Waves of Mercy

Waves of Mercy

"Waves of mercy, waves of grace

Everywhere I look, I see your face

Your love has captured me

Oh my God This love

How can it be"

 David Crowder - Waves Of Mercy Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Our lives like Sandy beaches looking peaceful

But in creeps our enemy writing lies in the sand

Pecking away like bread in the beak of a seagull

Separating people with untruths and bitterness

Further and further they drift apart

Getting lost in dunes of un-forgiveness

Like collectors of shells desiring to attain

People gathering mementos of suffering

Holding on to, to look at again and again

Towards rocky jetties blindly running

The hater of your soul egging you on

Your relationships not the source of cunning

Open eyes to see the deceit

Not flesh and blood the true cause of trials

Time to let go of those balance sheets

Stop letting storms knock you over

Grab hold of your fellow beach comber

In truth and love full disclosure

The Rolling waves soon to wipe all trace away

Low tide only for a short while

Grace washing over, making new each day.

Cast your cares upon the sea

Release your hurt to Jesus’s  hands.

Let the waves of mercy wash over thee.

Peace offering

The sacrifice of a peace offering…

A giving of the good portions unto the Lord.

In days of old a repeated process required

Offering up the blood and fat over fire.

Not for repentance but fellowship.

“Shalom” a rest in safety from ones enemy,

A covenant of relationship,

 From man a hope for harmony,

A ritual to be made with joy.

 Before Christ, Peace a temporal space,

Sandwiched in between wars and battles.

The promise spoken to Isaiah

 Of a peace from God from a heavenly place,

The burning alter not needed, eventually to be dismantled.

 Coming soon would be a peace that does not depart.

A completeness, wholeness and tranquility

That would internally dwell in the heart.

 A peace that has everlasting durability.

The Greek “Eirene” an assurance of salvation

That the Messiah has procured our righteousness.

No longer fretting but at peace with the transformation

Now at ease in the assurance of his enduring faithfulness. 

Free from compulsion to work out our piousness.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." John 14:27

Fail

“Ne’er-do-well

Epic failure.

Colossal loser.

Words and lies whisper in:

“Should’ve known better”.

Hope and truth wearing thin,

Seeping in how much a debtor.

Guilt and shame holding tight,

Bondage to our doubts worn like a fetter.

Secrets hold us captive in our plight.

Strength and will power defeated

The answers seem just outside our reach

All our resources used up and depleted

And yet a glimmer of light oft beseeches

Hang on there is a way!

Though Darkness is pushing hard

A breath encouraging just one small step this day.

Open your eyes and heart

“From you my beloved I will not depart”

“I see you and know all you face”

“My child I am here to embrace”

Look and see there is provision

More than your flesh can envision

A prayer to offer words of life

Grace enough to cover all the strife.

The loneliness and isolation

The enemies lies that this your only consolation.

Not just heaven bound thoughts,

But balm for now that has been bought.

Letting light penetrate if we dare

Together holding tight, we shed a tear.

Arm in Arm walking out were we have failed

Triumphant that He will and has prevailed.

Grace

Grace

How do we discern when to forgive and forget?

Or when to trust again?

Grace is such an easy word to throw about

Especially if it is for us to gain.

We want to gather as much as we can

Holding it to cover ourselves and sooth our souls.

This Grace thing that has been paid for we know,

It was God’s intention before time began.

But the burdensome task is how do we bestow?

Pride fights its way past the truth

Blocking the ability to release another.

Grace wanting to be loosed

But the hurt and pain overcome and smother,

 The appreciation for the mercy we have received.

Grace a gift of great value,

 Given more than we have deserved.

Beyond words to comprehend why

Like a water damn we hold back and reserve

The flowing out of this act and word.

Grace poured out in full measure,

More than enough,

Unlimited treasure.

 Spirit Turn our hearts back so we may remember

How Graced washed over like a fountain of love.

Spirit blow your truth on these embers,

Though yet sinners so unworthy of,

Yet even then Christ died for us.

Receiving

Gifts, to some opening divine.

To others an awkward moment,

A murky area hard to define.

“Better to give than to receive”

The saying goes.

But in actuality these words can deceive.

Giving the simple task.

Shopping, buying wrapping

Presenting pretty things and then to gather warm thanks.

But to accept, how hard to do.

To be vulnerable and in need,

To allow others to provide for you,

To your own lack willingly concede.

This is where the metal hits the road.

 To be open handed to receive,

 Allowing others to bestow.

Rethinking what you believe,

 It’s ok to get the” long end of the rope”.

Permission to be overcome,

And allow the feelings of joy to rush in.

Surrendering control and succumb,

Blessings from friends are not a sin.

This receiving is as the creator decided

The gift of eternal life not by our doing

But our unwrapping to be guided

By a humble spirit and not pride

With hearts, minds and hands open wide.

Remain

 John 15:4 “Stay with me, and I am in you. Just as the branch cannot yield fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither do you unless you stay with me.”

1 John 2:24”So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.”

John 14:23 “Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Remain

“Remain in me”

Remain…how does one remain?

When daily the media barrage filling ones eye with everyone’s stuff.

Stuffing ourselves never feeling like its enough.

Words that are so dividing with ignorance of how they cut,

And news that is hard and yet difficult to touch?

How do you remain with pronouncements of faith that feel like someone is just looking to strut?

Remain focused on a God that seems so far away?

Remain as you go about your every day?

What does it mean to remain?

Is it to keep your eyes looking upward at the clouds?

To examine ancient texts and pray aloud?

Is it attending a weekly church meeting,

Or a bible study giving each other a holy greeting?

What is this abide? 

Is it waiting for something to occur?

Or perchance to sojourn right where you are?

This remaining, abiding, enduring...

Is it holding tight to the mooring of a religion from the past?

Why is this so difficult to grasp?

The understanding I have even as limited as it is,

Tells me again and again to remember that I am his.

The “meno” abide says that I am “rooted in Christ knit to him…”   

The word spelling out truth and clearing misinformation within,

The spirit giving wisdom, convicting sin.

This “remain and abide”…

Are To give words to describe

The posture of those who understand they are forgiven

Living it out in the circadian rhythm

To continually “stay fixed upon”,”watch for”,” “submit too”,"to dwell in and encamp”,"bear patiently in waiting"…

This abiding in the love of the Father, Spirit, Son

The only  real work to be done.

Precious

Precious, tiny, vulnerable infant,

Sweet Little girl or boy still so innocent,

Purity still in place.

But too soon this will not be the case.

Commence the slither of sin,

Twisting and turning its way in.

Some to be property traded for gain

Filling the bellies of those who at home remain.

Some their only crimes

Believing their pimping friends’ lies.

Others just desiring food and to get out of the cold

Allowing their bodies to be used and sold.

The life of freedom desired
Gone as they become body for hire.
Broken promises, heart ache and strife,

Pushed and enslaved into the harshest life.

Beaten, tortured and broken

Abused, all innocence stolen.

Fear a daily event

No place to be safe, none to their defense.

Home a memory of the past.

Whore, loser, worthless, new names cast.

All hope shattered like glass.

Shards of pain needing to be numbed

Even the most violent attention sought like a treasured crumb.
Men and women given over to desire and lust,

Oh mighty dollar and pleasure the thrust.

All thoughts of escape withered,

Thoughts of death and suicide highly considered.

Oh church let us awaken!

Let the whole earth be shaken!

Let us arise in protest and proclaim:

Give the forsaken a new name,

You are Beautiful, Beloved and Valuable!

To Jesus the messiah your worth incalculable.

Let us in hope call them out!

Let our prayers to heaven lament and shout

For them and us to see past the wounds and the hurt.

Let us be naked and real,

Letting the ice in our veins be warmed, so we may feel

The truth of the power of a savior whose love covers all,

From whose death, healing everyone may draw.

Let us pray for scars to be used for the building of faith,

For the outreaching arm of grace

To grab hold of our world so displaced.

Let us pray for the testimonies along with Christ’s blood

To bring proof to the world that God is still good.

Surrender

Surrender

We hold tight to what we have

Can we really release because He gave?

In the garden the Lord God provided all,

Yet the lie of holding out begat the fall.

The hope of progeny instead of being waited for

Pursued and sought with a maidservant to up the score.

Can we really trust to lay all down?

A child offering, a blazing fire, a lion’s den, a coat and a dream,

Places so very dark but Gods provision the theme.

Now it is our turn.

Can we risk it all and not fear the burn?

Give away our safe place?

Relinquish control in order to embrace

Obedience and utter faith?

Can we forgo our latte and our IPhone?

To feed the poor, the lost or those without a home?

Can we submit our anxiety and fears?

Yielding all even the pain and tears?

Releasing hope through gifts not our own

Giving time and words for Him to be known?

Can we cease the fight?

Submit the need to be right and just shine the light?

Can we dare surrender everything?

And allow from deep inside the praises ring?

Can I renounce the comfy life?

Use all I have to pour out on those who live in strife?

Will I capitulate that living on the edge is a balance act

Reliance solely on spirit and truth all other thoughts ransacked.

Can we let our fortresses crumble?

Allow ourselves to grope about and stumble?

Can we trust the one who does enthrall?

Can and will we surrender all?

Holidays and gatherings

Holidays and gatherings,

Familiar spaces,

Routines that are ingrained.

The same old faces.

Sometimes adding something new,

But the thought of gathering making hearts race.

Assumptions already made

Long standing history the base.

Some memories good, the others stirring up pain.

But we each have opportunity to enter into a new phase.

Choose to see with new eyes,

To lovingly embrace

The ones who we are with.

Not looking back at disgrace

Not seeing what should’ve or could’ve been.

Rather follow the thread and trace

Where beauty and love has walked,

The lineage of grace.

Let this season of family time

Instead be from your mouth a song of praise.

Rejection, loneliness, hurt a thing of the past,

Letting the old be replaced,

Not faking joy but overflowing with the taste

That God is good and in this place.

Isolation

Isolation

Why are we so intent on separation?

Always wanting what we want,

Constantly seeking what we think is best

All which results in isolation.

Unforgiveness given full rights

The pain, the hurt, too much to bare

So we take it out on others in full indignation.

“I don’t need any one” is our stand!

I can be my own one man marching band,

Declaring openly our abdication.

“Those others have no clue,”

My peeps got it right!

Disunity moving into the situation.

When the enemy is on the prowl,

Divide and conquer is the easy task

All it takes is lies and accusations.

Us and them against them and those

“If only they would get some sense”.

Attitudes saying we are better off with segregation.

“I am more important than you”

“I know what I deserve”

I should be held in veneration.

The verbiage going on and on

That somehow our separateness is the answer

But listen well to this revelation

Father son and Holy Spirit,

3 in one.

They represent the full unification,

For the world and our nation.

The answer is we in him and him in us.

There is not much else to discuss.

This perfect love triangle

Is so much more than we can see

Started long before creation

This three in one manifestation.

This truth should be our celebration.

The thing we give our all to in dedication

To represent the unity,

The love of these three

Christ’s death given for restoration

The Holy Spirit left for affirmation

The Gift of Father God, love His proclamation.

The quiet Space

                                                                 The quiet space

Somewhere deep with in

There is a quiet space.

After all is said and done,

The spirit exhorting the case;

There is no need to hide or run.

A slow unveiling of this joy filled place.

All the gifts are good,

The sad, the dark, even the ones that leave a trace.

We try so hard to be understood,

That we block the very ability to taste

The blessings that surround.

Instead the facade of peace goes up in haste,

The busyness and pretense abound.

We fight invisible battles, forgetting grace.

If only we were to remember where true rest is found.

Surrendering the very things that we mistakenly embraced.

Repentance to the maker the sweetest sound.

Then our hearts tranquil would be with his love interlaced.

Eyes that see, hands open wide to receive a crown,

Not from works or battles faced

But entering into the quiet of the renown.

Thankful for everything, increasing faith.

Now to enter in the quiet space.

When

When…….

When Gods people believe He can…

Then women like Jennie dream

When God given dreams are enacted, then the spirit moves.

When the spirit moves, women like Erin call out to others to join in.

When the obedient join in, God becomes more real to others.

When God becomes more real to others, the spirit is invited into more spaces

When the spirit is invited into more spaces then love is manifested in the flesh.

 When the many who have been loved on begin to believe, then healing comes.

When healing comes the Father is glorified.

When the Father is glorified hope is renewed.

The “IF” movement is really the spirit on the move, awakening, beckoning, calling forth the “other half of the Church”. (Caroline Custis James). God’s love is real and  thankfully it is showing itself in the voices of Jennie Allen, Sarah Bessey, Ann Voskamp and so many more teacher /preacher sisters.  Locally, the spirit is moving women to gather for prayer and fight injustice in a church who ex- communicates the abused. It is moving in a woman who is battling Cancer who is stepping into her gift of teaching. It is moving in the voice of a woman counseling, teaching, and blogging for 365 days. It is in a mom who is finding freedom in the spirit. It is flowing in a widow grieving yet showing others the way.  It is moving in the women all around me. This movement has brought me a foster daughter and a slew of sisters who have rallied, prayed and help me love on a battered girl. They have brought new meaning to community.  It is no longer “If God” rather an anticipation of when God and His people…

Stand firm

Stand Firm

 Emotions crashing, banging, relentless pounding.

Tossed here and there, the lies resounding.

Stand firm in all you know:

Stand firm with feet planted.

Stand and see what has been granted.

Stand firm in whose body the price was paid.

Stand firm in how you were made.

Stand firm in your person-hood.

Stand firm though oft misunderstood.

Stand firm when doubts crowd in.

Stand firm in faith in Him.

Stand firm when all feels lost.

Stand firm, he already paid the cost.

Stand firm with arms outstretched.

Stand firm with no regret.

Stand firm extending grace.

Stand firm, look fear in the face.

Stand firm when all is spent and done,

Stand firm and fall into the arms of the son.

Stand firm with joy overflowing.

Stand firm in the gift of spirit knowing.

Stand firm with words forever true.

Stand firm, He will not let you fall through.

Stand firm.

stubborn

Stubborn

I will go my own way

I will choose who I let sway

I sort of know which way is best.

But heck I want to be with the rest.

I like the feel of 1 for all and all for 1,

It always seems like so much fun.

Yeah this could happen or maybe that

But really who gives a scrap.

Except of course when my stubborn decision

Heads me to a place of prison.

Freedom of choice

Turns into a loss of voice.

Darkness encroaches,

Guilt, shame approaches

My headstrong direction at a dead end,

Now where are all those who call me friend.

A calling, a whisper, a touch,

There is only one who still loves that much.

As pride strips  away

My messiah extends mercy this very day.

He who is unbending,

 Always his love sending.

Who now will I let sway,

Will I now learn to be clay,

Let the Potter have his way?

Instead of resistant to knowledge

Perhaps now to be tenacious and acknowledge,

I don’t know the way.

Let His word have last say.

There is an uneasy place

There is an uneasy place

Where all is good yet the invasion of disquiet persists

All blessings counted for the day

Check list done

All in its place

And yet turbulence just can’t resist.

The spirit stirring

Still more to obtain

Not objects or crowns

Not things to be grasped

But something amiss.

To be, to just sit,

To enter his rest.

To fill up on words that will wisdom beget.

This “restlessness” not letting us forget

The real purpose is not our check list

Our place is not steady

We need to be on our knee's ever ready

To reach, love and care,

To rescue, give hope and prepare,
but not before we come in prayer
To the uneasy place to keep us

Holding to the one who does not shake.

Tradition edited

Tradition

Steeped in what has gone on before

Anticipation of the already known

Consistent patterns with added experiences

Stacking memories

Building relationships

Sharing time and space with those you love.

Our annual gathering for our mom's birthday has been a tradition for the past ____  years (I say 14 years, sis say's 8 years),either way it is has become a custom  to bring Jersey and Pa  sister's together to hang for the day with our mom. We have visited many quaint towns including Princeton and Peddlers Village. We have painted pottery and antique shopped as well as perused used book shelves. We have purchased treasures such as "The little Red Hen" book and cook ware. Tradition has been that we usually gather in the Month of October so autumn sights are par for the course such as scarecrow contests, apple cider and pumpkins. We have visited farmers markets and grounds with art sculpture. The day is also usually filled with some sort of dining experience from Italian, Pub style, a charming local eatery or simply good old chain restaurant food. Our conversations range over so many topics, too many to recount but usually funny stories or recollections of life growing up in the Elias home are in the lineup. Laughter, deep philosophical discussions and everyday life shared. Talks that don’t always happen over the phone and over the distance but can be counted to happen during this annual gathering.

Molded

Molded  

  Chemical compounds mined carefully,

 Each atom and molecule declaring individuality.

When we are invited to say yes,

The combining of spirit and flesh.

The refining fire melting away elements of old patterns

Stretching, pouring, changing structure but not matter.

The mold maker intimately knows the form,

In the likeness of whom he has born,

But the basic compound from flesh our own.

The model maker impressing on metal, pushing into shape,

Once the process has started there is no escape.

Sculpted but no masterpiece to be the same,

His word used to guide the metal into frame.
Each time in obedience we say yes,

The melding of spirit and flesh.

Crafted to boldly display

All the attributes of the son, each in his own way.

Embracing truth, shedding impurities,

Flesh and spirit working in harmony.

The mold itself pounded out of perfect flesh

The spirit a deposit that he has not left.

The Glory of God allowed to shine through

The Glory of God Christ in you.

In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process.