You calmed the sea

and the heart in me

No striving or strain

No worry or pain

You showed me the way

In your name I pray

No fury or rage

No war left to wage

Your love is a light

In you I’m made right

No guilt, greed or shame

No hatred or blame

You are the I am,

in you all began

No ego or pride

No falsehood or lies

The giver of life,

the shepherd who loves

The father, the friend,

The savior of men

This, the place I dare not go

This,  the face I dare not show

Here in the dark I’m torn apart

Here at the end my broken heart

This, the place I called my home

This, the place I first was known

Here is pain  and nothing more

Help me God to close this door

Give me strength to turn and leave

Give me strength to finally grieve

Hate must not be my final act

Keep me God from looking back

Lead me forward by your grace

Lead me to a better place

I give to you what I held dear

I turn to You and turn from fear

Jehova Rapha, God who heals

Lies and shame the Truth reveals

Death it steals the things we love

But help will come from God above

I am yours I love you still

Life obeys your sovereign will

Here is where I learn to trust

Here I see God good and just

I put to rest my former life

I surrender grief and strife

For You are love, good and true

You redeem the things we do

You make right was seems so wrong

When I am weak You are strong

This, the place I will begin

At the Cross new life in Him.

I died a thousand deaths

In pieces I fell down

Torn apart and broken

A king without a crown

The treasures buried deep

Once rained upon my head

But all that I did seek

Is buried now and dead

The past a bitter pill

Swallowed like regret

Shame that haunts the night

Guilt that won’t forget

The battle never won

the fight that rages still

a peace that hides away

the victim of my will

A violent rain that fell

I turned my face away

The memory repeats

The words I could not say.

Lord When will I be free

Once and for all be done

To lay it down at last

This race I should not run

 You are the light of dawn

The whisper on the wind

You are the waters edge

The beginning and the end

 I lived a beggar’s life

Turned away from grace

Now I will reach for you

And seek your holy face

Where I go you stand

A shepherd on the hill

My life is in your hands

I surrender to your will.

Cries of anguish long and deep

awake the dreamer from her sleep

shadows cast a bitter glare

a pain that crushes skin so fair

Violence stands a crown of thorn

before the day that she was born

the love that binds no longer strong

twisted, broken, shattered, gone

the comfort of the place we live

the value of the life we give

is taken by the things we hate

beaten down, help comes too late

innocence is somehow lost

the child inside will pay the cost

here she drowns in blood and tears

but is not broken by her fears

like tapestry they’re woven in

the day she fights to live and then

a light at last upon her face

As God shines down His holy grace

Sin abounds in homes of glass

like beggars taking out the trash

something born from sudden grief

something glimmers ever brief

it grows and reaches far and wide

the enemy of hope has died

God does not let go it seems

He calls us back to childhood dreams

Before the darkness fell so hard

before the terror in the dark

He sparks a flame and we begin

to reach for life, to live for Him.

http://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/domestic-violence

I need to write something but I can’t flesh it out. It’s sitting there behind a landslide of pressure and expectation. Why is it so hard to get to? Words are a river ever flowing, moving too quickly to the sea, slipping through my desperate grasp; I need a reservoir, waiting, ever full.

Release me from this tomb of silent sludge,oh God. Fill me with Holy inspiration and artful expression. I am but a child in a world I do not understand, I cry out to you for my every need. You alone can fill this empty place.

Make me a servant of your will. Take away my plans and troubled intentions. Free me from the prison of my own agenda Father! You are the breath of life; I struggle apart from you. Turn my trial into triumph, oh God.

Your will be done on this writer’s page, for your glory alone, amen.

Thru the dark a steady drum

A distant low resounding hum

Knowledge buried in the deep

Awake the dreamer from her sleep

Ancient words like music ring

Soothes a soul that’s suffering

Something lost can still be found

Seek the path on hallowed ground

Kingdom come as she cries out

Faith replace a heart of doubt

Give to God what He forgave

In the light will stand the brave

Hallowed be the Holy name

That covers sin and hidden shame

Surrender ends in victory

The lame will walk the blind will see

A cross to bear a heavy load

The beauty in the story told

Leave behind a starless night

Through grace appears Eternal Light

A Holy Treasure is received

The day the heart cries, “I Believe”.

The Garden, the lie, the fall, the goodbye

The hiding, the shame, the sorrow, the blame

The truth, the cost, the foolish, the lost

The choice, the sin, the struggles within

The dark, the light, the power, the might

The path made clear, the birth of fear

The boy, the girl, their broken world

The Love that saves, the bond man craves

The Son, The Cross, the death, the loss

The Risen, The Lamb, The Savior of Man

The promise revealed, the broken now healed

The old, the new, The Gospel, The Truth!