Hope's Happiness

Ps.144:15

Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Ps.146:5-6

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6Who made heaven and earth,

The sea, and all that is in them;

Who keeps truth forever,...

Hope reminds us of a debt owed but God's provision paid

And goads us on to rejoice in this day that He has made

To be a glad bondservant for the Lord of earth and sky

Then, find a kind of happiness no words can quite descry

(from My Utmost For His Highest-Oswald Chambers)

Hope’s hailing happiness endures, though disappointment-vexed

Hope cheers us onward and secures the anchor of the Soul

Beyond the realm of seasons that roll one into the next

Hope draws us to the Reason for its undefeated goal

And hones a humble foothold in the promises of He

Who helps us where new day unfolds whatever waits to be

Hope’s holy happiness delights the heart that trusts in God

Its precious confidence invites, nay, excites us to be

A vessel in His hands; the hands that rule sky, sea and sod

A vessel heeding His commands with unfeigned fealty

To love Him with heart-soul-strength-mind, and neighbour as ourself

As, filled with his Spirit we find the riches of hope’s wealth

Hope’s humble happiness reminds us we have all we need

As tick by tock the clock unwinds tethers of dust-to-dust

As we embark once more upon missions of word and deed

Hope’s sacred summons spurs us on toward the One we trust

Rousing in us renewed distress for vessels still adrift

Unanchored in the happiness of Hope; salvation’s gift

© Janet Martin

July-Content

This poem comes courtesy of a sudden thunder/rain-storm,

turning a Sunday night walk into a bolt,

pause,

puff-puff,

bolt,

walk-puff-puff

and dash like-the-older-age-dickens back home...

(of, course by the time this poem was finished the sun was shining once more)

No need to plead for what is not

Where flower-hours pour

Nor to scale heights of spent delights

To gaze to days of yore

No taunt to kindle Winsome Want

Where lily-lantern gleams

Nor to dredge deeps of Bygone’s sweeps

For unrewarded dreams

No hollow to wish-wallow in

Where winsome leaf-song sighs

And strums the soul with the cajole

Of high-noon lullabies

No good to yearn for the return

Of once-upon-a-clock

While arbors flaunt the floral font

Of rose and hollyhock

No ‘why’ to cast with wistful eye

While Time is July-crowned

Nor mourn to feel the westward keel

Of summer autumn-bound

For Here it is’ Sweet July bliss

In all its lovely forms

Wildflower flings, hummingbird wings

And sudden thunderstorms

© Janet Martin

I did not see kitty till I uploaded the photo to my computer😂💓

Endless Good aka Everlasting Love

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:

 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jer.31:3

Everlasting; adj. 

infinite, never-ending, eternal, immortal, abiding, perpetual, timeless, unending, enduring

How heartbreaking to  never move beyond the point of seeing God

simply as a kill-joy and rule giver, though we all want and need love

His greatest command!

How pitiful/terrible is the belief in the existence of Him

without the joy of the love from and for Him!!

The Love of God

(I've shared this song many times because I love it so much)

Ah, every good and perfect gift comes down from up above

From He who does not shift or change His everlasting love

Then cast your care on Him and trust in Him with all your heart

Receive the endless good in which unbelief has no part

…and pray the Lord, for love’s increase, the greatest gift He grants

Is like a glorious masterpiece in every circumstance

To anchor faith and hope, so doubt does not cause us to be

Like double-minded men, unstable as waves of the sea

Oh, what a precious family is the family of God

Whose trust is not in what we see but in His faithful word

His promises more dear than anything this world can boast

Like a wellspring of endless good unto the uttermost

For every good and perfect gift comes down from up above

And nothing can deplete the measure of love’s treasure trove

Where, as the love of God becomes alive in you and I

His joy is like a fountain that no sorrow can run dry

…no matter what befalls, love bears us up to bear all things

Christ in us makes love able to suffer all that life brings

Then, though we do not know what waits, Love none can comprehend

Through He who WAS, IS and WILL BE is faithful without end

Janet Martin  

everlasting adj.

abiding

eternal

immortal

lasting

perpetual

abiding

eternal

immortal

lasting

perpetual

timeless

unending

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

No Greater Grief and Joy Have I

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4

How often in my own parental joys and sorrows

I think of my patient Heavenly Father, where I, his willful child

need his faithful goodness, mercy, rebuke and forgiveness!

Lord, I Need You

No greater grief has a (Christian) parent than watching a precious child choose the hard

road of rebellion ,(where we all once were, but by the grace of God have been saved!)

No greater joy has the same parent when watching a child

 choose the hard road of repentance, of truth, obedience and faithfulness!

All that I bring to Thee

Is but what you bestow

Nothing have I save love’s reply

Each gifted breath will owe

Forbid that I betray

My Lord and King of kings

As Want uncouth disdains God’s truth

To covet carnal things

Lord, purge all boast but One;

The faith that makes me whole

Through Jesus Christ who sacrificed

His life to save my soul

No greater joy have I

Than Truth that sets us free

With holy awe to keep the law

Of love’s humility/of perfect liberty

No greater grief have I

Than to bear witness to

Emboldened hard, cold disregard

My faithful God, to You

Lord, hear my heartful prayer

Where joy and grief travail

To praise and plead and trust each need

To love that will not fail

© Janet Martin

Dear praying parent! Keep on keeping on!

Psalm 5:3&11-12

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly....

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;

let them ever sing for joy.

Spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;

you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

July Loveliness

I turned this July evening stroll to the garden to pick potato bugs, into a mini-photo shoot, but the lens

can't quite capture the vibrancy of the colors;

deep denim-blue skies, 

gleaming gold wheat fields and due to all the rain, 

rich green summer foliage!

The gales have gentled now, that long we rued

Earth throbs with bud and seed’s God-ordained sum

The limb is lush with leaf, ere winds denude

The woodland tress that zephyrs toss and strum

Showers steep July-scapes in green and gold

The hymn that nature sings rings far and wide

Where earth’s page brims with beauty to behold

...denim-blue heavens crown the countryside

…where wildflowers freckle, fringe, gild and grace

Hill, hollow, ditch and dell, roadside, oh my

And we pick an impromptu resting place

To gaze and praise the Author of July

Where, because life is rife with care-to-bear

We could be prone to miss This Loveliness

That overflows dirt vaults with lilies fair

As God bends to kiss earth with heaven-ness

...where gales have gentled now, that long we rued

Before warm breezes tumbled from the sky 

And we reply with songs of gratitude

For The Sweet Loveliness we call July

© Janet Martin

For Every Choice We Make...

 order your copy by clicking this link

Many of us who know him, have the privilege of watching/walking beside/praying for

 this dear man, Richard Haverkamp, (author of the above book)

caring for his beloved wife, who suffers from dementia, 

and is now in a long-term care facility, but he still spends most of every day with her

and is finding beneath this heavy load, The God who is (still) real!!

He has chosen to be faithful for better or worse, 

for rich or poor, 

in sickness and in health

till doth doth part! 

He is proving to her that loves her with all his heart!

Please pray for his strength and encouragement!

It makes me re-evaluate my choices;

how they reflect who I most love! 

Do I honor God by loving those well that He has placed in my life?

With every choice there is a 'consequence/recompense'.

May we strive to be conscientious as we speak

through the voice of choice!

For we either honor God with our choices, or dishonor Him! 

For every choice we make there is a sacred price to pay

For better or for worse we bless or curse the gifted day

With thought and word and deed we heed or disregard the Hand

That stays the stars and splays the bars of dawn by His command

The sacred voice of choice reveals the heart of you and I

It proves who we love most without word-clout to clarify/justify

For better or for worse we bless or curse the Hand that grants

Goodness and mercy for each reason-seasoned circumstance

The winding Path of Aftermath runs through our do-and-say

For every choice we make there is a sacred price to pay

How often we forget, as we are met with ‘me or Thee/thee’

For every choice we make love takes responsibility

© Janet Martin

Romans 14:11-13

For it is written:

“As I live, says the Lord,

Every knee shall bow to Me,

And every tongue shall confess to God.”

12So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

13Therefore let us not judge one another [d]anymore,

 but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block 

or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

July-High or Season of Sweet Summertime

 Some summer/ July 'highs/highlights'...

Freshly-picked supper!

Yesterday's Lunch!

'Where every flower-dear is fair of face...'

'And every shower-dear a gift from God'

Freshly-popped lily!

And Queen Ann decks herself in finest lace

And Daisy dares with ‘loves-me-loves-me-not’

Living’s unrivaled adrenaline rush

Beauty unbridled in sequence sublime

Colorful cadence of hymns, petal-plush

This is the season of Sweet Summertime

Breeze tousles treetops, stirs leafy-green sighs

Porches are perches for popsicle-snacks

Meadows are churches beneath smiling skies

Earthy pews bid worshippers to relax

Arbors are lavished with vine-woven lace

Gardens are ravished with vegetable-fare

Nothing in summer is quite commonplace

Pity the one who has no time to spare

No time to lie with ear pressed to the throb

In nature’s chest; let it soothe creature care

No time to watch butterfly flit and bob

Or to consider the lilies so fair

Come, let us cater to wanderlust’s lure

Weather the verge of the surge of farewell

Savor the flavor of summer, so pure

Tolling a swansong in each flower-bell

Soak in the silver-soft laughter of life

Cherish its brief afternoon of romance

List to the ballad of roses run rife

While Father Time and Mother Nature (slow)dance

No reason needed, dear, just sit a bit

For none can tether Time to mid-July

All one can do is to revel in it

Linger where bronze wheat fields bend with goodbye

And Queen Ann decks herself in finest lace

And Daisy dares with ‘loves-me-loves-me-not’

Where every flower-dear is fair of face

And every shower-dear a gift from God

Crinoline swish of welkin gowns brush by

Heart skips a beat; reciprocates with rhyme

While happiness soars to new July-high

Here in the season of sweet Summertime

© Janet Martin

While happiness soars to new July-high

Here in the season of sweet Summertime

Not Simply to the Call Be True...

Wow! The devotions from the past few days

(from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers)

are challenging mental/spiritual comfort-zones!

Not to the call be true but faithful to the One who calls

Who tries the crux of motive to expose prideful pitfalls

And test our allegiance to the Master in Command

Repentance and obedience must needs go hand in hand

The Giver and the Taker of love’s sacred charge abides

Where fear’s dark breakers roll His holy Sovereignty presides

How wily is the Tempter, but he never overtakes

A very present Helper who never leaves or forsakes

The happiness we hunger for cannot be found until

We humbly and wholly adore He who bids us be still

And know that He is God; He who is ruler over all

Is He who calls; to Him be true, not simply to the call

© Janet Martin

Ps.46

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease

to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields[d] with fire.

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.