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.”
Unseen by human eyes, a great exchange took place as Jesus hung on the cross. He took all our sin upon Him and bore the wrath of every single one . . . past, present, and future.
From Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Charles Stanley (1932-2023) was an American pastor and Christian writer. He was dedicated to leading a teaching ministry.
From Psalm 32:6-7: “Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to You; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with glad cries of deliverance.”
Journey’s faith seeking tomorrow
With every step, walking upright
God’s promises shall be fulfilled
Wilderness left, following light
Prayer’s faithfulness fills each day
Steadfast grace flowing from above
God’s mercy liberates each heart
Mission finished through Savior’s love
Darkness exits, righteousness leads
Passion for deliverance formed
Peace found in Savior’s forgiveness
Every breath of transgression transformed
God’s renewal of creation
Invitation to sinners each
Reconciled through Savior’s body
His blood flows, repairing faith’s breach
Mankind divided no longer
Each barrier crushed by love’s weight
Freedom’s light borne on Calvary
Redemption’s now visible gate
From 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
There is no sin too great for God’s grace. There is no habit too big for His healing. There is no label too strong for His love.
From Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Craig Groeschel (born 1967) is an America pastor and Christian author.
From Acts 5:29: “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.'”
Energized through God’s Word
Timeless blessings of grace
Called to journey in faith
Savior’s peace to embrace
Enter body of Christ
Spirit shall never rest
From sunrise to sunrise
Faith overcomes each test
Faithful obedience
Accepting divine will
Glory to God above
Mercy flowing downhill
Faith trusts with confidence
Tomorrow shall brighten
Christ walks ahead of thee
Life’s burdens, He lightens
God’s gift of repentance
Kneel at Calvary’s tree
Forgiveness from above
Savior’s blood sets us free
From Romans 6:4: “Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”
From Genesis 15:5-6: “He brought him [Abram] outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Faith’s wilderness journey
Trusting Father above
His righteousness shineth
Doubts transfigured with love
Aimless breath transitions
Believing without fear
Promised Father’s actions
Salvation coming near
Faith’s encouraging steps
Absorbing Father’s voice
Comfort’s forgiving tone
Witness light’s blessed choice
Hope’s unshakable rock
Following Spirit’s lead
Connects with Father’s grace
Planted redemption’s seed
Faith’s confidence matures
Harvesting Father’s peace
Awakened from darkness
Savior’s risen new lease
From Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Patience
Rejoice always
Embracing each moment
Trust in God’s promises
Answering
Courage
Faithfulness leading
Mercy opens door
God’s refuge of light
Unflinching
Grace
Deepest love
Acceptance with humbleness
God’s passion for life
Forgiving
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.
Big Sky Buckeye 