(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

Lost in a harrowing hole with towering sides,

Overwhelmed and frightened you cower and hide.

The sun’s light overhead you can not see,

You drown in darkness, longing to be free.

It is dense and cloying, the silence it suffocates,

Though you howl for help, no hand offers escape.

Engulfed in despair, convinced no one cares,

You slump in defeat, no comfort you hear.

How long have you toiled in this pit so deep?

A prisoner of hopelessness, your soul does it keep.

You have clawed and you’ve climbed to escape its grip,

Your only reward, a heart ripped as you’ve slipped.

It is cold and it’s lonely, no solace do you find,

Though you long to feel loved and for words that are kind.

Pity turned inward, it smothers all else,

It renders you deaf, blind - full of self.

SON of GOD, He cries out, “O lost child grasp MY hands.

I scaled the bottomless abyss to set you free, make you stand!”

This pit you drown in is walled with lies and deception,

SON of Man took your death, gives you HIS resurrection!

Trapped you are not, though you’re sure it is so,

For you HE went deeper than you ever could go.

There exists no abyss that’s too deep for HIS reach,

HE will snatch you to freedom, if HIM you’ll beseech.

It matters not to HIM if you fell in or chose,

To rescue your shackled life HE died and arose.

One cry from your heart is all it will take,

HE will pour in HIS light, HIS love darkness will break!

thought for the journey …

Pits come in all different shapes and sizes - they are holes of bondage and darkness that humanity finds themselves trapped in. But - The Resurrected SON of GOD is breathtaking in HIS power and ability to lift those who are drowning in pits out of their darkness and into the light of HIS Presence!

There is no pit deep enough that it is beyond the reach of HIS loving, rescuing hands. There is no pit dark enough that HIS light can’t penetrate and illuminate it with the blazing light of HIS Presence as HE triumphantly lifts you free. There is no pit so hopeless that He can’t come and flood it with HIS hope. There is no pit so suffocating and cloying that HE can’t demolish it with the power of HIS life that HE yearns to breathe into you. There is no pit beyond the reach of HIS mercy, grace and forgiveness - no pit is beyond the power of HIS redemption!

This is The Good News - this is The Gospel of The LORD JESUS CHRIST! HE went deeper than we could ever go, HE went further than we could dare imagine - HE endured more, suffered more. HE drank the dregs of all humanities sin and suffering - HE bore our guilt and our just punishment. Why? So that we could be free from the burden and chain of sin and its constant companion, death. So that we could live in forgiveness, in freedom in CHRIST, in true, eternal life, in peace, in joy, in hope - by faith in HIM. So that we could become the righteousness of ALMIGHTY GOD in HIM!

Isaiah 44:6,22 “Thus says The LORD, The KING of Israel, and HIS REDEEMER, The LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First, and I am the Last; besides ME there is no GOD.’” “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a thick cloud your sins. Return to ME, for I have redeemed you.”

Acts 2:21 “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the Name of The LORD shall be saved.”

So what do you choose - the pit or the Prince Of PEACE? The darkness or the LIGHT? Hopelessness or The HOPE of the world? HE awaits your decision - one heartcry, no matter how feeble, is all it takes and like a Mighty Whirlwind of Deliverance, The Risen SON of GOD will rush in and sweep your life to safety, catching you up in HIS everlasting arms, whisking you to eternal safety. That is the unsurpassed Power of HIS Cross!

Will you fight it, and HIM, or will you yield, laying your ’self’ down in surrender to HIM, HIS will, wisdom and HIS ways?

Deuteronomy 33:27 “The Eternal GOD is your Refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms: HE will thrust out the enemy from before you and will say, ‘Destroy!’”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2009

All about you things are crumbling, uncertainty and fear

Anxiety encroaches swallowing you, it’s a hole, you can’t go there

The things that you once trusted, Gone!

In shreds, an economy now busted, not strong!

You face a dark horizon, stormy clouds are all about

Your reference points have disappeared, so scared you want to shout

Frozen and immobilised, you don’t know what to do

Panic squeezes and grips your mind, in prison it’s holding you

O hear the voice of your great GOD as HE speaks to you HIS plan

Your safety and security are not in this world but in HIS SON’s hands

Don’t by your mountains be overshadowed and dismayed

But by HIS protection be held, as you nestle close and obey

There is not a thing you are facing HE hasn’t known

If you trust in HIS goodness by this howling wind you’ll not be blown

Your life HE would cover in HIS shielding grace

HE offers power and provision for those who seek HIS face

Your life must be built on foundations immovable

HE’s our Fortress and Rock, strong and unassailable

HIS care for you is constant, mighty and true

HE knows what you need and your good will HE do!

thought for the journey …

The best way to find out ‘who’ or ‘what’ we are leaning on is to have the rug ripped out from underneath our feet - only then can we see what foundation we have been building our lives upon. What are you trusting in? What, or who makes you feel safe, secure and held?

Hebrews 12:26b-29 “‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve GOD acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our GOD is a consuming fire.”

The removal of those things that are being shaken..things that are made …. things which cannot be shaken may remain…we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken ….

There is only One safe foundation for us to be built upon - CHRIST, The Stone which ‘the builders’ rejected Who is The Chief Cornerstone! Our economy may be tottering, ready to fall headlong into an abyss, the things we have known and comfortably shared our lives with may be all sliding down the proverbial gurgler … in truth we are facing a very uncertain future, uncertain to us that is - but not to our LORD and SAVIOR. When HE has finished ’shaking’ us, let us pray that HE finds an unshakable, strong foundation of trust and confidence in HIM - in HIS power and ability to ‘keep’ us!

Psalm 81:7 “You called in trouble and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah(Strife or Contention). Selah.” 

GOD desires to know our hearts - and more importantly, for us to know our hearts. How easy it is to profess trust in HIM when the sun is shining and all is right in our world - we don’t know the truth about ourselves until all contenders for our trust and faith are stripped from us and we stand naked before our GOD, either crying out to HIM in hope and desperation, or railing at HIM for taking away the comforts and securities we have been trusting in.

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For HE HIMSELF has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my Helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me!’”

So let’s hold tight to our GOD, let’s trust in HIS word, and trust HIM to keep HIS word - for HE is TRUE! HE will keep us, come what may if we choose to depend upon HIM above all else and we put our confidence in HIM and HIS trustworthiness and goodness, and we make HIM our ‘Hiding Place’ - HE is YHWH Yireh ‘The-LORD-Will-Provide’ (Genesis 22:14).  Psalm 37:25 “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.”

Psalm 84:11 “For The LORD is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will HE withhold from those who walk uprightly!”

HE is our ROCK! Don’t build your life on anyone or anything else, but be built upon The CHRIST Alone!

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

The onslaught comes relentless, attacked on every front,

The pain and sadness burgeons, in weariness I’m sunk.

Yet still YOU remain unchanging, faithful, loving, true,

Though my world looks clothed in darkness, YOUR light it still shines through.

YOU hold me in the bleakness, the smothering of night,

Armed in YOUR glory for battle, YOU shelter me and fight.

I cannot see the end, the tunnel surrounds me still,

But in YOUR arms I settle, encased within YOUR will.

YOU promised me YOUR Presence, YOUR wondrous heart so pure,

But first YOU said, “MY child, in this world you must endure.”

The night tis always darkest right before the dawn,

In the desperate place of sorrow, YOUR hope within reborn.

The path is ever winding, unknowable and steep,

Tis YOU who takes my hand, my life in safety do YOU keep.

When I can’t breathe for fear of drowning in the pain,

Tis YOUR constant goodness LORD, unchanging that remains.

So in trust do I reach out my frail hand,

Lean on YOU, rest in YOUR love and then I stand.

YOU are The One on whom my life it stands secure,

My Rock of endless ages, for YOU was I born for!

thought for the journey …

Psalm 18:1-3 “I will love YOU, O LORD my strength. The LORD is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer; my GOD, my Strength, in Whom I will trust; my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation, my Stronghold. I will call upon The LORD, Who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies!”

How can our courage truly fail us, how can our hearts really shatter when we have a GOD like this to protect and defend us? Yes we may struggle, at times we may stagger and stumble, even fall flat and remain so for a time - but nothing can keep us down; we will arise, we will overcome, we will be ultimately victorious; if we but make it our practise to always run, or crawl, or drag ourselves to HIM Who is our Fortress, our Stronghold, our Deliverer and our Salvation! 

Let us determine to praise our Heavenly FATHER, let us purpose to worship our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS - no matter what trials, testings or mountains we may face; by keeping our trust in HIM regardless! Yes we may be staring into the face of a mountain that dwarfs Mt Everest, but lets keep our trust in The GOD Who told Zerubbabel that mountains would become flattened plains before him, if he trusted not in his own might or power, but in GOD’s HOLY SPIRIT!

Zechariah 4:6-7 “…’This is the word of The LORD to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT,” says The LORD of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it.”‘”

Not by our own ‘might, strength, army, valor, force or wealth’ and not by our own ‘power, vigor, ability, capacity or substance’ but by HIS SPIRIT - HIS enabling, HIS unction, anointing and power. Those who yield, learn to wait for GOD to come through with deliverance and victory; and who only go forward led by HIM, obeying HIS voice, trusting in HIS Grace and strength - it is these ones who will experience true success, true victory, flattened mountains - GOD’s victory!

The good news is that you and I can be that person - no one can stop us if we choose to hold on to our trust in our GOD, our Shield and our Strength; believing the truth - that HE is the Horn of our Salvation! 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

I belong to YOU BELOVED, I am held in YOUR embrace

It is YOU who lights my dark, keeps me longing for YOUR face

How beautiful it is, to know that I am YOURS

And that there is no other, for tis YOUR heart mine adores

In the place of deep despair, I find BELOVED, YOU are there

And when the water rises high, YOU lift me higher in YOUR care

At the bottom of the pit, YOU wrap me in YOUR Love

With a roar of victory, YOU set me by YOUR side above!

YOUR comfort tis unparalleled, YOU don’t just wish, but do me well

For tis only YOU that can redeem, all that we lost when in sin we fell

So no matter how obscure my view, as the road I walk leads home to YOU

I know that never do I tread alone; tis YOUR hand holds me, and brings me through!

thought for the journey …

Belonging!

What heart does not secretly yearn for this - to belong, somewhere, to someone? It is hardwired into our innermost being - this desire to be wanted, needed, valued and cherished. We were created to belong - to our CREATOR! We need HIM and HE yearns for us!

What privilege, what joy, what wonder to belong to The KING of Kings and The LORD of Lords. This life is so brief in its duration, before we know it, twill be over and we will stand before this Great GOD to whom we belong (if we have yielded our lives to The SON of GOD at the foot of HIS Cross and received HIS forgiveness for our wretched rebellion) - let’s make it count for HIS glory, let’s make it a life that brings HIS heart joy and pleasure. Let’s make it a life that out of devotion to our SAVIOR, is sown in loving and serving others, in sharing the hope that we have in CHRIST, in sharing HIS loving-kindness and goodness, in sharing the Truth - JESUS!

1 Peter 1:17-19 “And if you call on The FATHER, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of CHRIST, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”

We do belong - to ALMIGHTY GOD!

Our lives have purpose, significance, meaning; to HIM, for HIM and in HIM. So let’s live our lives for the glory of HIS Matchless NAME! The NAME that is above every other name!

James 4:13-15 “Come now you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If The LORD wills, we shall live and do this or that.’”

1 Peter 1:22-25 “Since you have purified your souls in obeying The Truth through The SPIRIT in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through The Word of GOD which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away, but The word of The LORD endures forever.’”

Let us give to HIM our absolute devotion, for truly does HE deserve it; and let us serve HIm out of our debt of gratitude for HIS grace, a debt we could never repay. And let us not forget that The GOD we serve and are enslaved to with bonds of love owns the fields we labor in - they all belong to HIM - and the treasures we unearth as we plow and dig are HIS. They are not ours by this world’s axiom of finders keepers - and we must take each precious gem we find and lay them in adoration and servitude at the feet of our Holy GOD. HE lets us share in their beauty, and show them in wonder to others - but they always were, and always will be, HIS treasures!

(C) Cheryl Howard 2007

  “YOU O LORD will show me and will make me to know, and help me to recognise the course, conduct and manner of life. YOU will help me to understand and to perceive, as I observe and reflect and think upon, and as I experience and acknowledge it, the path of life, like a well-trodden road - the way of life!

Life that is fresh, alive, raw and strong! So that the manner in which I live, and the course of my life, is paved with this special quality of Life.

In YOUR Presence and in YOUR Sight, before YOUR Face - with YOU, is joy full of pleasure, mirth and glee; blithesome and overflowing with rejoicing.

In YOUR Person – Who YOU are, and all that makes YOU, YOU, is the fullness and the satisfaction of real joy and gladness!

At YOUR right hand, that place where YOU strengthen me, where YOU show me YOUR favour and where YOUR will is done there are pleasures continually. There I find sweet, pleasant and delightful things constantly, perpetually – in fact always and forevermore!

This is so true, and I can rest confident in this – in YOU, in YOUR splendour, for YOU are The Light of my life!

thought for the journey …

Life!

What a highly charged, emotive little word. We know that JESUS came to give us abundant life - life to the full, life that is overflowing. Life that is - alive! (John 10:10)

But GOD doesn’t just give us life - HE is our life, for HE is LIFE! It is not possible to experience true life apart from HIM, out of relationship with HIM, without genuine intimacy with The ALMIGHTY. And it is not possible to have a warm and close relationship with our CREATOR, our Heavenly FATHER, apart from The Cross. We must be reconciled to our GOD through the shed blood of our SAVIOR - JESUS is our Redeemer-Kinsman!

So often humanity tries to paint GOD in hues of lifeless grey - so many have swallowed the enemy of our soul’s lies that he is the life-giver and that our Great and Glorious CREATOR is life-taker. A sorrier pack of lies has never been sold and bought -  and swallowed hook, line and sinker, from the father of lies!

The truth is that life without CHRIST is dull, flat, grey, lifeless - and dead! It’s time we started listening to our Maker, HE knows what is best for us, HE knows what we need, and not one selfish thought is contained in HIS Omniscient mind!

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says The LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon ME and go and pray to ME, and I will listen to you. And you will seek ME and find ME when you search for ME with all your heart.”

Humanity is searching for ‘life’, groping in the dark like a drunken blind man, when all the time The Giver of Life is shouting from eternity, from the beams of a Cross erected on a hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem - “Come to ME! I AM The Life!”

HE is our heart’s home! Home with GOD is not a ‘place’ on this earth, it’s a state of heart, of fellowship with HIM - it’s like being lost, desperate, dying of hunger and thirst, of nearly failing from the relentless heat of the ‘desert’, and then stumbling into HIS embrace, HIS grace, HIS fellowship and being flooded with peace, with joy, with the satisfying of the soul - of ‘coming home’ on the inside. Outside may appear the same, but all is changed for the one who finds GOD’s kingdom here on earth, and becomes part of it!

Romans 14:17 “for the kingdom of GOD is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace and joy in The HOLY SPIRIT.”

Let us set our hearts to seek HIS heart, earnestly - to seek the Face of this Awesome, Loving, Amazing GOD of grace and forgiveness. Joy, pleasure, life are to be found in HIS company! 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

There is naught can overwhelm me, for I’m sheltered in YOUR arms

No raging waters drown me, for my enemy YOU’ve disarmed

When about me there is paucity and lack on every side

In YOUR Presence I find abundance as my life in CHRIST YOU hide

HE is my Place of calm in the midst of life’s wild storms

HE Alone my Rock, my Refuge; in HIM I’ve been reborn

My Great and Wondrous SHEPHERD, who plucks my life from danger

Gathered me to HIS heart, this Glorious LORD who lay in a manger

YOU fill my soul with wonder, of YOUR love I am most sure

YOU are my dearest companion, for YOU I was formed for

When about me is despair, dismay and disarray

YOU keep me close beneath YOUR wings, safely tucked away

Whether the path is lit with sunshine or dark clouds hover near

It is HE who carries me, HIS love and power chase away all fear

For nothing it can harm me, or touch me deep inside

For HE hides me in HIS heart, as in HIS SON I do abide.

thought for the journey ….

Habakkuk 3:19 “The LORD GOD is my strength; HE will make my feet like deer’s feet, and HE will make me walk on my high hills.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more and exceeding eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

How important it is to have an eternal perspective on life - to view it through the lens of the goal at which we are aiming and heading for; to be conformed into the likeness and image of JESUS; our Great GOD and SAVIOR!

 If we look only at the here and now we can easily become discouraged, but if we glimpse life from GOD’s view then like the eagle we will soar. It is as we learn to walk in The SPIRIT - in other words constantly led by The SPIRIT of GOD, in intimacy with HIM, listening for HIS voice, and obeying HIM - that we learn to overcome the challenges and obstacles of life. They don’t go away, they don’t magically shrink and disappear, but we rise up in the strength of our GOD, we soar with HIM and from our ‘elevated’ vantage point we see them in their proper perspective - very small and surmountable! When we walk in the flesh - led by our own selfish lusts and desires - then almost any little challenge can floor and overcome us, for we are weak and ‘earthbound’! We need to focus on GOD, on HIS power, ability and goodness - to lift up our eyes and see how Great, Glorious and Awesome our GOD truly is.

GOD is in this journey of life with us for the long haul - HE has eternity in mind, and HE is doing a work within us that will endure for eternity. HE isn’t interested in wood, hay and stubble - so neither should we be!