Archive | December 2014

As 2014 Ticks Away

Dec31

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The clock will tick
The ball will drop
The kiss be shared
The balloons go “pop”.
The minute will pass
The time will go
The calendar flip
The noise will flow.
The year will change
The party will end
The heart will beat
The pass foe & friend.

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Though troubles arrive
Though joys overflow
Though sadness depart
Though winds will blow.
Though Christ will return
Though the day unknown
Though the rapture occur
Though the war be won.
Though peace will reign
Though with Christ eternally
Though you may have time
Though it will happen eventually.

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The day will come
The Lord will appear
The time unknown
The moment so dear.
The eyes will lift
The sight in the East
The rapture will occur
The final end the Beast.
The knees will bow
The tongues confess
The God in Trinity
He is the One we bless.
               d.f.a.v.   12/31/14
—Donna

A Christian Fiction Writers Prayer

Dec30

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Abba Father;

 

Author of our lives,

Creative mind of the universe,

Please be with me today

As I sit before this screen

Mind whirling, what to say?

 

Inspire me to write,

Real truth in a fiction setting,

Able to encourage

Capable of pointing to You

Entertaining, page after page.

 

Jesus spoke in parables

“Earthly stories with heavenly meanings”,

So people could understand

Who You are, how You love

Word pictures of what He had on hand.

 

That’s a lot like my mission,

The one You’ve assigned to me,

Guide me Holy Spirit please

To shine a light into the world

By written words all can see.

 

When I get discouraged,

Rejections pile in,

Cursors blink on blank screens

No one else sees the vision

Characters fall in mid-scene,

 

Please help me remember,

Like a farmer behind a plow,

I disappoint You most of all

If I take my eyes off You

To hear the world’s applause.

    d.f.a.v. 12/29/14

–Amen

From the Cottage by the Sea After Christmas

Dec26

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Abba Father:
Thank you for this warm retreat
Where You and I can come to meet
It matters not the weather outside
Your love sets the temperature inside.
As I transfer from wheelchair to prayer haven
My heart overflows at the care You’ve taken.
How strange it is here at the Christmas season
When advertising bombards us to want many things
My list contains few manmade goods or rings.
To pray for better health and miraculous healing
A mortgage paid off or a life without bad feelings
Or even a change in others attitudes
Perhaps unbiased and even some good news
Would be expected given the circumstances
But its not on my list or what my heart fancies.
This prayer instead Lord, is to stay the course
No matter the terrain to stick with it better or worse.
I do not want to suffer for sufferings sake
But I am trying hard to submit for Your Holy stake.
You require of me one hundred percent surrender
The unknown in that are the unseen things that hinder
I pray for strength and Your grace
To somehow, regardless, run this race.
The sun rises slowly and brilliantly
In the East coloring the night time sea
Your hands holding out a golden, glorious light
Renewing in my heart and soul the fight
To place myself completely in Your right.
Show me where I fail You Master and Friend
Help me think less of me and more of You never-end.
A hero I seek not to be, even for You
Only to finish my course through all life’s hues
To arrive to dwell with You in Your Heavenly place
And hear You say “My daughter look upon my face.”
“Your race wasn’t perfect but my precious one,
You allowed me to be the One who won.”
Lord, help me reach beyond my comfort zone
To point out to others the only way home.
Regardless where life takes me as I stumble through
You’ve a plan for me so please, help me do for You.
Help me submit and never take my eyes off You
It’s the absolute, least thing I could ever do.
—-Amen—-
                        d.f.a.v.  12/26/14
—Donna

Watch

Dec22

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Watch his mother stoke his face
His father count his tiny toes
See his mother hold him close
His father hold his wee small hand.
Between them they will bathe their child
His mother wrap him in swaddling clothes
The moment they’d waited for at last here
Such a Holy event so long foretold
The Sacrificial Lamb among earth’s inhabitants
Everything with breath should pause
The Messiah has at long last come!

Watch his mother stroke his face
While rain runs red with blood
Hear his mother and friends in grief
While once angry mob run from the storm.
His friends hurry forth to take his body
Haste to prepare him for the borrowed tomb
Tender fingers touch his wounds
The ripped open stripes from the flog
Holes in his head from cruel thorns
And hearts break at the awful, jarring sight
Damage stakes driven into human flesh did make.
See the sorrow weigh deeply on each heart
Son, brother, friend, king now gone.

See His friends come through morning’s mist
To finish preparing Him for final rest
The rock they feared already moved aside
Is now a place where angels sit.
Inside the tomb where death once reigned
Christ has defied the cords of the grave.
When He appears see His mother seek His face
Her baby born in Bethlehem He still was
God who came wrapped in human flesh
Who willingly died for the sins of all.
Watch His mother, eyes cast upward
To follow Him ascension beyond the clouds.
Turn your eyes to the East for there He comes again.
               d.f.a.v.   12/19/14
—Donna

To the Baby

Dec18

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To the baby laid in a manger
In a stable in a town called Bethlehem
The common man was called
From where they were shepherding
Angels sang the way for them.

To the baby laid in a manger
The Wise Men heard their own call
From their countries far away
A long journey undertaken that night
To this baby inside Bethlehem’s wall.

To the baby brought to the temple
Simon and Anna were called to meet
The baby born to the Virgin Mary
Foretold throughout the Scriptures
The Messiah they gave a lifetime to seek.

To this baby, Jesus, we too are called
Two thousand years plus since His birth
We can choose to hear His voice
Or we can choose instead to ignore
But our souls know He holds our worth.
                  d.f.a.v.  12/18/14
—Donna

Reservations

Dec17

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Across the world in Bethlehem
Stands a place where it is said
Jesus Christ first laid his head
That miraculous night of his birth.

A night lost in a thousand more
When Joseph at the Inn did knock
No rooms here! Gave him a shock.
Stables the birthing room became.

The pains of Mary giving birth
To the biological Son of God and herself then
Were lost among the animals din
Everything within God’s perfect plan.

It has been said for centuries
Messiah came with no place to lay his head
But as I think of that night and what I’ve read
Jesus had the only reservations in town.

God Himself planned far ahead
Planned to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem
Nothing on that night was happenstance
This trio followed God’s travel itinerary.

So it is like God works still today
When it seems there is no plan
No rhyme or reason to the race we’ve ran
Until God shows us history from His view.

That’s when it all makes perfect sense
The thoughts of God clear to us become
His plans for us all not just for some
We have our own reservations in man’s tapestry.
                  d.f.a.v.  12/17/14
–Donna

A Christian Writers Prayer

Dec16

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Dear Lord,
You are the Author and Creator of my life, of all life. You know that being an author isn’t easy. But, I believe writing is a talent You intend to be part of my mission for You.

Today Lord as I touch fingertips to my keyboard create through me characters the reader can’t ever forget. Inspire me to build with words world’s and fictional lives that move people to seek You.

Spark my imagination. Steady my resolve. Dwell in me with Your Holy Spirit so I am a vehicle for the story You want to tell.

Thank You for this gift of writing.

Amen,

Donna
                                          d.f.a.v.  12/14/14

Two Trees

Dec15

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Lights shine a multicolored glow
A few gifts beneath for those we know
Tree stands so straight and strong
It’s 3:53 a.m. and nothing feels wrong.

In my “eyeglasses aren’t on” view
I feel the wonder of a child of two.
Only it isn’t Santa I am looking for
But a taste I’ve received of forevermore.

The gifts don’t matter, they’re not for me
I’ve found my peace at another tree.
A tree cut down to be a cross
Where a Savior would die for all the lost.

Where Jesus stretched out His carpenter’s hands
Blinded eyes took a life on skull shaped land.
Two different trees destined for two separate roles
Each share a part in reaching my soul.

The first shares the glory of Jesus’ birth
Celebration of His coming to earth.
Dressed with symbols of peace and love
Encourages my heart with the Spirit from above.

The second the sacrifice He’d come to be
Initial pain, sorrow and cruelty
Three days later the tide for all men ebbed
Jesus rose alive Death couldn’t keep the dead.

Come to the Christmas tree to celebrate
The joy and wonder of our Savior’s birth
Then kneel at His feet at the cross
Hold onto to Jesus now at all cost.

Falling asleep Christmas lights dance in my eyes
The joy in this season can’t be disguised.
Thank you God for enlightening my soul
Thank you God for being worth more than gold.
d.f.a.v. 12/14/14
—Donna

One

Dec12

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One deception changed Adam & Eve’s world
One couple ate the fruit and the plan unfurled
One Satan used a snake whose curse was to crawl
One perfect couple lost Paradise, lost it all.

One spat of jealousy put Abel in the ground
One I Am came calling only Cain was found.
One baby saved from Pharaoh’s decree
One basket floated the way a slave a prince to be.

One promise made to forever redeem man,
One act of obedience nailed to the His cross, feet and hands.
One thought of me and my ugly soul
One plea from me later and I was made whole.

One Savior, one Gift, one eternal offering
One Virgin, one truth, one chance and one King,
One city, one stable, one miracle ahead
One person at a time saved from Hell’s flaming bed.

One Spirit, one Father, one Son
One crucifixion Jesus said it was done
One prayer from each heart from all who believe
One soul seeking God by grace is relieved.
                       d.f.a.v. 12/11/14
—Donna