lights & love

I started this poem after reading John 13:34-35, but as I was writing it I thought of the passage in Philippians that talks about being lights in the world. I want to share the verses before the poem.

John 13:34-35 (ESV)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Philippians 2:14-:15 (ESV)
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world

If the world is watching,

let us be lights shining

in the darkness, blinding,

let us blind the darkness

with nothing but love

for we know what love is 

because Jesus Christ

the Son of God first

loved us and

called us to love.

If the world is watching,

let us love

let us love like Christ

let us show His love

to this world, it's watching

because we're not of it

The world can see Christ in us

when we love one another

and in a world of darkness,

of hate and of all things wrong,

we're needed to love and to be lights

so let us love

so let us be the lights fighting

back the darkness

we will love and tell the world

of the love we're shown by

Christ and the darkness

will not overcome it

for our great God

is always with us,

always before us,

and always beside us.

With Christ with us

we have nothing to fear

so we'll love and show

the love we were shown

to a world without it

and we'll be the lights

blinding the darkness

because we shine bright

when we love

and know that we are loved

by He who laid down His life

so that we might know how

greatly loved we are

so that we might show the world how

greatly loved it is. 

my Father

"Doesn't it take your breath away for a moment to hear God say, 'I love you'? To which we, in our sinfulness, must certainly respond, 'why?' And then to hear him answer, 'Because you're my child.' To which we ask the obvious question, 'Why would I, a hopeless sinner, now be called your cherished child?' Only to hear him say, 'Because I wanted you, and I came to get you so that you might know me as Father.'"
--David Platt

I read this paragraph in Follow Me by David Platt and it really caught me off guard, because I've wondered why....why God still pursued me after I had run the opposite direction, and that's why. And the how is because he is a merciful, grace-giving God. So then I wrote this poem last night on my phone when I should've been getting that precious sleep (daylight savings anyone?).

We are children

and when we fall

our Father in heaven is

right there to help us back up.

But sometimes we need to fall

so that when the Father pulls us up

by the hand, we will heave learned

that we cannot rely on our

wandering feet.

The Father we have in heaven

created the universe and breathed

life into our very souls and showed

us what love is by sending his own

Son Jesus Christ to die for us

 so that we may 

be called sons of God.

And as a Father, he s going to

hold us when we need a hug

carry us when we can't lift our feet

lead us when we know not the right way

lift us up and wipe the dirt off

of our jeans when we fall too hard

and he's going to love us when

we can't love ourselves and

because he loves us more than we

can ever fathom, he will never 

leave us nor forsake us and when

we leave him and wander astray,

he will come running after us.

Unlike some fathers he will chase

after us until we turn around and

when we turn around we'll fall

into his arms, broken and Father God will

hold us until we're okay again

and he will carry us through the pain

and he'll make us better at the

broken places

and he will forget that we ever left

even when we can't begin

to understand why the Father still loves us

and cares for us so much,

He will still say,

"It's because you are my child

and I love you." 

divine Providence

Back story:
Last year I went to my first summer camp, and I left home with only two or three friends, but when it was over, I had even more friends than I ever thought I would have. God brought me to these wonderful girls and I honestly don't know where I'd be without them. The past few months have been easier with people to rely on and it was God's Providence that inspired this poem.
(written this past Sunday, 3/2/14)

the world around us

believes in fate

and destiny controlled by

the universe that

randomly decided to 

put them in just the right place,

at just the right time.

But as for me,

  I believe in my God the God,

the God who holds that universe

in. His. hands.

the same God that breathed

life into all creation and

taught the stars how to shine

and whispered to the winds

to run free and wild and

commanded the waves to dance

and orchestrates the choir

of birds that sing praises to their

Provider and have faith that when

they jump, they'll fly because

their Creator gave them wings

to spread. and flap. and fly.

This same God placed the sun

in its place and hung the 

earth just right and secured the

moon over there and then went

on to wrap rings around Saturn

but remembered to give us

air to breathe and voices to sing,

and He is the one who taught

the whales to sing their songs

in the oceans deep

and told the bears that until spring,

they sleep.

And I should not be worthy

of the love of this awesome God

reigning in heaven above

but He is wise, He is powerful,

He is love.

And my heart is abandoned as I 

stand in awe with arms high

to You, my God I surrender my soul,

in awe I praise the Creator God

of the

           universe

who gate it all

though my sins were great,

my shoulders weighed with

            countless burdens

my God sent His Son

    and Jesus Christ

 paid the price

and ransomed me for God

I am loved

                          by the Creator God

I am a daughter

                of the King

I am an alien

                                       belonging to some place greater

And I deserve none of it

but praise God

who breathes life into this world

that He is gracious,

merciful

thank You Father for being

a God of love. 

prologue

If you've ever read posts on my other blog, The Journey's Beginning, then you probably know I rarely post except for those few posts every...three months? Well, somewhere around in there. I checked. My last post was January first, and the post before that was September fifteenth. Looking back on it, the posts used to be more frequent, but now I never feel like posting. I almost posted last week, but I decided it would be best not to. I don't really like that blog, either. The url, the name. I don't really think that's me anymore. Lose me at the sea? The journey's beginning? Yeah, not me.

I mentioned never posting on my other blog. I might never post here. It's a new project, and the last blog project I started, I stopped because I realized it was kind of pointless. Anyway, with this, I'm going to use it as a poetry and prose blog. But it's not going to be random bits of poetry and prose, because if it were just random things that I decided to write a giant long blog post about (much like this one), it would be just like my other blogs that I've started.
But let me explain something, and tell you a story.

Last May, on my birthday, I went shopping with my friend and I bought a really nice little leather bound journal at Barnes and Noble to start writing poetry in. I had never been that much into poetry and struggled to write it, but once I started writing it whenever I had an idea, I couldn't stop. I'm a writer, and poetry is a form of writing that allows me creative freedom. I figured I would just write poetry pertaining to my stories, and for a while I did, but somewhere along the lines of words that don't rhyme but have some sort of shape and meaning in their freedom, I started writing about what inspired me in my life. And now, with bits of random poetry in between, I'm inspired more and more by God my Creator. I've grown more in my relationship with Him. He has constantly pulled me closer and closer to Him, and the poetry in my journal reflects that...but I should add in places between the poetry praising God, there's poetry where I've slipped up and written other things. Because sometimes, I have an idea for a poem, and it turns into a short story with a shape to it. And sometimes, I'm inspired by nature and the seasons and the weather and those winds that whisper praise to their Creator. 

I'm a writer, and writing those super long novels is more my thing, but I have this poetry that I'd like to share. Until my books are ready to share, I want to share that poetry. The difference between a book with chapters and words pouring down like heavy rain and poetry woven into place to express certain thoughts and ideas is that a book isn't real. The characters are made to feel real, and for my trilogy I hope when people read it they'll think they could very well be an untold legend, but poetry is heartfelt. It comes from the heart. It starts on a simple idea, a random thought that appears from something the poet has seen or felt or heard, and when the pen scratches on the page the heart spills ink. Right now, the words that are being spilled are about God, and I want to share them. I'll start typing out the poems tomorrow night or whenever I have time, but for now I just wanted to the idea for this blog across. I'll post old poems from months ago, and the new poems, so long as they're about God.