I choose life today,
God’s loving protection,
Is my source of joy,
Worries are momentary blips,
In a tapestry of eternal praise,
Love is my eternal reward,
Seen today from hope’s perspective.

Each of these friends has a shadow,
Remember, shadow is caused by light,
It is the soul’s gift to another,
Shadow does not exist without life,
Every one of my friends is a witness,
To each shared step,
Each of my friends seeing my true self,
They know my deepest parts,
Knowing shared with our Creator,
Our source to whom we all belong.

My soul once more returned,
To its home that promises,
No gain in this world – rather eternal rest,
My soul is found where my inner yearning,
That gaping hole Is filled with love,
As I learn to rediscover all I am meant to be.

I know Salvation’s price is free
That part is done by you
My Father’s life freely given
Before my life is born
Your plan for me was made
Your desire for perfection
Life’s promised fullness
Is all completely paid

My restless heart,
Creating answers, seeking hope,
Ends with questions,
Truth is an elusive dream,
With the tragic gap between words and love,
Love’s search must end at its beginning,
So truth can find its home,
Resting in its source,
But, its beauty lived in my heart.

God’s gracious love is uncovered,
Today it has lit up my morning,
My day will be transformed by his love,
I am forgiven,
His wounds and my wounds shared,
Compassion reached out to me,
And said, “I understand”,

Desperation marked my every thought.
I believed that my God had deserted me,
Everything was stripped away,
Only my naked soul was left,
I thought God stopped listening to my prayers,
I believed my sin was too great,
To be forgiven and restored.

I didn’t recognise the first tears,
then I saw that she had been weeping,
For me a chance encounter,
A simple purchase,
That took me to a broken marriage,
The deep sadness of love quashed,
Life now lived in loneliness,
I never would have known,
Except I took to the time to ask,
About the moisture glistening on her cheeks.26

“Still” was there while the earth thundered around,
“Still” had its own sounds,
That drifted in with Creation’s voice,
A whisper in the wind,
The call of the morning birds,
A call to hope born from “Still”.

All that God shows me,
Everything I celebrate this morning,
These are examples of infinite power,
Expressing infinite love,
To a grateful child.

I will search out God today,
For new ways to thank Him,
Celebrating eternal love,
That is His gift to me.

I love how his words fill my heart,
They are a deep well speaking life words,
Day after day they come to me,
Forgiving words that free me from regret,
Praise words that let me enter his creative work,
Love words that show me I belong.

There my friends found me,
They listened to my circular tale,
My words seeking their source,
In the pain and the lonely tears,
There emerged a glimmer of hope.

Life without God at the centre,
Is a futile grasp at self importance,
Life is fully appreciated when God is most important,
The path to understanding this is difficult,
I wanted to give up,
Because, I thought God gave up on me,
This was not true,
God was leading me to incredible opportunity,
Far more than what I could create myself.

Grant me forgiveness today,
Give me the lasting joy of offering hope,
By not joining in the clamour for blood,
Instead make my life a healing balm,
My words a soothing sound,
For the broken lives encountered each day,
My broken heart,
Broken open in plain sight of everyone,
Open to give and receive forgiveness,
Each day a small victory for hope.

Abundance is my daily experience of God,
Blessing is my praise song,
God’s will is discovered by his creation,
We do not determine its path,
We learn it through obedience,
Each day a new lesson is learned,
My life a constant unfolding of hope.

Praise’s source sheds light on shadow,
From the shadow I learned about Grace,
My deepest valleys were gifts of understanding,
They are leading me to the mountaintops,
God is my trusted guide,
His perspective the gift to those who love him.

Failure is a word that I hear again and again,
That word clatters around my head,
Noisily,
Constantly,
Painfully.

Will it ever stop!

What does it take
to mark the canvas
to write the line
to play the chord
to plough the field
to cross the river
to change the world?

I have chosen my path,
My love for God is true,
Truth is my most painful choice,
Every step is a crippled limp.