Here is a poem I wrote based on my experience listening to a favorite song of mine. This song, in part, got me through 9 months of a very difficult pregnancy. I listened to it nearly every day, and I think it made me cry every time. It helped me

Deliverance will come. The chains and the chides Will all turn out for good By prayer and Christ beside. I will hope, my courage full That God will provide; My hope will not prove vain And for shame I will not hide. There is one aim alone- That God be

That fitting sadness- By it I rise, Not in its’ scorning Or demise, Nor add I guilt To grief and pain- That sorrow pure Has not a stain. Untainted whimpers And broken cries Mar not Heaven Nor surprise- Is earth not groaning And sighing too? My flesh joins in And

You sing in hope And waiting sigh With eyes peeled To the sky Clouds rolling in, And would they break With blessings or Will they take? If I sing well Would God not hear And pack grey clouds Full of cheer? A strange surprise, All wrapped in black Might shine

The new-born child of gospel grace, Like some fair tree when summer’s nigh, Beneath Emmanuel’s shining face Lifts up his blooming branch on high. No fears he feels, he sees no foes, No conflict yet his faith employs, Nor has he learnt to whom he owes The strength and peace

Did you think To put you in a furnace Would not scorch your skin? To come out gold With easy glee And not the surfacing of sin? Or that boiling water hot Would like a warm bath Scathe you not? Like sinking in so comfortably To fire should come easily?

What will I do with satan’s thorn Lodged deep in weakest access point? No pill to take No treatment makes It well, no method has supplied A cure, Steps stumble; Backward falls The soldier, boldly with a limp But limping on He goes, he goes, A carefully crafted grin All

The book of Job shocks its reader at almost every point. We avoid it, we are confused by it, terrified by it, scandalized by it, and certainly if we’re honest- we want no part in it. Who would? These are nice lessons for Job- nice lessons to read about- but

I read this poem probably five years ago and have come back to it many times.  It’s easy to see the loving care of God when He answers our prayers the way we want them to be answered.  Sometimes we pray “Your will be done” but in our hearts we

Where does my contentment lie? In what do I most gather peace? In need of nothing, satisfied From endless craving to find release.