Friday's Faith - Can the Complex Be This Simple?

Friday's Faith

Can the Complex Be This Simple?

~~~

Jesus said to her, 

"I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live..."

~John 11:25 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Graphics, Thanks to ~2012: Love and Loss, and ~Hers To Treasure, provided by grieving mother, Leslie Nelson Martin, and ~Hers To Treasure

Monday's Mourning Ministry - Stay Strong ~Newsboys

Monday's Mourning Ministry

Stay Strong

~Newsboys

You're in the moment now

A bitter root

A wandering eye and then 

The ties that bind start wearing thin, thin

You're in the moment now

When all you've been blessed with

Is not enough

Here's where the ground gets loose

Here's where the devils call your bluff

Stay strong

You are not lost

Come on and fix your eyes ahead

There's a new dawn to light our day, our day

You've gotta stay strong

You and I run

For the prize that lies ahead

We've come too far to lose our way, our way

We've seen the tragic flaws

The tortured souls

The saints with feet of clay

Here's where sin becomes cliche'

We've come through wilderness and watched 

The cloud by day 

The burning sky into dawn

Have you forgotten who you are?

Did you forget whose trip you're on?

Stay strong

You are not lost

Come on and fix your eyes ahead

There's a new dawn to light our day, our day

We've gotta stay strong

You and I run

For the prize that lies ahead

We've come too far to lose our way, our way

Get up, there's further to go

Get up, there's more to be done

Get up, this witness is sure

Get up, this race can be won

This race can be won

We've gotta stay strong

You are not lost

Come on and fix your eyes ahead

Our Father's dawn will light our day, our day

Come on and stay strong

His grip is sure

And His patience still endures

There'll be no letting go today, no way

Come on, and stay strong

You and I run

For the prize that lies ahead

We've come too far to lose our way, our way

Video: http://youtu.be/9m96MtNlMz8

Friday's Faith - Finally Free

Finally Free

Our child went into the far country

Seeking to follow the will of her own.

And I? I had to let her go

Knowing her life was only ours by loan.

Powerless. Helpless.

Trusting the Hound of Heaven to redress.

Praying for safety for her body, spirit, and soul:

God swiftly intervened and made her whole...

It was not in the way that I had willed,

As my precious little one was brutally killed.

But I know this is not all of the story,

For the Hound of Heaven did rescue, and took her to Glory.

And I?

Grief-stricken. Weak. Wounded.

Life disrupted. Death-consumed.

Assumptions shattered

Of all that mattered.

Heart splattered.

Mind battered.

Insomniac.

Anxiety attack.

And yet…

Comforted. Soothed. God-met.

Held, Accompanied,

Challenged, Restored daily, Renovated. 

Daily before God standing in need,

He faithfully meets me there, I will concede.

Scarred, limping, heart-broken,

But O so thankful to God for yielding 

His Own Child for mine, to be broken.

Now it is mine to faithful be

Until I too reach the shores of Eternity

Where God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will be

Setting souls once captive to Satan, Sin, and Death…

Finally Free.

Pictures: Top picture, thanks to Jill's photos, Bottom picture thanks to 365Promises.com

Tuesday's Trust - In Loss, We Are Drawn to Him...

Tuesday's Trust

In Loss, We Are Drawn to Him...

Fearing to launch on "full surrender's" tide,

I asked the Lord where would its waters glide

My little bark, "To troubled seas I dread?"

"Unto Myself," He said.

Weeping beside an open grave I stood,

In bitterness of soul I cried to God:

"Where leads this path of sorrow that I tread?"

"Unto Myself," He said.

Striving for souls, I loved the work too well;

Then disappointments came; I could not tell

The reason, till He said, "I am thine all;

Unto Myself I call."

Watching my heroes---those I loved the best---

I saw them fail; they could not stand the test,

Even by this the Lord, through tears not few,

Unto Himself, me drew.

Unto Himself! No earthly tongue can tell

The bliss I find, since in His heart I dwell;

The things that charmed me once seem all as naught;

Unto Himself I'm brought.

---Selected

~from Streams in the Desert, by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman (1925)

Friday's Faith - Faith in God While Grieving My Child

Friday's Faith

Faith in God While Grieving My Child

Faith in God While Grieving My Child

You gave me my child

My dear sweet Lord.

You spoke her name,

And called her forth.

She filled our hearts

With love and joy

For nineteen years...

Such overflowing joy.

Such miracles

Amazed our world,

Blessed as we were

By our baby girl.

So Lord when I look

Into Your heart 

And see such love

You do impart,

How can I doubt 

That even now,

You still with life

In her do endow.

She is with You

Enduring no pain;

Her heart is full

In your loving reign.

Keep my eyes 

On You dear Lord.

Though it's dark now,

You prepare our reward,

To join You and our child

In Your Heavenly Home,

Surrounded by Love

That has fully grown.

More of the joy

That we felt in those years

Will be eternally felt

But with no more tears...

Also, may you be very blessed in hearing this poignant story of a father's comfort found in Jesus after his baby girl's tragic death. Blessings to you all in your own grief over your own precious child.

Video of Hope in Jesus Amidst Child's Death

http://www.godvine.com/Hope-for-Heaven-How-One-Man-Got-Through-the-Tragic-Loss-of-his-Young-Daughter-29.html

Pictures, 1st and 3rd ones thanks to grieving mother Jill C., 2nd one thanks to grieving mother, Cheryl 
Poem - Faith in God While Grieving My Child - Angie Bennett Prince - July 5, 2012

Tuesday's Trust - Till He Gathers the Scattered Pages

Tuesday's Trust


Till He Gathers the Scattered Pages

“All mankind is of one author,

and is one volume. 

When one man dies, 

one chapter is not torn out of the book 

but translated into a better language. 

And every chapter must be so translated. 

God employs several translators. 

Some pieces are translated by age, 

some by sickness, 

some by war, 

some by justice. 

But God's hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to another.” 

~John Donne (1573 - 1631)

Friday's Faith - God Understands Our Tears

Friday's Faith

God Understands Our Tears

God understands our tears for He lost His own Son;

He weeps along with us until the Final Battle is won;

He carries us in our pain until our journey here is done.

Though our love for our child suffers through tears

Doing battle with Evil the rest of our years,

Facing daily the Evil that wrought our child's loss,

In love, we carry on, lifting our cross,

Bearing the love that has borne the worst cost...

Until that Day… our Lord resurrects life,

Winning the Battle forever that conquers Death's strife,

When our long-suffered pain becomes ultimate joy

As we're rejoined forever with our precious girl or boy.

Then our God in Heaven tells us "the rest of the Story…"

While we rest upon His breast, basking in His grace,

As both we and our child gaze upon His face,

Resting from all pain, surrounded by His Glory.

Pictures, thanks to Grieving Mother, Jill C.
Poem - God Understands Our Tears - Angie Bennett Prince - 5/28/2012

Friday's Faith - When Trying to Clean Her Room...

Friday's Faith

When Trying to Clean Her Room...

What's a parent to do

When the child for whom you're longing

Leaves behind only her belongings?

It breaks your heart in two.

Each little note she's written

Expressing her childlike heart

Gives your heart a wrenching start

For this child for whom you're smitten.

Each outfit that you touch

Takes your heart right back to when

Her life with yours was so tightly woven-in,

Yet now ripped apart, it hurts your heart so much.

Each stuffed animal that she hugged

Now just stares at you, forlorn

For the little girl who from them was so abruptly torn;

You hold onto them and cry while your aching heart is tugged.

What are parents to do who've been left behind

By the child they so dearly loved

Leaving only her belongings behind

When each and ev'ry one of them reminds them of her love?

When cleaning piles up from her room,

It seems to pile upon our gloom.

It's as if each pile we pack,

Piles upon our grief pile stack...

And yet our God provides a vision

Of our little girl in Heaven

Helping Him to build her Heavenly room

...With each loving stack we've packed in gloom.

As she builds with Him her room Above,

There's stack upon stack of our symbols of love

Surrounding her to comfort her

With current signs of our love for her.

And since she knows we'll rejoin her soon

She helps her God prepare our room...

Our God of Love makes all love's symbols fit together

As lovingly as a mother bird selects each nest's feather

To build His child a room of love

Reflecting Love's Spirit throughout her Home above.

And He reveals to us we too have a part

In continuing to build up our child's heart,

So now we embrace each loving symbol,

Knowing her Heavenly room will, such love, resemble

Till we too can gather There where all His children will assemble.

Our child, when we gather your things together now,

We will weep,

But we will also before our Father gratefully bow,

Thanking Him that in His loving arms you sleep...

Picture, thanks to Grieving Mothers 

Monday's Mourning Ministry - He's Alive ~Don Francisco

Monday's Mourning Ministry

He's Alive!

~Don Francisco

He's Alive!

~Don Francisco

Video taken from

Franco Zeffirelli's

Jesus of Nazareth

The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound,
Half in hopeless sorrow
And half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin' through
To drag us all away

And just before the sunrise
I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call
I hurried to the window
And looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches
And the sound of soldiers' feet

But there was no one there but Mary
So I went down to let her in
John stood there beside me
As she told us where she'd been
She said they might have moved Him in the night
And none of us knows where
The stone's been rolled away
And now His body isn't there

We both ran toward the garden
Then John ran on ahead
We found the stone and the empty tomb
Just the way that Mary said
But the winding sheet they'd wrapped Him in
Was just an empty shell
And how or where they'd taken Him
Was more than I could tell

Oh something strange had happened there
But just what I did not know
John believed a miracle
But I just turned to go
Circumstance and speculation
Couldn't lift me very high
'Cause I'd seen them crucify Him
Then I saw Him die

Back inside the house again
The guilt and anguish came
Everything I'd promised Him
Just added to my shame
Because when at last it came to choices
I denied I knew His name
Even if He was alive
It wouldn't be the same

Then suddenly the air was filled
With a strange and sweet perfume
Light that came from everywhere
Drove shadows from the room
Then Jesus stood before me
With his arms held open wide
And I fell down on my knees
And just clung to Him and cried

Then He raised me to my feet
As I looked into His eyes
Love was shining out from Him
Like sunlight from the skies
Guilt in my confusion
Disappeared in sweet release
And every fear I'd ever had
Just melted into peace


He's alive! He's alive!
He's alive and I'm forgiven

Heaven's gates are open wide~
He's alive! He's alive!
He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide~
He's alive! He's alive!
He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide~
He's alive! He's alive! He's alive!

Hallelujah...

Video: http://youtu.be/NyPBVwOCYmM ~ Thank you to Lion's Gate for allowing this video to appear on my blog.

Your 25th Birthday - In Loving Memory of Merry Katherine Prince

In Loving Memory

Merry Katherine Prince

(3/29/1987 - 8/2/2006)

25 years old, today you would be

Had Death not taken you 6 years ago.

We survive today knowing you're happy,

Living in Love under the Father's glow.

But baby our lives have been impacted

By devastations wreaked by our great loss:

If life's a prism, our light's refracted,

Shattered by the load of Death's heavy cross.

Bones broken, cancers unleashed, lives stymied,

Each of us now, in ways, walks with a limp,

No longer the same after Death's stampede;

We only get through as we cling to Him.

Grief is God's road of Light through the Darkness;

Tears clear the way as Love's cleansing rain.

Hallowing the ground of Death's harsh starkness,

God Himself meets us to comfort our pain.

Today we smile as we embrace your life,

Grief's temporary burdens though now we bear.

We know you're freed from tempestuous strife,

Once received in the arms of Abba's care.

So for now by grace, we will carry on;

We'll see you in time as we're carried Home;

But until then, you will live in our prayer

Of thanks to God we'll embrace again There.

Happy Birthday in Heaven! We love you so!

Mommy, Daddy, Nathan, Rollin, Stephanie, and Merry Elizabeth

Friday's Faith - Heart Prints ~Angie Bennett Prince ~in memory of Merry Katherine Prince and her loving heart prints...

Friday's Faith

Heart Prints

~Angie Bennett Prince

in memory of

Merry Katherine Prince

and her loving heart prints...

My child has left her heart prints...

They're all over, inside my heart.

For though I cannot touch her,

We're never, ever, far apart.

She ever leaves her heart prints

Inside my grieving heart,

Not finger prints, but heart prints,

Reaching far deeper than grief's scars.

She is not far from me you see,

She's just beyond the Veil,

She ever hovers near me,

To rescue from Death's knell.

When deepest tears of mine do come,

I feel her presence near,

For when she sees by grief I'm bummed,

She smiles to lend her tender cheer.

She sees my heart is in a hole;

She rushes in with sweet console.

Her heart and soul so pure from sin,

She sees my need; she's ushered in ~

God lends her to watch over me;

She quickly comes and comforts me.

And though she hovers near me,

Her spirit I can't "see,"

Still, her sweetness I can sense...

As I'm showered by heavenly hints. . .

Her smile "appears," her joy, I sense ~

It keeps me from falling completely apart,

As she leaves her healing heart prints

Upon my broken heart.

Then suddenly. . .

My heart lifts up for all its worth

Filled with joy, like from her birth!

It seems whenever grief's deepest pain

O'ercomes, making me wince,

Her radiant smile pierces my pain,

Soothing my heart with her sweet heart prints!

Pictures - I am sorry; I cannot find the origin of these pictures; I will repost when I do!

Poem - Heart Prints - Angie Bennett Prince - 3/8/2012