Wearying? Yes!

Wonderful? Oh. Yes.💖

It rhymes with miss and kiss; this, masterpiece of joy

That can wear patience paper thin as we train girl and boy

This grin of have and hold always love’s primed prelude

To letting go, as seasons flow through prayers of gratitude

This visioning ahead soon turned to looking back

Time’s hand unraveling a thread that no hand can retract

This thrumming of bare feet and laughter-tickled soul

As innocence tries childhood’s skies until it finds a hole

This best of busyness; this test of push and pull

Of messy Mostly Happiness and Weary Wonderful

This yearning to preserve, from precious girl and boy

A remnant of the days that wove This Masterpiece of Joy

© Janet Martin

 

 

The Glorious Goal

The glorious gift of a new day gleams!

What is our goal?

The scripture in today's Daily Bread devotion

helped to inspire today's poem...

2 Cor.5:6-10

So we are always confident, knowing that 

while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 

8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body 

and to be present with the Lord.

9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, 

to be well pleasing to Him. 

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 

that each one may receive the things done in the body, 

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Repeating a portion of Scripture from Monday's post

What will our life collage, as we reach the goal,

 look like as it is analyzed frame by frame?

Will it be, by the grace of God a testimony of loving service to Him

or will it be, to our shame a futile fling of Self-serving?

Below a collage of a week or two of only a glint of moments...

The glorious goal of pleasing God makes every day full worth its while

Where souls that brim with hymnal laud, and walk by faith though sights beguile

And tune the heart and mind with kindness even when things may go wrong

Will find within the common grind of love and life, a happy song

The glorious goal of pleasing God fills every hour with intent

To serve Him with feet gospel shod, and worship’s awestruck wonderment

That God so loved the world He gave His Son to take my/our rightful place

Upon the cross; He died to save us not by works but by His grace

The glorious goal of pleasing God seems far too small a price to pay

As we behold the thwarted rod where death and hell are done away

For all who repent and believe; no longer victims of sin’s curse

But who, through faith alone receive redemption none can reimburse

Then, with heart and soul, humbly awed, pray we aspire to obey

And make the goal of pleasing God, our true desire every day

For someday we will all appear before His holy judgement seat

To give account of our life here; flight to the glorious goal complete

© Janet Martin

Signs of the Times (or signs of September)

Turning a blind eye to signs does not alter the truth!

Gen.9:13-17

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me 

and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, 

and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. 

Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it 

and remember the everlasting covenant between God 

and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established 

between me and all life on the earth.”

2 Tim.3:1-5

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, 

disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  without love, 

unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 

 having a form of godliness but denying its power. 

Have nothing to do with such people.

When we see signs it alerts us to whatever the sign is drawing our attention to!

From streets to businesses to for sale signs to events etc.

From flashy billboards to modest handmade creations!

But one thing is imperative for a 'successful' sign. 

It must be easy to read!

Daybreak's sign is always easy to see...the fading dark!

...and for better or worse signs of summer fading are becoming more evident

Signs of September start to unsettle August’s veneer

An air of fond farewell drapes summer’s beaming belvedere

In hues of misty mint and blues begins the tug of war

That draws us to conclusions we can no longer ignore

Signs of August’s slipping foothold bids us to slow our feet

And linger in the plum and gold aura of Bittersweet

Awareness of what all too swift and surely will become

An echo-dazzled wonderland of summer’s soldered sum

While gardens groan with goodness, while man and earth sheds fair youth

Where ignorance and purposed blindness cannot alter truth

Where all around us signs of seasons spin and sweep and surge

A vexing kind of vortex as the past and future merge

Signs of September sparkle in the eye of Father Time

It kindles as it swindles, a nostalgic pantomime

Of June, July and August’s darling days that soon depart

Like a harvest of diamonds tucked somewhere deep in the heart

© Janet Martin

The signs of the times are blaring!

Are we paying attention?

Matthew 24 teaches us the signs to watch for as the day of

the return of Christ draws near

Matthew 24:9-13

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, 

and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 

 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,

 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 

 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 

 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 

 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world

 as a testimony to all nations, 

and then the end will come.

Matthew Twenty-four (is knocking at the door)

Johnny Cash

 

Matthew 24 Kitty Wells

 

Matt.24:42-44

Watch therefore, for you do not know what [g]hour your Lord is coming. 

 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what [h]hour the thief would come,

 he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 

 Therefore you also be ready, 

for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Never Very Far Apart (A birthday poem)

I couldn't go to bed without posting a birthday post for Melissa!

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

(I sneaked this photo last month when you were home😊💝)

 

Beyond the reach of candle-spangled birthday cake and such

Beyond the years when you were always never far from touch

Beyond the age of goodnight hugs, soft as a teddy bear

But never out of love’s fond reach oft turned into a prayer

Beyond the days when dreams lived in a world with little girls

Oblivious to the momentous stream tick-tock unfurls

Beyond the carefree leap that lands in life, now full of cares

But never, ever, daughter dear, beyond your mother’s prayers

Never beyond the reach of He who leads, guides and protects

Never beyond the grace of He who forgives and forgets

Never beyond the ear of He who hears us when we pray

And never beyond the love of God each and every day

Beyond the reach of hugs, perhaps, but not the wish, my dear

For God to bless you both today and in the coming year

Never beyond love's happiness of 'never far apart'

Because it takes far more than miles to keep you from my heart

Love, mom aka

© Janet Martin

Hoping to celebrate in person (with cake) in a few weeks!

Enjoy New York!

3 John 4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

A glimpse of 'around home' on Mel's birthday!

(although we often chuckle at Granddaughter- a mini-Mel)

Does this bring back memories?!!

Corn day!

Best friends...

...before little sister whacked big brother

 

And a double rainbow around supper time!

I was tempted to look for the pot of gold!

And a shower of sun-sparkles!