Evening Rest

You labour long in the fields where you are needed
But do you hearken to My Voice when I call?
When the sun has set and a brilliant moonlight travels,
Do you cease from work?...Do you come home at all?

You toil all day, and when that day has settled,
Do you make peace with the night by being still?
Or do you insist on striving
To struggle hard, to work, to endlessly till?

My Love, the times and seasons do all matter
And when the night has come, I bid you-- take your rest.
I have seen your labor all this morning
And if tomorrow, you work again, do what is best:

Calm yourself now, and stay awhile
Beneath the shaded olive tree at My feet
I love the way you've pleased me with your service
But more, I need you just to be with Me.

The daylight is for reaping and for harvest
The evening is for simply being still
And by this, you will find strength for tomorrow
By doing this, you'll know what is My Will.

My Will is for you to bring to Me the burdens
Which you have gathered at the task I bid you to
And then, when your tired hands are empty,
My Child, then, just simply bring Me you.


(Inspired by "Foundations of Faith")

Worth to Me

What are You worth to me, Lord?
What will I pay for You?
What am I willing to exchange?
...What must I do?

I've looked at life
Everything in my world
I've weighed up the balances
Against Your word

And I've decided it is nothing
Compared to what You've given me
I could never repay You
Because I've never made a sacrifice for Thee.

But I'll give You what I have
And everything I own
I give my life back to You
It is Yours, and Yours alone.

What are You worth to me?
What will I pay for You?
It's a small price to say "everything"
And I know what I must do

I will let You have my heart
And not just part, but the whole
You are worth my very life
In exchange for Your Love, Lord, take my soul.

Your Beach

In quietness,
I walked your beach
In silence there,
I heard my name
As if you were whispering
the tune,
the song,
the low refrain.

In wondering where,
I sought for you
In wondering how
I traced your face
And when the waves reached up to kiss my feet,
I knew you in another place.

In The Shadows

I seek You in the shadows
For there, I recognize Your Light
Framed by all the Darkness
Illuminating the Night

I seek You in the stillness
In the lonely desert place
For there, I find Your oasis
And there, I know Your Face.

The Secret of Moses

With the setting of the mountain sun
As it dipped low in the sky,
With the stretching of the clouds that hung
O'er the peaks of Mt. Sinai,
I saw Jehovah in the mist
And then, He spoke His Word
"Be still and know that I am God,"
Was the whisper that I heard.

"Be silent now, and hear Me speak,"
He continued to compose
The notes that made a music piece
Turned the hues to shades of rose
"My desperate Children seek a sign,
freedom from Egypt land
So listen closely as I speak
Of what is in thine hand."

And as I lingered many nights
upon the mountain peak,
I loved to hear the still, small voice
whenever it would speak.
I uttered hardly a single word
I did not need to say
A single thing; a trifle thought
For He taught me how to pray.

--In silence, still, in quietness
in the beauty of the Lord...
There, I found my mountaintop
and He loved me with His Word.

"BUT OF YOUR LOVE"

I blinked back tears of sheer frustration
The same old story had been told
I'd given another chance to feeling
Wanting to come in from the cold

And when humanness had bade me close
Another chapter of the book,
It seemed the burden crushed down on me
This was a pain I'd overlooked.

Another chance for feeling, I'd dreaded,
I'd hoped my past would up and fly
But it was worse than I'd remembered aching,
And I struggled hard to say goodbye.

I prayed to Heaven, "Do not mock me,
For I have not Faith that You speak of."
"Tis but a test, my Child," said He,
"Not of your strength...but of your Love."

"Of true Love, that is based on giving,
Of true Love that trusts in Me
Of true Love that forgives men's trespasses
Of true Love, that will set you free."

Not of my strength, but of my Love...
Was any left this February day?
One verse lingered in my memory:
"The Lord giveth,
The Lord taketh away."

...And all He does in Love--this mystery--
Our human minds do not fathom still
Yet, I will trust His Grace; His Goodness
Through tear-stained eyes that seek His Will.

"Seek and you will find"...the promise
Of prayers answered from Realms above...

Lord, I have not the strength to journey
But by Your Grace alone, I have the Love.

I Cry For You

I cry for you
Because you cry
A misty tear
A wondering "Why?"

A soul so tossed
A wind so strong
I wish you'd come home
To where you belong

You stand over the chasm
Longing to fly
Wanting to let go
Aching to die.

I cry for you
Because you can't see
Yet I know you whipser,
"Be there for me."

I'm here, I'm waiting,
I'm crying, too
I wish you'd believe
That my tears are for you.

You are like intoxication
I suffer from withdrawals
I can go for years without you
Yet barely a second
After knowing you again.

In This

In this--my weakest moment,
In this--my hour of despair
In this--my last ounce of strength,
I search
...and find YOU there.

In this--my soulful trembling,
In this--my disarray,
In this--my human weakness,
I fall to my knees...
and pray.

In this--my moment of temptation,
In this--my final strand of hope,
In this--my desperation,
I find
...that somehow, I can cope.

In this power I cannot deny
In this strength I've come to know
I have found, it's in that final second
When I determine to NOT LET GO.

OF THIS--Your perfect Love for me,
OF THIS--the Promise that You gave
OF THIS--fulfillment of Your Word
And that
Is when you save.

Sufficient For Me

The tears cloud my vision; I cannot see
Your Grace is Sufficient for me.

The burdens break down and they shatter my spleen
Your Grace is sufficient for me.

Hailstorms rain down, flooding my soul in a sea
Your Grace is sufficient for me

My heart is torn, it's weak, it's aching
Your Grace is sufficient for me.

Your Grace is sufficient
When I can't even pray
Your Grace is sufficient
When I can't even say
The words, for my tongue has no strength to speak
But Your Grace is sufficient for me.

Why do You give me
Such undeserved Grace?
In the depths of unworthiness,
I hide my face
But You whisper to me,
"My Love, don't you see?
...My Grace is sufficient for thee.

"My Grace is sufficient
It will give you the strength
My Grace is sufficient
It will give your hopes length
Just trust me, My Child,
I promise, you'll see
That My Grace is sufficient for Thee."

Jesus, if I can just
Touch Your hem, I'll believe
That Your Grace is sufficent for me.

I saw the light defined in you
the shadows fading
the storm clouds replaced with the sun

I saw the unspoken happiness
a prayer linked the scattered pieces
and a new life was begun.

If I need to start all over again
To wash my face and wake up with the sun,
Then let me at least see it to completion
Let me at least finish what I've begun.

I know another dawn is breaking o'er me
But this night was so much longer than before
And its kept me in a kind of anticipation
And wondering if, after this, is there more?

If I need to start all over again
And take that deep breath I'm longing to,
Then let me at least exhale to find existence
And let me find my spirit's strength in You.

From the dust of the earth and the mire
From the wounds and the battles of war
Comes a song that is low and steady
One which has not been sung before.

From the pains of death and suffering
From the pangs of childbirth
Springs new life, clearly emerging
And a hope of greater worth.

The song that is sung is music
That one cannot ever know
Until it has been to the darkness
Until it has been down below.

And the life that is borne is sought after
Legends are told of its birth
Heroes are buried with honor
With redemption for Mother Earth.

An Ancient Story

The struggle up Mount Moriah

was cold; I drew my breath

The wind sang an aria

a solemn song of death.

Behind me walked my child

my only begotten son

The only boy I'd ever loved;

God had granted me only one.


And trudging still, my heart sank low

it seemed I could not even speak

The road that lay before me

made my once joyful spirit weak.

We prepared to make the sacrifice

I prepared to say goodbye

To the one thing in this world I treasured;

the apple of my eye.


My son! Mine only son!

Had not God given him to me?

For what? To take him back again?

My heart wept with misery.

And yet, I lay the stones

and set the wood to burn

And lay my hands upon the boy...


For my heart would never turn

Away from my God, Jehovah,

Who had blessed me with this child

And asked me to offer up Isaac

to go through with this trial.


I remember still the agony

that pierced my heart that day

When I prepared to kill my son;

my treasure give away.


And I remember too, the Hand

that grasped my own trembling one,

And spoke with a radiant Voice:

"Lay not thine hand upon thy son.

For I know now Whom you love

I know where your loyalties lie

You would choose me above all

even if Isaac had to die!"


And he bid me embrace my child,

and release him from the fire,

Then he provided the sacrifice

for my will was what He desired.


My Child, if He asks of you

more than you think you can bear,

Do not give Him just a percentage;

do not call His Love unfair.

For He has fashioned trials

and He will not take second place;

Our God is a jealous God

but He will give you grace

To sacrifice and to let go

what you've been tightly holding to

The very thing that binds your heart

may be what He requires of you.


Give Him your love, your all;

and let Him test your faith in the fire

After obedience come the blessing

and the whole of you is His desire.


You will not be found wanting

you will not be left alone

After you've been to your Moriah

you will come safely home.

The Promise

He never said it would be easy
He never said there’d be no pain
He never promised it would be perfect
He never said there’d be no rain

He never said the road was well-paved
He never said the skies were always blue
He never promised there’d be no suffering
He never said those things to you.

But what He did say was a promise
What He did say holds true today
The words He spoke before He rose above
And ascended to Heaven that day.

He said, “Lo, I am with you always.”
And that really says it all
Through any thing and any place and any where,
He’s promised no evil shall befall.

Yes, there will be hard times to test our courage
There will be stormy skies and flooding rain
There will be strong turmoil on all sides
But the sweet words of His promise remain.

He will be with us through always
Nothing will ever penetrate His Love
We will face the darkest night because He’s with us
And triumphantly, we too, shall RISE ABOVE!

Sometimes I can't live the way You want me
I can't walk on or I will fall
And so I stumble in the darkness
...Or I just don't walk on at all.

Do You hear my heart trembling?
Do You see me when I fall?
Do You know my spirit's bleeding?
...Why do You still call?

Do You trust me for the calling?
Do You trust me for the crown?
I falter at the thought
Of letting You down.

Let my heart beat for this moment
And hold me so I won't fall away
And if You need me, let me still follow
...Call me today.

In this place where I have come to be
Tormented, tried, and beaten down,
This place that seems a storm-tossed sea
Where waves are thrashing all around,
I find my courage failing...then
In conscience lost, I hear you say:
"Repeat the Words which I have spoken--
Jesus Christ, the same, TODAY."

In my darkened hour, my flood of tears
Seem encompassing, and demons try
To make me sink into their darkness
They tell me I am too weak to fly
And in that second, salvation sweet
Comes to me once more again,
I hear your words: "Repeat after Me--
With God, all things are possible to men."

In the midnight moments I have known
And just before the break of dawn,
In my deepest loneliness,
I feel that somehow, I can go on.
For I have heard you say before,
And I have repeated after you,
"I know Whom I have believed",
And Lord, You have known me, too.

You have known my frailty of heart
You have known the weakness of my flesh
You have known me in my coverings,
And even in my nakedness.
And when Your Word speaks to Me,
I know that through the worst despair,
I'll always have your Promise of
YOU there.

Can you trust Me through the trial of the deepest, darkest night?

Can you prevail though the shadows intensify and bid you flight?

Will you seal your Faith with Mine, challenging the demons all to fright?

Their “reality” becomes a myth when you stand up and fight.

Stand up and fight!

Now breaks daylight,

And the dawn you’ve long awaited

Is in your sight

With fear abated,

Soldier…

Stand up and fight!

Can you love Me though you feel Me not, for the wind is cold and grim?

Can you say to yourself, “My only hope is stayed the same on Him”?

If you can rise above the waves, you’ll walk where angels dare not go

And then…you’ll believe, you’ll understand, and finally, you’ll know.

Stand up and fight!

Around is night

But the darkest hour’s almost past

And Satan’s hordes

Are fleeing fast—

Soldier…

Stand up and fight!

Fly high, little one, above the stormy clouds

They threaten, they attempt to bring you down.

But I will not let the darkness enfold.

Here, you are safe, in this Haven where I hold

You up on the winds and close to Sun

Fly high, fly free, fly to Me, little one.