Joy! Joy is still a peace that all of us can claim we've found,
In unceasing waves of calm to wrap life around.
Joy highlights hope.
Hope! Hope is still very much alive and well,
Countless occurrences of praises to tell.
Hope gives way to prayer.
Prayer! Prayer is still flowing heavenward from our lips,
It is possible to just touch Your hem with fingertips.
Prayer breaths love.
Love! Love is still within most human hearts,
Even of those determined to keep us apart.
Love provides forgiveness.
Forgiveness! Forgiveness is still what we all seek,
For our deepest wounds and anger make us weak.
Forgiveness flows to grace.
Grace! Grace is still that which we are in great need,
There are unknown harvests from Your gospel seed.
Grace gives birth to joy.
Joy links hope causing prayer where love reveals forgiveness,
Forgiveness gives way to grace and joy returns selfless.
All joined by God.
----dfav
4/9/21
Emerging from the depths of soil
Of what was but days ago
Frozen,
Cold,
Still.
Now life bursts forth in glee
Proof that somehow life
Finds a way,
Continues on,
Has a will.
Beneath us one and all
In a cycle of continuing
Miracles happen,
Time marks passage,
Birth occurs.
From depths of human hearts
Acknowledgement as Spring arrives
Despite COVID,
Shutdowns
Separation.
Resolutions, determinations unfurl
The hibernating hope in us
To reawaken,
Feel the Sonshine,
Unfurl our wings.
Seeds opening in prepared soil
Buds bursting beneath nests
Babies soar,
On newly found wings,
Free souls.
----dfav
4/8/2021
Waking in the wee hours of this morning
There is a thirst in my soul
And I pray and read Your word
Aware
How my innermost core
Longs for a drink from
The everlasting Living Water.
How I long to sink my roots
Deeply into the earth
Beside the rivers mighty flow.
Somehow You see,
Somehow You know,
Grant me what I need.
Breathing in the Sonrise as dew dissolves
Knowledge warms my wounded heart
And I pray and devour Your word
Aware
How my soul aches deeply
For You in my hearts
You shaped missing puzzle piece.
How everything in me responds
To Your urging self-examination
Of me in Your Word.
Somehow You know,
Somehow You have heard
Grant me now Your wisdom.
Warming as the Son warms the earth
Stretching to see what God fulfills
And I pray and feast on Your word
Aware
How perfectly You respond
To my specific needs right here
Right where I am.
How blessed I am O Holy One
That You love me
Completely as Your own.
Somehow now my eyes are opened
Somehow Your knowledge to me is known,
You are the the Great I Am.
----dfav
4/7/2021
When the full light of God's being
Is shone into Your heart
What becomes visible unseen before
What remains when the shadows depart?
When God calls for blinders to fall
Scales to drop from your eyes
What is the truest picture revealed now?
What stretches toward the Son, what dies?
When the truth of who God is, has been
Slams against your false beliefs
What do you recognize now as truth
What shackles fall so you have real relief?
When we believe we believe in Jesus
Never realizing it is a false assumption
What happens when honesty bursts forth
What truth comes with the revelation?
----dfav
4/6/2021
This is it.
Here.
Now.
Where the strong are separated from the weak,
Where the image in God's mirror
Sends you to His side or you driven to your knees.
This is it.
Here.
Now.
Where pretenders fall behind the true,
Where your actions prove your hearts core,
Here, in this moment are you for Him or you?
This is it.
Here.
Now.
Where your soul speaks the most loudly,
Where truth takes center stage,
Does it collapse or stand up proudly?
This is it.
Here.
Now.
Where that voice is Jesus' calling your name,
Where the eternal home of your soul
Is decided in seriousness for this is no game.
This is it.
Here.
Now.
Where you answer Jesus' knock at the door
Where you confess, believe, accept or reject
Will you choose or risk it coming no more?
----dfav
4/5/2021
Here ---
My soul has longed to be here.
Surrounded by reminders
Of Your power
Of Your grace
Of Your awesomeness.
Here ---
Where my heart can beat with each swell
As the waves crash on the shore
Against the sand
Against the rock
Against the cottage.
Here ---
Where burdens flow out with the tide
Return battered and bruised
In broken pieces
Broken chains,
Broken strongholds.
Here ---
In the vast openness of the ocean
Where the wind snatches
Every stench away,
Every forgotten truth,
Every failure.
Here ---
Where my heart and soul know
The wonder of Your might
Is ever present
Is always felt
Is always welcoming.
Here ---
In our Cottage-by-the-Sea
Our prayer closet expanded
Though You remain
Steadfast
Proclaimed.
Here.
----dfav
4/1/2021
There is still God.
Regardless of the situation
Or the crisis at hand.
There is still God.
Though the earth shake
Beneath your feet.
There is still God.
Let man attempt to wipe
Him from everything.
There is still God.
Government may actually
Destroy us altogether.
There is still God.
There is always God
Ready to lead us
Out of our own folly.
There is always God.
Though shaken to our
Deepest inner core.
There is always God,
Even if evil takes your life.
There is always God,
More faithful to His children
Than we are to Him,
There is always God.
----dfav
3/29/2021
So sorry God, it's been a little while,
Since I was lucid enough to talk on these COVID-19 miles
Quite some time with energy to search for Your smile.
Best intentions mean nothing when,
Circumstances get you all turned around,
Even though you know grace has You found.
This scary illness, it eats at me.
Devouring me inside then out,
"This is not how I want to go home" I shout.
When food tasted like paste and salt,
Ears plugged up with painful fluid,
Eye sight faded in one eye, I wasn't lucid,
Not once did You leave me alone,
You did not abandon me or just let me be,
You Yourself sent Your angels to guard me.
Yet, You were always there beside me,
Reminding me whose child I am again,
No walking away from all You began.
Thank You Lord, for getting us through COVID,
Thank You for pulling me off the edge,
Thank You for Your protective hedge.
-dfav
1/5/2021
Because of my Father's love
I am - FREE
Freer than any freedom on earth
For others can lock up the church's doors,
Forbid worship,
Abolish gathering in Your name.
But, no one can force me to deny
My faith, for though religion falls
My belief in Jehovah soars.
It can't be taken from my heart
I can always cling to You,
I can still trust in You,
I can continue to believe in You,
Whole or broken of missing limbs
I can still stand for You.
For it is in Jesus Christ I am truly free.
Even when facing physical death,
My loved ones threatened, used,
Tortured, straved, made an outlaw,
My physical body crumbling,
In my heart,
Though tonque silenced,
Though eyes blinded,
Abandoned to slowly die,
Please, dear Lord, witness through me.
In my heart I still trust in You,
I still believe
And in Your time
Usher me into Heaven.
-dfav
11/20/20, 1/12/2021
Adult coloring book page from BE STILL and know that I am God coloring book, Christian Art Publishers, Images used under license from Shutterstock.com, 2015. Colored by dfav. Photo by dfav.
O come, come to that place in your heart,
Where only God and you come to meet,
He calls you to come and rest at His feet,
For His love for you remains steadfast and true,
In the "I Am" you are home and complete.
O come, all you faithful though long the road has been,
Come and choose now to adore your Heavenly King,
He comes with His peace, His love for you sings,
Come before His throne, He'll be with you there,
How the heart within you will peal and ring!
Choose now to bring your brokenness to the Father,
Choose now not to only see what man calls defeat,
Hear instead the Father's love and repeat,
This is not yet the ending but only the beginning,
Now, right now, is no time to tremble and retreat.
O come, all you faithful, this hour He reminds you,
Be like Mary, pure, faithful and true,
Like Saul, who became Paul and joined His crew,
Or the widow who offered all she had in the offering,
Put your hand to the work and give God His due.
O come, come to that place in your heart,
Where only God and you come to meet,
He calls you to come and rest at His feet,
For His love for you remains steadfast and true,
In the "I Am" you are home and complete.
---dfav
11/08/2020
