Showing posts with label sorrow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sorrow. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Sorrow's Silver Lining

Lam.3:31-33 NIV
For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.

***
Some sorrow-crosses are borne on backs,
and are easy to recognize,
some are borne in hearts and souls
known fully, only to God's eyes
This life, full of sorrow-inducing care
Is weathered best, tethered to prayer
Because wherever/whatever the cross may be
None are too hidden for God to see
No matter what hurt has fashioned its frame
Healing is found as hope trusts in His Name

*** 

Isa.40:31 NIV
...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
 They will soar on wings like eagles;
 they will run and not grow weary, 
they will walk and not be faint.



Sorrow can be a plumbless pit
Where worship could wither away
Or, it can be the key to fit
The bearer of its cross to pray
To help faith’s posture learn to lean
Completely on God’s perfect will
To guide through gates to pastures green
To lead us beside waters still
And drink from Living Streams, our fill

…where, though Evidence of things seen
May fill our Cup of Circumstance
With sorrow’s bitter go-between
Vexing hope’s perplexing substance
He shepherds and restores our souls
He leads in paths of righteousness
And sanctifies self-seeking goals
With a more Calvary-like ‘yes’
As we cling to His promises

Sorrow could drown hope in sad tears
And blind us to ‘joy set before’
And choke us with a noose of years
Where Yester’s futile shadows roar
Or sorrow can invite us to
Come unto He who gives us rest
To taste His comfort, kind and true
For He bore sorrow’s greatest test
Thus understands our sorrows best

Ah, here sorrow dons eagle’s wings
Though grief may hound time's brief sojourn
Hope's silver lining gleams; joy sings
Like a bird sensing Morn’s return
The valley of death’s shadow grants
The Shepherd's rod and staff to cheer
The Cup of bitter Circumstance
While Heaven’s gate/wait is drawing near
The hour of faith’s final tear

© Janet Martin

Psalm 23 NKJV

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not [a]want.
2 He makes me to lie down in [b]green pastures;
He leads me beside the [c]still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will [d]dwell in the house of the Lord
[e]Forever.

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Hope's Stomping Grounds

Today's post is as bittersweet as they come...
most recently mentioned in this post
is free from suffering at last!
Gathered to God on Monday, Dec.18

Ps.116:15
Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.

Recently I received the book below,
*Reflections of Jesus,
a gift from the author, as a way of saying thank-you!
(I am delighted to have the poem Bethlehem Star included in it)



When I received the news that Wayne passed away I picked up this book
and looked and looked at the painting on the cover
weeping sad-glad tears as I pictured him like this,

His hurting is over!
Please pray for healing for the family 
as they mourn the loss of husband and father,
son, brother, etc.
as they bear both deep grief and deep relief!


'our loss is his gain' said a family member last night at the visitation.
 'a great wait/weight lifted at last' murmured his sorrow-worn wife


We mourn, but not as sorrow grieves, without hope, by God’s grace
The rending tear that death achieves and mortal eyes surmise
Does not reveal the Whole; the Unseen of faith’s resting place
As Sight, with no dark glass between beholds The Promised Prize

As God, gathers a suffering Soul into eternity
Healed from the hurts that take their toll on this side of death’s door
Freed from the weight of waiting for the Final Victory
Beyond futile debating of life’s why-when-and-wherefore

How precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints
For those who love Him; thus, no bitter barter tunes or taints
The tears that flow, because through Christ the Soul from hell is spared

The interim that Time employs until this life is through
And loss no longer vexes joys with Heaven’s sweetest gains
Is but Hope’s Stomping Grounds, a tie that Heaven will undo
When in the twinkling of an eye, death rends life’s binding chains

Then, comfort one another with the hope in Christ alone
God hears our prayers and mothers our sorrow-broken hearts
He tromps Hope's Stomping Grounds with us, (not one step on our own
Until the hope found/bound in Jesus, faith's finished fabric parts  


© Janet Martin


May we all make our calling sure while time is still on our side!
May the reason for the Christmas Season become profoundly dearer
as we believe, and receive the inheritance 
only the Saviour of the Soul will/can give;
Living Hope

Rom.15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Thess.4:13-18
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning those who have fallen [b]asleep,
lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so God will bring with Him those who [c]sleep in Jesus.
15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord,
that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord
 will by no means precede those who are [d]asleep.
16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18Therefore comfort one another with these words.



*if you would like to order the book
Reflections of Jesus






















Saturday, July 15, 2023

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!




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.



Thursday, May 26, 2022

Like a Fresh-baked Loaf of Bread

 

I took the above video yesterday morning!
(I saw a flash of orange from the Baltimore Oriole-chorister)
He sang and sang and sang!!
It cheered my heart so, where tears could wash away all joy!
SO much sorrow in this sinful, broken world.
But, The Living Bread sustains when nothing else can...


(full chapter below)

Today begs to be tasted like a fresh-baked loaf of bread
Still warm from welkin ovens wafting somewhere overhead 
To savor wholesome/holy flavors of fresh favors, mercy-wrought
To break it gently, bite by bite, not scarfed down without thought 

To recognize with meek surprise, our place, then to give thanks
Where we, the subjects of God's grace ought never to pull ranks
But take and eat with humble recognition of Enough
And not to grumble at the greatest mission of all; love

The loaf that sits before us at daybreak soon disappears
The platter is so full of hands seizing laughter and tears
Where always without fail, morning's freshly-baked loaf becomes
An empty plate where pray, we stay to linger over crumbs

...oho, we rise each morning to Mercy's refurbished tray
Today begs to be tasted like a fresh-baked Bread-buffet...

Janet Martin

lingering over breakfast crumbs💓
 




Smile of satisfaction! 
(what a challenge for us older 'children' to respond like this!)

Full chapter Psalm 66


Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer
nor his mercy from me
Psalm 66:20

He hears our prayers!
What a wonder.








 

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Faithful is God or We Are Not Helpless. Hallelujah!



A guttural *helpless, heart-cry best describes my prayers this morning
for a world groaning in tribulation...
(just a sad few of the many countries in dire distress)
Earthquakes, floods and wildfires rage.
Terrorists torture and terrorize.
Sickness and sorrow burdens.
America and Canada grow ever colder to the
Faith these countries were founded on
boldly proud and blind to the reaping of godless sowing!

*But we are not helpless!
Hallelujah.

For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them
as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

Psalm 46:1-3 –
 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way 
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 
though its waters roar and foam 
and the mountains quake with their surging."




The battleground that keeps us bound toward Reward’s indemnity
Is fraught with what we ought to do and snares set by the enemy
Soon evidence through recompense from seed of word and deed is shown
What was concealed will be revealed for by the fruit the tree is known

Oh Lord, increase Your peace in us as we trust, whether old or youth
Broad is the way where demons prey on those who stray from Steadfast Truth
Your Word is sure; all will endure who feast upon Thy Bread of Life
The pure in heart will not depart from You though evil’s ruse runs rife

Desire’s vice and sacrifice no one beholds in full but He
Who authors birth and instills worth to we, prone to depravity
Where we all prove who we most love by the testimony of choice
Oh God, forbid Your light is hid by its indisputable voice

This battleground of sight and sound confounds the intellectual
*But corruption cannot corrupt that which is Incorruptible
Faithful is God, no matter what the godless, blood-thirsty reply
Be of good cheer, He bends his ear to hear faith’s guttural heart-cry

© Janet Martin

*Line from a sermon recently

Another hope-filled Hymn


Psalm 18:6-19 –
 "In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help.
From His temple he heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears. 
Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, 
because He was angry. 
Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; 
glowing coals flamed forth from Him. He bowed the heavens and came down; 
thick darkness was under His feet. He rode on a cherub and flew;
 He came swiftly on the wings of the wind. 
He made darkness His covering, 
His canopy around Him, thick clouds dark with water.
 Out of the brightness before Him hailstones and coals of fire broke through His clouds.
 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, 
and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
 And He sent out his arrows and scattered them; 
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. 
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
 and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke,
 O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 
He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.
 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me,
 for they were too mighty for me. 
They confronted me in the day of my calamity, 
but the Lord was my support. 
He brought me out into a broad place;
 He rescued me, because He delighted in me."

Monday, June 28, 2021

Heart-sick

From The Dying Thief- Charles H. Spurgeon
The fact is, there is nothing so good but men can pervert it into evil, if they have evil hearts: 
the justice of God is made a motive for despair, and his mercy an argument for sin. 
Wicked men will drown themselves in the rivers of truth as readily as in the pools of error. 
He that has a mind to destroy himself can choke his soul with the Bread of life, 
or dash himself in pieces against the Rock of ages. 
There is no doctrine of the grace of God so gracious 
that graceless men may not turn it into licentiousness.




Sometimes the heart gets sick
The evils of this world
Can cruelly cut us to the quick
So shamelessly unfurled

Debauchery and greed
Pay no heed to the cost
But dark and dangerously feed
On lost leading the lost

The troubles that we face
Would crush and overthrow
But for the fountain of God’s grace
That washes white as snow

Beware of the soul’s foe
The craft of finite pow’r
Who seeks while roaming to and fro
All who he can devour

Dear soul, be on thy guard
Take up thy Spirit-sword
Lest, by a lie you should discard
The armour of the Lord

Lest, by sin’s sleight of hand
We lose sight of the Prize
Without God’s armour, who can stand
Against satan’s disguise

Sometimes, the heart is sick
Of evil’s hellish sway
Oh God, when life cuts to the quick
Hear the tears that we pray

...and let Belief's increase
Be more than idle talk
Lest faith is shattered piece by piece
Against the Solid Rock

© Janet Martin

Psalm 62:1-2

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from him.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Reminder To Me or Tangled Work of Art or Strings Attached


PAD Challenge 21: Here is Robert Lee Brewer's Prompt for Today

For today's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) Me," 
replace the blank with a word or phrase, 
make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.
 

How pure the banter of the breeze
That skims the rippled brook...


How precious, child's boots caked with mud...



How beautiful is joy, how bright
Its happiness, unmatched
But remember, the sheer delight
Of joy has strings attached

How pure the banter of the breeze
That skims the rippled brook
And plucks joy’s strings in melodies
Not written in a book

How lovely is the laughing child
How darling and how dear
How sweet the street where dreams run wild
Before Doors interfere

How precious, child's boots caked with mud
After heads bow with grief
Beside a grave, where Mortal Bud
Is restored to Time's Chief 

For strings of joy both bind and rend
Oh, how they tug and throb
As sorrow sears the tender end
And keens the soul to God

How frayed, joy’s strings, through letting go
How stained with salty tears
How stretched by high five and low blow
How seasoned with the years

How priceless then, joy’s sacred strings
(Though tangled works of art)
For from the loom of sorrow wings
A humbly, thankful heart

© Janet Martin

Friday, April 2, 2021

Yet Hope Lives

 


(my brother's grandson)

In Memory of Cody Troy
August 27, 2019-March 28,2021

Yet Hope Lives

When God reaches down from Heaven
For a child, so sweet and fair
Hearts with sorrow’s pangs are riven
We are tempted to despair
When death claims a life so tender
Grief is raw and tender too
Yet Hope lives as we remember
Where this little angel flew

Safe within the arms of Jesus
Is the little child He lent
For a little while to please us
And make homes and hearts content
Gifting gladness with their laughter
Weaving through grief’s agonies
Fond echoes that linger after
Touch has turned to memories

God ordains our days of passage
Before one has come to be
Some He spares from life’s cruel heartaches
Some must suffer patiently
So, by grace that we are given
We will hope and not despair
When God reaches down from Heaven
For a child so sweet and fair

© Janet Martin

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Those Tears We Pray...


No eloquent words shape this week's prayers,
only tears.
SO many hurts and needs of
sickness and sorrow, broken relationships
in this old world
but God, so much More You!

Oh, God, 
Hear our tears.
Be with those who have lost loved ones.
Be with those who stand by (outside hospital doors!!!)
while their suffering loved ones are admitted!
Oh, God, minister to the suffering
in ways known only to You!

Turning to this old Hymn today...




Those tears we pray,
They wing their way
From sorrow’s clay to God
When words won’t shape
The want and ache
That rends the speechless clod
He hears the heart
The sting and smart
Of sorrow’s sob and plea
And bears us up
…cradles the cup
That mirrors Calvary

© Janet Martin

Psalm 53:8
You number my wanderings; 
Put my tears into Your bottle;
 Are they not in Your book?


Psalm 39:12
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; 
do not be deaf to my weeping. 
For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, 
a stranger like all my fathers.

Monday, March 29, 2021

From a Fount That Forges Memories...



Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet grand-daughter!



...though without a doubt the celebration is bittersweet this year!
This is not quite the poem I had in mind but
 circumstance sort of moved the heart in this direction today!

Details here on

From a fount that forges memory’s fond mementos, mercy-lent
Pours the future to a suture that weaves pictures, echo-bent
Who knows what will flow from heaven to bestow laughter and tears
Where dawn kindles what dusk dwindles until ‘lifetime’ disappears

From the hand of God (no other, lest we confuse hierarchy
And forget the One who numbers days before one came to be)
From His hand, (the fount of mercy) time’s momentous stream runs rife
Until the will of the Giver returns to Himself, each life

Sacred is the surge of seasons, slowly reeling farewell in
Holy is the toll of twilight, siphoning the soul from skin
Precious is each gifted hour, arranged step-by-steppingstone
Faithful is the loving Father drawing his dear children Home

© Janet Martin

Your eyes saw my unformed body; 
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
 before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:16

Divine Design (updated)

.(here is the update mentioned this morning)

Last night my nephew's 19 mo. old son went missing
on their farm.
His body was recovered today in a manure pump.
Please pray for strength and comfort
for my brother Stuart and their family and
esp. for my nephew and his wife, Charles and Andrea!

I will say of the LORD, 
“He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Psalm 91:2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. 
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield,
 and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

But the LORD has been my stronghold,
and my God is my rock of refuge.






No matter what designs the must of trials we pass through
In Thee oh, Lord we place our trust; our refuge is in You
With gaping wounds of heart and soul, beneath the blows of loss
We plead for faith to make us whole by looking at the cross
For when life’s cup of joy is marred by sorrow’s agony
You reach with Hands redemption-scarred; our refuge is in Thee

The places that once brimmed with love and laughter’s harmony
Are full of tears, our visage dimmed with groaning sympathy
To Thee oh, Lord we pour our prayer; when understanding fails
Help us to place our burden where Your faithfulness prevails
To lean upon your promises for they are kind and true
No matter what designs the test, our refuge is in You

© Janet Martin

 


Friday, February 12, 2021

Betrayal; The Chief of Grief

This week-end many will celebrate love on Valentine's Day.
I am so thankful for all the faithful love in my life
but this year I feel an unutterable sorrow for so much brokenness!💔

And while the word Betrayal renews reverence for the word Faithful 
it also leaves us grief-stricken with a sometimes-feels-helpless heartache, 
to witness the ruins of shattered lives!

Is there any hurt more bitter and brutal than betrayal; When trust is broken?! 
When spouses, friends, preachers, teachers, apologists, priests 
betray those who trusted their love, 
their counsel, their ‘wisdom’, their vows, their office. 

One of Jesus’ twelve disciples betrayed Him, (with a kiss!
Surely there is a sorrow more bitter than death! 
That of betrayal! 


When trust is shattered, love besot, 
When what we thought was so, is not 
When lie and liar are unveiled 
When it seems, alas, love has failed 
God, who, still trustworthy and true 
Abides, resides, provides; He knows 
The pain of thorns that pierced the Rose 
He wept, while his beloved slept 
Betrayed by a friend’s kiss, no less
He reaches down with hands nail-scarred
He understands; his brow thorn-marred
Who plumbed the depths of pain and grief 
In suffering, ah, He is Chief 
So then, whatever bitter lot 
We can trust Him, no matter what 

© Janet Martin 


Heb.4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. 
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes 
of him to whom we must give account.

So we pray and pray for the broken, the betrayed, 
and the betrayer, just as Jesus, Son of God though He was, did. 

Heb.5:7-9
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions 
with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, 
and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
 8Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered
 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation 
for all who obey him...



Monday, May 4, 2020

Worth Every Tear


 Over and over we are reminded through loss
how much we ought to cherish what/who we have/love!
Two weeks ago a friend celebrated the birth of a grand-daughter 
and the sudden loss of her father...hours apart!
He was hit on his bicycle and killed instantly!
 (Please pray for this family as well as the other young man who hit him!!)
Joy turned to sorrow in the blink of an eye!
(for locals; the son of the owner of Whiffletree Farm and Nursery)
(these losses bear the added grief of absence of loved ones around them
because of Covid-19 restrictions!)

But something about love makes it worth every tear! 

So much joy to celebrate
Sorrow in disguise
Interweaves through love’s estate
Solemn compromise

Laughter’s sparkling melody
Spills its joyful score
Sorrow’s searing agony
Knocks outside the door

Joy, love’s gladsome buffer in
Certain recompense
Sorrow’s sacred suffering
Is love’s consequence

Love, ah who is brave enough
For grief’s rending shear
Ah, the tender joy of love
Is worth every tear

Sometimes fear could almost steal
Love's vulner'ble joy
But for love's succor to heal 
What naught can destroy

© Janet Martin


Thursday, April 23, 2020

Interknit Duos...


 


Dawn sweeps the sands of Time
Beneath the starry deep
where duo of hope-love sublime
Extends God's faithful keep 


God is love and love is God, thus He instills in us His law
Birthing conflict; human-nature struggles because of sin’s flaw
Hope is love and love is hope; heaven's draw-bridge to sands of Time
Hope without God's love is hollow, like a bell without a chime

Joy and grief’s intrinsic marriage groans; love’s tears and laughter pour
While farewell, like a dark carriage parks its hearse outside each door
And we could not bear to suffer the appointments of this world
Without Hope and Love to buffer us against hurt’s shards unfurled

Without love and hope we wallow like a helpless, drowning man
Futile, all the fears we swallow without Faith’s faithful I AM
Hope secures love’s groaning lifeline while the storm with Sailor spars
Nay, God's love secures hope’s lifeline with a hand that bears love’s scars

© Janet Martin



Lyrics for
Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me


Jesus, Saviour, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treach'rous shoal.
Chart and compass come from Thee.
Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.
 
 
As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boist'rous waves obey Thy will
When Thou sayest to them, "Be still!"
Wondrous Sovereign of the sea,
Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.
 
 
When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
'Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
"Fear not, I will pilot thee."