(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

Even in the midst of anguish and pain

Tis YOUR love O LORD steadfast remains

When sorrow brings me to my knees

Tis YOUR heart I seek and long to please

When heavy weighs my heart a stone

Consoled am I that I am YOUR own

For bereft YOU promise me never to leave

YOUR arms they comfort me as I grieve

Such patience and kindness do I find in YOU

YOU let me weep then in me breathe life anew

The most faithful of friends YOU prove to be

Stand fast by my side as YOUR love it holds me

YOU understand our deep suffering and sorrow

YOU are the only ONE can give hope for tomorrow

My hand YOU take, secure in YOUR unwavering grip

YOU lead out into joy, guide my steps so they don’t slip

YOUR tenderness is a balm to my soul

YOUR gentleness it makes me whole

YOUR power and strength, on them I depend

My towering KING Whom my life does defend!

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Hear the power of CHRIST’s declaration to us:  In ME you will find peace! Yes, you will have tribulation - pressure, stress, adversity, distress, crushing, anguish, oppression, affliction … (life will not be easy for us in this world!) but cheer up, because I have overcome everything you will face! And because of that fact you can experience MY peace, no matter what you ’suffer’ …

These were not idle words from The SON of GOD, He had just told HIS closest followers that they would desert HIM & leave HIM to suffer alone - HE knew what HE was about to face, and HE knew The FATHER was, & would be, with HIM. But HE knew something even greater - HE was about to endure ‘hell’ to secure our victory, our overcoming, our liberty - from sin & death! HE lived a life of overcoming & HE was about to die & rise from the dead to overcome!

Hear the victory in this reality - we can be misunderstood (as HE was), subject to other’s agendas & desires to control us (as HE was), neglected & even deserted (as HE was) - with no one who cares enough to stay by our side & love us unconditionally & to put our needs ahead of their own desires; we can endure all these sorrows, pains, sufferings & privations and still experience the overcoming love, companionship, power & fellowship of GOD Himself to such a degree that our anguish & distress is neutered, nullified & powerless to truly touch or harm us! Our ‘life’ is in HIM - in HIS Presence there is joyous overcoming victory! A place where not only are we NOT robbed, but we are benefited, blessed & living in HIS abundance! Truly HE is all we need! 

Psalm 27:14 “Wait on The LORD; be of good courage, and HE will strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on The LORD!” Bind ourselves together with HIM, look expectantly for HIM; take hold of courage & prevail - and GOD will strengthen our heart (our ‘feelings’, ‘will’ & ‘intellect’)!

Don’t look at your mountains - look to your SAVIOR who sits enthroned above every mountain! May our BELOVED SAVIOR enlarge our vision of ALMIGHTY GOD! ( Psalm 121:1“I will lift up my eyes to the hills - from whence comes my help? My help comes from The LORD, Who made heaven and earth!”)

(C) Cheryl Howard

O Glorious GOD, YOU make my heart to melt,

So much love and gratitude, to YOU has my soul felt.

In my bones for YOU burns a raging fire,

It is YOU above all others I desire.

Without the breath of GOD upon my days,

This world is but a barren land, desolate its ways,

A lonely, howling wilderness,

A bottomless, yawning, dark abyss.

One smile from YOUR Light-filled eyes,

And my heart soars, in bliss it sighs.

To bring YOU joy, delight YOUR soul,

Is my purpose, pleasure and goal.

Nearer to my heart than kin,

Beloved SAVIOR who atoned my sin.

Dearer to me, than my life’s breath,

Without YOUR Presence I am lost, bereft.

As each day draws unto its end,

To YOU my heart in praise I send,

And as the dawn awakens me,

It is YOUR face I yearn to see.

thought for the journey …

We were created for GOD - to know HIm, to be loved by HIM; and to love HIM in return.

We spend our lives searching for meaning, for significance - for love, and yet so heartbreakingly often we miss the ’secret’ of life, the purpose of living - GOD our SAVIOR! It is not that HE hides this truth from us - it is we who so readily self deceive, who chase after so many poor substitutes, who bullishly refuse to face the truth. We try so desperately to find answers ourselves, outside of The ANSWER - and wonder why we feel hollow, empty; knowing deep inside that something is missing - SOMEONE is missing, The SON of GOD, our Redeemer!

Isaiah 44:2a ”Thus says The LORD who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you …”

Psalm 139:15-18 “My frame was not hidden from YOU, when I was made in secret, & skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. YOUR eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in YOUR book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are YOUR thoughts to me O GOD! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with YOU.”

We may think we don’t need GOD - O how foolish and destructive is that false thought! HE is Love, Life, Light, Truth, Hope, Peace, Goodness, Joy …. to be separated from HIM is to be cut off from the Source of all these things - things we can’t truly ‘live’ without. We need HIM more than the air we breathe, the food and water we consume, the companionship of one another - what blessings we do enjoy are simply the overflow of HIS Presence upon this earth.

Draw near to CHRIST and we will discover the fullness of true life - the joy of HIS PRESENCE! 

Psalm 16:11 “YOU will show me the path of Life; in YOUR Presence is fullness of joy; at YOUR right hand are pleasures forevermore!”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

“And HE said to me, ‘MY favor, MY gifts, benefits and joy, MY liberality, MY pleasure, and MY grace are sufficient for you; they are enough, be content for they are satisfactory to avail you, they will defend you and ward off harm and make you strong. For MY miraculous power, MY virtue, might, force and strength, MY abundant ability fills up and completes your lack of strength, it makes perfect and is made perfect in your weakness, it consecrates and sets you apart and it fulfils your frailty, finishes your infirmity and feebleness. It is MY strength and power that accomplishes this! What you lack I have and I give to you all you need when you depend upon ME, when you realize I am enough for you – ALL that you need!’

  Therefore, because of this truth, most gladly, most delightedly, with great relish and great pleasure will I rejoice in, vaunt, make a boast of and glory in my weakness and frailty, my feebleness and infirmity – in my own lack of strength; so that the miraculous power and might of CHRIST - HIS abundance, ability, virtue and strength may rest upon me, abide with me and spread a ‘tent’, a ‘tabernacle’ over me, covering me, over my life!”

thought for the journey ….

2 Corinthians 12:10 goes on to tell us that not only does Paul ’boast’ in his weakness, but he has learnt to take pleasure in distresses, infirmities, reproaches, persecutions & needs because he has learnt the truth - that when he is weak then he is strong in CHRIST’s strength & enabling!

How desperately we need to learn to focus on our SAVIOR’s strength and wholeness and not on our brokenness and weakness! There are two truths here that we need to have seared on our innermost being: 1/ We are weak, frail & feeble …

            BUT  …..                            2/ HE is miraculously strong & powerful …..!

HE fills up our lack - if we let our lack show us our utter helplessness, our total need of HIM - if this lack is the impetus that drives us to HIS embrace, to throwing ourselves completely upon HIS grace; knowing that HE alone is all we will ever need! Yield to HIM, put our trust & hope in Him, depend upon HIM and let HIM flood us with HIS ‘in powering’. The more we lack, the more place for HIM to fill with HIS sufficiency!

It is all about JESUS - keep our hearts & minds steadfastly set upon HIM, rest in HIS strength. HIS grace & favor are all we need. It is HE who enables us, by HIS HOLY SPIRIT, to overcome,to be victorious! Faith - the heart that trust in GOD, in HIS sufficiency.

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me.”

Romans 8:26a “Likewise The SPIRIT also helps us in our weaknesses.”

Romans 8:37 “yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through HIM who loved us!”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

When dark clouds obscure HIS Face,

Hold HIS hand, HE’s in that place.

When HIS voice can not be heard,

Over the roar of trouble stirred,

Don’t let go, don’t give up – HE is GOD, HE keeps HIS Word!

When mountains loom before you,

And your feet feel shackled too,

Lift your weary arms in praise,

And your wavering voice do raise,

HE sits enthroned upon those mountains and your grief will HE erase!

When the thunder and the lightning pursue you on your way,

Remember HE is LORD of night and KING of every day,

HE will fulfil HIS promise – HE honours every Word HE says!

Every tear that’s cried, every heart that breaks,

HE bore upon HIS shoulders, for your sorrow HIS heart aches.

Do not forget HIS greatness in the face of suffering,

This GOD who is your SAVIOR, FATHER and your SOVEREIGN,

Let your aching heart adore HIM – joy to HIS heart bring!

For HE will make a way where no ways to be found,

HE will bring you through – victorious your sound!

thought for the journey …..

Job 23:8-11 “Look, I go forward, but HE is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive HIM; when HE works on the left hand, I cannot behold HIM; when HE turns to the right hand I cannot see HIM. But HE knows the way that I take; when HE has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to HIS steps; I have kept HIS way and not turned aside.”

…..“but HE knows”…. what words of comfort, what words of hope - HE knows!

Just because we don’t always know what is going on, what is happening, or even ‘why’, does not mean our Glorious LORD is in the dark, taken by surprise or overwhelmed by what we may be facing - quite the reverse! HE knows ALL, HE sees ALL - and HE is working to HIS master plan, to bring us forth as gold!

Trust does not mean we know all the answers, but it does mean we know HIM who is The Answer! We know HIS power and HIS goodness - HE is in control!

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love GOD, to those who are called according to HIS purpose.”

 Like Job, let us cling to our SAVIOR, holding fast to HIS steps & refusing to turn away, aside - regardless of the trials & challenges life and people may hurl at us, trusting in HIM, in WHO HE is! GOD! Good! Omnipotent, Omniscient & Omnipresent!

(c) Cheryl Howard 2008

I know I’m passing through this earth,

A pilgrim on my way.

Each step I take I’m closer,

To that great and longed for day.

When YOU roll back this world’s curtain,

And I rest in YOUR embrace,

At last I’ll finally see YOU, unveiled in that place.

Each day I hear YOUR call,

“Give ME your heart, your all,

This place is not your home, its treasures not your own.”

I live for YOU, YOUR kingdom,

YOUR life flows through my veins.

YOU are my LORD and Master and over me YOU reign,

Most Beloved SAVIOR, on me YOU’ve staked YOUR claim.

I rejoice within YOUR Presence,

Constrained, compelled, yet free.

A son, a slave, a servant,

A bride has HE made me.

I seek a place beyond these shores,

A world beyond my sight.

A wondrous kingdom full of love,

Where Light has banished night.

My goal it is to tell to all,

For you HE weeps, HE cries, HE calls.

HE rescued you, HE took your place,

Hear HIS voice, “Come seek MY face.”

To snatch from fire, from death, despair,

HE died for you, O see HIS care.

To tell the lost, the blind, the worn,

Receive HIS life and be reborn!

thought for the journey…..

GOD’s love in us is never given to be ‘kept’ - it is poured in to be received, embraced and to be ‘given out’, poured through - uncontainable!

GOD’s grace, HIS power - poured in and given out to all and sundry. To every lost, hurting, needy child of GOD - for CHRIST would reconcile us all to HIS FATHER! This is HIS heart, HIS longing - and if we truly love HIM, it should likewise be ours.

GOD will never leave us depleted or emptied of HIS love - HE tells us in Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of GOD has been poured out in our hearts by The HOLY SPIRIT Who was given to us!” The secret is to always ‘draw near’; keep close and keep receiving - for HIS supply has no end ….to wait upon The LORD…..

We are called to live this life as ‘aliens, pilgrims, sojourners’ - a people whose hearts are set upon The SAVIOR, who are living for a Kingdom that is not of this world, who know this place is not their home, they are passing through. A people whose treasure is above… whose treasure is a Person - The SON of GOD!

1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war aginst the soul,”

Hebrews 11:13-16 “……. confessed that they were strangers & pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland …….. But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore GOD is not ashamed to be called their GOD, for HE has prepared a city for them.”

Matthew 6:19-21,33 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth & rust destroy and where thieves break in & steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven … for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”   “But seek first The Kingdom of GOD & HIS righteousness, & all these things shall be added to you.”

John 18:36 “Jesus answered, ‘MY Kingdom is not of this world …..”

Colossians 3:1-4 “If then you were raised with CHRIST, seek those things which are above …..”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008 

You think that you are random, your days they have no plan,

You think that you are swallowed in an endless sea of man,

You think that you’re not noticed, not thought about or cared,

Your heart it swallows lies, holds you in the grip of fears.

You trudge with endless weariness, as day flows into day,

A part of you protests, whispers, “Is there no better way?”

All about you there is emptiness, in the busyness of life,

A paradox you puzzle, when you raise it, leads to strife.

Voices round you stridently urge, “Keep the status quo,

Follow with the rest of us – though none knows where we go.”

Your questions they unsettle their numb complacency,

Your fellow travellers prefer to walk in blindness, than to see.

Buried deep within your soul, you sense that there is more,

You know that you are far from whole, but WHO were you formed for?

Eternity is in your heart, you can not its call erase,

For you were formed for GOD, to know, to dwell before HIS Face!

You feel that chasm, an abyss, that lays between your hearts,

You do not fathom how to breach it, or even where to start.

But HE has made a way for you, and all that was costly HE did do,

HE bridged that distance with HIS Life, HE sacrificed HIMSELF for you.

HIS bloodied hand now reaches out, dares you to trust HIM,

Let HIM take your blighted soul, your anguish and your sin.

For HE will wash and cleanse you, give you joy, and love and life,

HE will bind you to HIM, as does a man, in love, his wife!

thought for the journey…

James 4:6-8 “But HE gives more grace. Therefore HE says: ‘GOD resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore submit to GOD. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to GOD and HE will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded.”

Draw near to ALMIGHTY GOD, and wondrous promise - HE will draw near to you!

Dependance upon HIM - the heart of true humility! Knowing how desperately we need HIM, and not holding back - but running to HIM Alone who can help us, rescue us, set us free from the death-grip of sin, redeem us and give us HIS Life!

Cleanse our hands and purify our hearts - ‘clean hands’ speaks of what we do, and ‘pure hearts’ of who we are within, where The SAVIOR sees and knows all! As we draw near to HIM, as we seek after and welcome HIS Presence, then HE begins to transform us, to change us - we find desire growing in us to be pure in our lives before HIM, and we find enabling in HIS Presence to be transformed into HIS likeness!

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that HE who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of JESUS CHRIST.”

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “Now may The GOD of peace HIMSELF sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

 (C) Cheryl Howard 2008

There is none that can match incomparable SAVIOR

HE who woos wretched sinners in the warmth of HIS favour

HE would shield us in arms that ache for our love

Yearns to keep us closer to HIS heart than a hand in a glove

Strong in HIS breast beats the most patient of Souls

Motivated by love HE endured hell to make us whole

Tis our hearts, is HIS treasure, HE so longs to see free

There is naught that HE desires besides you and me

Our frailty and weakness stirs HIS tender pity

HE fights, us to rescue, with power, strong and gritty

HE enters the cesspool we’ve made of our life

Plucks us from the quagmire, like a fallen, cherished wife

HE will not rest till HE’s made us pure and clean

That reflected in our lives HIS glory will be seen

HIS goodness and kindness are steadfast, true, unfailing

HE is tireless, longsuffering, to save sinners, against HIM railing

Why do we resist the ONE who loves us best?

Why do we refuse HIS offer of giving our hearts rest?

We are truly lost without HIM, like drawing breath when there’s no air

We are stumbling round in darkness, cut off from Light and care

We’ve been deceived by a lie so ancient, saying we can be as GOD

And we’ve rejected our own CREATOR, as on HIS love we have trod

We’ve listened to a liar, practised eons in his craft

Who desires our destruction, and at our demise, he laughs

It is GOD who created each one of us, loves us with a love unending

If we will only pause awhile, we’ll hear HIS heart in HIS SON HE was sending

While there is life upon this earth HE reaches out in mercy

To lift us from the death we drown in, set us beside HIM for eternity!

thought for the journey…

This earth is like a septic tank full of effluence, and The SON of GOD put on HIS boots, came down and stepped in. And HE has not stopped reaching into the foul and filthy pit of humanity - to pluck out and rescue one broken, shattered, sin polluted life after another! Some lives merely cracked, others broken into unrecognizable pieces - all immersed in the filth of rebellion and pride. HIS goal - to lovingly heal, restore, cleanse and make us whole, to, in a word ‘redeem’ us! Now that is true love!

John 3:16 “For GOD soooo loved the world that HE gave HIS Only Begotten SON, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have everlasting life!”

Romans 3:23 “for ALL have sinned & fall short of the glory of GOD,”

There is room for all humanity in the arms, the embrace, the ‘hug’ of GOD - wrapped in HIS love, encased in HIS Presence, sheltered next to HIS heart. In the Secret Place of The Most HIGH, beneath HIS wings - safe, warm & secure!

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.”