"Stand Brave!" ...a poem for when we're not

I was "down"...really "down"!  Too many things seemed to have accumulated, pressing me farther and farther toward "the pits".  It had started with something like a virus or bacteria - but in installments!  I'd get over one symptom, and another would attack, instead of getting them all at the same time.  Week after week.  Not so easy when I already struggle with several chronic illnesses.  Then one morning several other things launched themselves at my mind...particularly, not being able to do so many things I would love to do...that I feel I need  to do...all because of my health  It wasn't easy on  my good husband, and we had quite a time talking, when suddenly he said to me, "We've been looking at this from the wrong perspective."

It became obvious:  our Enemy was having a great time discouraging me...and succeeding!  Then, as Psalm 78:35 says, "And...they remembered that God was their Rock."  After Germán's heartfelt prayers, I started feeling better and better.  Soon...my physical ailments remained, but I had been pulled up...onto my Rock. 

                                                  Stand Brave!

                                       Help me!  My foot's slipping
                                       as pain and fear mock.
                                       "Child, you can't stand firm
                                       unless you stand on the Rock."

                                       So, hand and voice might tremble,
                                       and my knees might knock,
                                       but I can still stand brave...
                                       if I can just reach the Rock.

                                       Lucifer laughs
                                       when my pathway seems blocked,
                                       but he scowls as I skirt it,
                                       still aimed for the Rock.

                                       He smiles
                                       when my path on this shore erodes...
                                       til he sees the courage
                                       your Grace bestows.

                                       He's dismayed
                                       as he watches me grow more bold,
                                       and he fumes
                                       as the powers of your Grace unfold;

                                       for, though the sand where I step's
                                       undermined with each wave,
                                       You pull me up onto the Rock -
                                       and I can now stand brave!
                                                                                                   ----Becky Rhon
******************************************************************

The psalmist wrote:

"Be my Rock of refuge, to which I can always go."  (Psalm 71:3)

"To You, LORD, I call; You are my Rock."  (Psalm 28:1)

"He will set me high upon a Rock."  (Psalm 27:5)
                       *****************************************

Two verses which give us really good advice, especially when "Lucifer laughs":

"Trust the LORD forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock." (Isaiah 26:4)

                              "O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
                        let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation."  (Psalm 95:1)

A little poem...to clutter!

I had packed away our household "stuff", as we were to be away from home for at least a year, and renters would live here. Returning from this furlough,  I was unpacking in the game room, piling "stuff" up as I emptied boxes and barrels.  Frustrating -  but unavoidable - clutter. So I wrote a little poem:

       The ping-pong table's still piled high.
       The baskets, boxes, games and books
       wait idly to be organized,
       ignoring my accusing looks,
       and deaf to reason as I say,
      "Why don't you put yourselves away?"

(I never gave it a title.  What do you suggest?)
                                        *************************************

I've sometimes wondered how neat Jesus would have kept His room...if He'd even had one to worry about!  At any rate, this post isn't about being neat or messy.  Personally, I like having things sort of organized, but my house is very rarely "as neat as a pin"!  One can go to extremes either way, right?

Just one quick comment, in the form of a little story I read.  A little boy noticed that a new family was moving in next-door.  Seeing that they had a little girl about his age, he went over to her and said, "My name's Johnny.  What's yours?"  And she answered, "My name is No-no-don't touch."  The poor little girl couldn't even relax in her own house, for fear of messing it up or breaking something.
                                        ***************************************

Remember what Jesus said to Martha when she complained about all the housework she had to do...unaided by her sister, who was listening to Jesus?  He didn't say the housework wasn't important, just that priorities should be kept straight. "Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."  (Luke 10:42)

 Even more important than clutter (or not) in our surroundings is a heart uncluttered with things that restrict our communion with God (and others).

"Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the LORD.  See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."  (Hebrews 12:14,15)

"The camp must be holy for the LORD your God moves around in your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies.  He must not see any shameful thing among you,, or He will turn away from you."  (Deuteronomy 23:14)

So if God Himself lives in us to "protect us and defeat our enemies", we'd be fools to not aim for the purity of heart without which we would be pretty much left on our own.  Impossible to attain?  Maybe...IF it weren't for the fact that He makes it possible."

"Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  (Hebrews 4:16)

"But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  (I Corinthians 15:57)
                                       ******************************************

        Father, thank You for loving us so much that You refuse to leave us on our
                         own as we strive to have an uncluttered heart!