If you are in the midst of your own dark night, use the time wisely. If there are tears, let them water the words you pour out to God, remembering that joy comes in the morning.
From Psalm 17:3: “If You try my heart, if You visit me by night, if You test me, You will find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress.”
David Jeremiah (born 1941) is an American pastor and Christian author.
A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.
From Mark 11:25: “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
Ruth Bell Graham (1920-2007) was an American Christian author. Born to American parents who were dedicated to medical missionary work in China, she would later become the wife of evangelist Billy Graham. They met when both were attending Wheaton College in Illinois.
Darkness masks life’s landscape
Hiding sin’s heartless shame
Trying to flee past hurts
Shadows always aflame
Trials sometimes arise
Shrouding foundation’s cracks
Concealing hell’s façade
Tomorrow painted black
Misery breathes as one
Filling with cold despair
Seeing nothing beyond
Jesus descends with care
Dependence upon grace
Acknowledging past sins
Kneeling at Calvary
Forgiveness calling in
Redemption comes through Christ
Extending mercy’s light
Transforming soul’s battles
Spirit’s fire always bright
From Isaiah 64:6: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Coming into this harsh world
Born spiritually dead
Ruled by darkest deceptions
Sinful nature fills life’s thread
Do we deserve God’s goodness?
Facing our Holy Lord’s wrath
Separated by our sins
Satan lights a wayward path
Our lives resemble darkness
Righteous acts, thin and meager
Offering nothing of value
Father’s true love, remains eager
Calling upon the Lord’s name
Deliver us from our sins
God, the Potter, molding us
Transforming the clay, He wins
Once living under the flesh
Filled with darkest death and sin
By Holy Grace, saved through faith
Walking with Christ, life’s linchpin
Placing virgin faith in Christ
In spirit, alive through Him
Body and blood, Cross vanquished
Sins pardoned, new life in Him
From Ephesians 2:4-6: “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Originally published November, 2020.
From Isaiah 42:6-7: “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”
Blindness to Gospel’s light
Following enemy’s false word
Nonbelievers walk in darkness
Tomorrow remains blurred
Alone in wilderness
Searching for trusted pathway home
God sends His righteous light to guide
Where Spirit always roams
Sheep never forgotten
Coming to Shepherd’s open gate
Mercy’s always forgiving light
Witness tomorrow’s fate
Vision no longer blind
Finding light’s genuine code
Faithful covenant sealed with love
Freedom’s eternal road
Savior’s voice heard from high
Shining through darkness, Heaven’s light
God’s glory seen in face of Christ
Salvation dressed in white
From 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For it is the God who said, ‘Light will shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Hearing
False promises
Enemy in darkness
Truth no longer hidden
Jesus
Embracing
Faithful whisper
Leaving transgression’s darkness
Showered with daily grace
Jesus
Witnessing
Mercy’s forgiveness
Redemption’s Holy covenant
Hope transforms all darkness
Jesus
This series of poems (written in the German-inspired style of Elfchen or Elevenie) shares a total of eleven words in each poem, with a sequence by line of one, two, three, four, and one words.
Standing
With Jesus
Encouraged to forgive
Making peace with past
Together
Nourishing
Faith’s strengths
Capacity to forgive
Maturing in spiritual waters
Growth
Receiving
Father’s counsel
Acts of forgiveness
Filling with His light
Grace
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.
From Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Lewis B. Smedes (1921-2002) was an American author and Christian theologian.
From Psalm 119:1-2: “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are those who keep His decrees, who seek Him with their whole heart.”
Faith’s steady journey
Walking in God’s way
Keeping His decrees
Spirit sings each day
Glories of God’s law
Marking path ahead
Embracing His Word
Faithful, daily bread
Righteousness leading
Grasping trusted rope
Fixing eyes on God
Faith seals promised hope
God remains steadfast
Sharing divine love
Treasuring His flock
Grace flows from above
Commandments followed
Running to God’s light
Forgiving man’s sin
Cleansed heart taking flight
From Psalm 119:14-16: “I delight in the way of Your decrees as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”
From Psalm 51:1-2: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
Heart feeling empty of faith
Crushing embers of hope
Wilderness of transgressions
Walking next slippery slope
Born into journey of sin
Following darkest road
Thorns of guilt penetrate soul
Stumbling under burden’s load
Year after year, without joy
Lowering head in shame
Chained to enemy’s false words
Searching emptiness in flames
Light shines upon Calvary
Breathing with Savior’s grace
Forgiven steps fill with hope
Ending sin’s unfruitful race
Deliverance filled with truth
Witnessing faith’s clean heart
Every sunrise guarantees
Elevating life’s fresh start
From Psalm 51:10-12: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.”
Big Sky Buckeye 