Showing posts with label hurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hurt. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

For Bearers of Hurts and Disappointments



So much of faith's fight is fought in the hidden battlefield of the heart
where often God alone is witness of its tender triumphs and death-defying defeats!
God's call to faithfulness is not for the faint of heart nor for half-hearted endeavors!
Faithfulness is an all-in fight to the finish
often riddled with hurts and disappointments.


1 Cor.9:24-26
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?
 Run in such a way as to take the prize. 
25Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. 
They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. 
26Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. 
27No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, 
so that after I have preached to others, 
I myself will not be disqualified.

This poem began when dawn dripped from coral eaves...


Now the day is almost done awash with rain and leaves...



Where hurt and disappointment rakes relentless talons through
Where we wrestle with sacred stakes witnessed by only You
Where we are often tested by the fires of dismay
Our motives tried and tempted by the liar’s merchant sway
Where touch cannot make manifest, nor visage intervene
The substance of hope’s hidden quest of evidence unseen
Where the strait gate which faith is warned to press and strive toward
Bids us to endure hardness like a soldier for You, Lord

Bids us to put on the full armour only You supply
Bids us to be on guard for the Charmer of cunning ply
Bids us to lay our all upon altars of sacrifice
Bids us to heed the call without aversion to the price
Bids us to bear love’s cross in faith’s response of gratitude
Where what appears as loss on earth is but Heaven’s prelude
Where hurt and disappointment clings to grace that will not fail
While we wrestle with Reckonings that Your face will unveil

Grace crowns the law of Moses with the law of love’s decree
Knowing Your love that chose us is the law that sets us free
That the gift of salvation no mortal creed can undo
There is no condemnation for all who are found in You
Knowing You are not mocked; and that we will reap what we sow
Knowing not how we talk but walk is the fruit that will grow/show
While hurt and disappointment undo and refine the part
That only You bear witness to; the throne room/war room of the heart

Lord, there is nothing hid from You; nothing impossible
Where hurts and disappointments rue, You work the miracle
Where transformation’s work is wrought, not on a bed of ease
But in the thick of what is not according to our ‘please’
As we yield fear and dread and doubt to faith to undergird
And do not take one step without reliance on Your Word
Where hurts and disappointments hone the heart, so oft betrayed
To fix its hope and trust upon the Cornerstone You laid

© Janet Martin


Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Unbroken Hope

Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5 NKJV






When trouble meets its mark like a gigantic wrecking ball
When sorrow sears the place from whence our tears like oceans fall
When answers are not able to allay want’s anguished tides
And our hearts are broken, Hope abides

When doubt flexes its muscles like a fighter in the ring
And we cringe in the corner like a frightened little thing
Then we would be defeated but for He whose grace sustains
For though our hearts are broken, Hope remains

When love that long had lavished us with tender happiness
Becomes a sword that pierces us where no kiss can caress
When we begin to wonder how in the world we will cope
Then, though our hearts are broken, never Hope

Hope whispers in our bearing though we cannot see His face
With God’s own arms it gathers us into His kind embrace
And though we stagger ‘neath the cross where loss its grief assures
And hearts are hurt and broken, hope endures

© Janet Martin


 I was going to share verses  7-8 from 2 Cor. 4 but the whole chapter is especially dear today...


2 Cor. 4
The Light of the Gospel
1Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
 2Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, 
nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, 
we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 
3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see 
 the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
 5For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, 
and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”a made His light shine in our hearts
 to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.b 
Treasures in Jars of Clay
(Romans 6:1-14)
7Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power 
is from God and not from us. 
8We are pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, 
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 
11For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, 
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal bodies.
 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13And in keeping with what is written: “I believed, therefore I have spoken,”
c we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak,
14knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus 
and present us with you in His presence.
 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people 
may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, 
yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. 
17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us 
an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. 
18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. 
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Of Hardships and Hope



Writer's Digest PAD challenge; Day 7
For today’s prompt, write a hardship poem. The hardship could be moving forward after a tragic loss, having to work through a difficult problem, or even just showing up to work. It can be serious, funny, or complicated.

Hardships harbored in the heart
are heavy, borne alone
The window to the soul downcast
and all its shutters drawn
But there is One who knows and cares
He holds us close within our prayers

Hardships hone and prove our faith
by how we learn to cope
And they are never greater
Than Love's anchoring of Hope
The One who suffered every grief
Helps us in our unbelief

Hope holds the cup that hardship drains
Faith fills it with our tears
We cannot see but yet we trust
One greater than our fears
This is the day the Lord has made
God, help us trust; not be afraid

Janet~





Thursday, December 13, 2012

Discoveries of the Day...or Thursday Thoughts~





The heart is an ocean
On which tempests move
The deeper the hurt
The deeper the love

***

Why do we hurt those
We most dearly love
And those we love dearly hurt us?
Well, I suppose
It must be because
Pain is the flip-side of love
If we didn’t care
Then love would not hurt
Its worth would compare
To a handful of dirt
But when we love deeply
The joy it imparts
Threads itself painfully
Through the core of our hearts

***


The difference between pain in love
And just simply pain
Is that pain in love
Is not suffered in vain
Though it may drive us
To thoughts of despair
Love’s pain folds perfectly
Into a prayer
True love’s pain
Will not destroy
It is the rain
Before the joy



 ***

Those things we desire
Come fully equipped
With excuses and justification
While unpleasing demands
Seem oddly stripped
Of time and obligation

***

If pride goes before a fall
And a haughty spirit before destruction
Perhaps we all should crawl
And avoid needless attention

***

If we looked into the mirror
Of His Word with honesty
We would love each other
With true humility


© Janet Martin






Monday, November 5, 2012

Of Hidden Hurts





There are hurts too deep for tears
There are fears too stark for word
But there has never been a cry
The God of heaven has not heard

In the sorrow of our ‘knowns’
Or the depth of secret grief
There is One who hears our cry
And offers through His grace, relief

There are wounds, not of the flesh
There are scars not of the skin
But oh, there is a perfect love
That seeks to heal us from within

There are hurts too deep for tears
There are fears too stark for word
But there has never been a cry
The God of heaven has not heard

© Janet Martin

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Beauty...





We are blessed…
Able to touch, taste or behold
Life’s most beautiful things
A cloud caressed
By whispers of gold
As twilight softly brings

…another day
To its swift end
We see the darkened sea
Silently splay
Across the sand
…of centuries

We touch within
Our heart of hearts
Things precious, sacred, dear
Where no one
Can share its part
Or know that it is there

I have tasted Beauty
Worn its smile
And clutched its pain
I have held it to me
For a while
But in vain

The power of
Love’s silent storm
Raging in the hidden deep
Is beauty in
Its rarest form
Glimpsed vaguely in the tears we weep…

J~

Monday, April 11, 2011

Beautiful Hurt


The ache of you in me
Is a beautiful hurt
To love you tenderly
Is its own worth

If there was no pain
It could not be love
I would remain
Unable to prove…

…that what I am feeling
Is not merely a-kin
To something appealing
Like affection

I’ll bear it with reverence
This bitter-sweet pain
For to love without suffering
Would be to love in vain

J~

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Gossip at the Corner Store.....


On and on her chatter flows
Only she hears it as prose
‘Oh, did you hear of this and that?
And isn’t Charlie getting fat?
I hear Mrs. Brown is pregnant again
I think this must be number ten’
She drops her tone a notch or two
‘Tell me, do you think it’s true?’
…….draws her brows into a frown
‘They say he has a mistress in town
And have you heard; his oldest son
Is really nothing but a bum
He sleeps till noon, is what I’ve heard
Why that is quite simply absurd
They say their daughter is a hussy too
And I'm inclined to think it's true
Her boyfriend has a wild tattoo
Rumor has it, she does too
Her pierced nose tilted in the air
Some kind of purple streak in her hair
She struts as if she owns the world
I’d be ashamed if that were my girl
I feel sorry for Mrs. Brown
She can’t know what’s up or down
Ever so busy and pregnant again
Why would anybody want ten??!!!!
I should take her a cake, I guess
For goodness sake, her house was a mess
That last time I dropped in by surprise
My, you should have seen the look in her eyes
But she took the clothes off a chair for me
And asked if I’d like a cup of tea
Of course, I didn’t want to be rude
So I said okay, it was surprisingly good!
Considering I hear she’s an awful cook
You’d never know it, by the way she looks!
Oh, I’ll take two dozen eggs, that should be enough
I’ll send Jake by later for the rest of my stuff
Well, I better be on my way
So much, so much to do today…….


…….and Mrs. Brown could finally move
from the aisle in which she was standing……

Janet~