encouragement

In the furnace

/ Joy Lenton / 7 Comments

fiery furnace file image for PJ

‘In the furnace’

My faith feels tarnished, stained,

edges worn, rust ingrained

No walking on water for me ~

I’m sinking in seas of adversity

Years of being at the end

of a fragile, fraying rope

leave us dangling, uncertain,

with bruised hearts, dashed hope

What began shiny, new

penny-bright, has faded

into fog, misted out of view,

jaded, gone from sense and sight

Yet, be it weak, small as

mustard seed to be sown

our faith does not depend

on ourselves or strength alone

Nor is it stretched by being

untested over time and years

or lost, unseen, when eyes

blur and swim with tears

Time spent in The Refiner’s fire

is to purify, burn off dross

from flawed motives and desires

we have counted as loss

We enter defiled, soiled as dust,

fragile, worn out and feeling old

We emerge, unmarred, unscarred by rust

renewed, restored ~ come forth as gold

©JoyLenton2014

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come so that your faith ~ of greater worth than gold , which perishes even though refined by fire ~ may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” ~ 1Peter1:6 -7 

Dear Lord,

Even as we squirm and resist the fiery furnace of affliction, help us to remain until your work is complete in us.

As sickness, pain and problems weigh heavy, enable us to withstand the heat they bring and to see your hand in everything.

May we learn patience, endurance and trust as our faith gets stretched beyond our ability to cope.

For when we’re left dangling at the end of our rope, we are never as alone as we may feel.

Your arms are always ready to reach out, lift and support, carry and hold us, provide rest and respite, strength to go on.

May we be reassured by your continual loving presence and willing to say ~  have your way in me.

Amen

Joining here with Nacole, Holley and Jennifer

as gold ~ In the furnace poem image pin

Where we see holes

/ Joy Lenton / 3 Comments

holes ~ tankaHow do you see your life?

Maybe, like mine, it’s full of holes.

Areas of unfulfilled plans, uncertainty, pain and turmoil sit side by side with love, laughter and joy from above.

And those messed up places look like empty, wasted spaces in what could be a full and flourishing patch.

Garden grown crazy, weed-ridden. Can’t see the wood for the trees.

Only.. Light has a way of seeping through, turning fallowed into hallowed ground.

Bringing beauty out of ashes. Joy from despair.

Grace-occupied space is never wasted.

Here lies hope, potential, holy ground.

New life to come from the old.

A making way for growth and harvest in due time.

Let’s see it and believe it. Trust our days and ways to God.

Look for colour and brightness in the darkest of spaces.

See its fronds filtering through. Realise there is purpose in the midst of pain. New life is springing forth.

Promise poking through those holey places, held fast by the glue of His grace.

Bringing transformation, change and healing.

holes ~ tanka poem pin 2

 

Whistling in the dark

/ Joy Lenton / 2 Comments

praying_on_bible_red

Sounds reverberate off the ceiling. Bounce back to knock us sideways.

We hear our voice alternately whispering, crying, calling out.

Is this a monologue or a dialogue? Better not to say anything, perhaps.

Does silence really speak volumes?

Sometimes praying can feel like speaking to ourselves.

Is anybody listening? Or are we just whistling in the dark?

Thoughts swirl loud. Hearing our heartbeat pounding.

Murmurs of life pulse and throb, yet all around is a seemingly empty void.

Can you hear me, God? Am I getting through to You?

So often we feel lost. Adrift on a sea of sounds of our own making. All feels dark. Empty.

Yet it is here, in the depths of silence, where God reminds us darkness is as light to Him, and there is no place where He cannot be found by seeking souls. No way He cannot make Himself known to a listening heart.

Cathedral cloisters ~ listening poem pin

 

Our tears are prayers, carefully collected, cherished.

The unspoken cries of our hearts are heeded.

We need to remember this as we call out as the psalmist did:

“God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries” ~ Psalm 102:1 (The Message)

It’s in rest and quiet, in a drawing aside, a laying down, a giving, offering and opening up that we ready ourselves to hear and receive.

Come aside. Breathe deep. Inhale Holy Spirit breath. Lay aside doubt, preconceptions and prejudices.

Come empty to be filled.

Come thirsty to be refreshed.

Come to the One who knows you inside out.

Make space to just be. To let go of anxiety and pain. God is big enough to take it all.

Quiet your heart. Still your voice. Tune out the world and tune in to Him.

We can never emerge from God’s presence the same as we came into it.

Let Him love on you. He is the giver of all good gifts, Father of compassion, Restorer of all brokenness.

Come, my friend, come…. seek the Light, seek grace, seek God.

He is here. He is listening. Meet with Him in the mundane moments. Sense His hand in everything. Listen to your life.

Wait with holy expectation. Keep hoping. Keep believing. Stay in faith. Live mindful of His Presence. In due time, answers will come.

47051-ExcellentQuotations.com-Mother-Teresa

Green shoots appearing

/ Joy Lenton / 4 Comments

Look around you, be still, breathe deep and sense a holy movement.

Bleak and barren are making way for a stirring of life, hope and renewal.

Things may still look dead. Ground hard and unyielding.

Temperature cool and frosty. But new shoots are rising from dark soil.

Fruit will appear.

Reaping will follow. A harvest is on its way.

Sad echoes of loss and emptiness will give way to the brimming vibrancy of God’s Life and Love.

Aslan is on the move and we need to be ready…

‘Stirring’

Something stirs

‘neath the soil

in our winter

of discontent

Pressing through

with persistence

pushing aside

discouragement, resistance

Breaking surface asunder

yielding ~ gasp for air

something new appears

Hope rising

phoenix-bold

from the ashes

of our lives

And we gaze

longing as of old

with awe and wonder

at this intruder

into our darkest days

©JoyLenton2014

 

The words below offer us encouragement, hope and reassurance as we wait to become all we can be. God whispered them close to me and I share in the hope of making you feel less alone with the sowing, waiting, yielding, watering season that precedes new growth.

Stay in faith. Green shoots are there if you look for them. Ask God to open your eyes to His work in your life. And continue to lean heavy on Him as you reach for the skies.

‘Prayer Whisper’:’Green shoots’

“All plants must wither and die. But, rooted to earth as they are, they receive of My life-giving power. Death precedes new birth. A grain of wheat must fall to the earth and die before it produces much fruit.

All the dry, arid places in your life, all the bleak and barren wilderness spaces will be watered again. Green shoots indicate Spring, new life, birth, and hope rising. Look for the green shoots I place on your pathway. They are portents of promise.

Take heart from their appearing. Mighty oaks grow strong from tiny acorns. Do not despise small beginnings. They are a sign of further life to come.

Yield to the season; observe the signs. Watch and see the harvest I am about to bring forth in your life. Water it daily with affirmation from My word, with faith, trust and praise for the promises waiting to be fulfilled.”

*******

You may be in transition, waiting to birth the promises God has given you and see the harvest you so desperately hope for. Keep on trusting and believing, my friend; God knows what He’s doing. Look for the green shoots of potential stirring and believe for more to come.

Coffee-for-Your-Heart-150

Linking here with encouraging friends Holley

tellhisstory-badge

and Jennifer

In transition

/ Joy Lenton / 15 Comments

We’re in a season of change.

Air stirs with sound familiar yet different. It’s like our ears remember the refrain but it doesn’t quite sound the same.

We’ve been laying fallow. Now we sense it is time to move forward.

Stretch limbs to sun, welcome warmth on upturned face, breathe easy.

New life springs forth from dead and dying. Darkness gives way to Light.

We see it in plant life. Sap surges and vitality rises from decay.

It is mirrored in our souls.

Each day is opportunity to start again.

Embrace change; embrace life, hope, healing, growth to come.

Yet.. while we waken, stir inwardly; while we make space for new, there is a growing pain.

Skin  cracks under the weight of it. Joints protest. Habits die hard and dig deeper.

Hope can fail us and discouragement sit heavy when we focus more on where we are now rather than where we can be.

We’re in transition from moth to butterfly and our souls ache to fly free.

In time, we will.

Hang in there, friend. There’s a hand waiting, reaching for yours, holding you safe as you wobble.

God has got you. And He’ll see you through every painful process of becoming all He intends you to be.

‘Transition’

You feel as if

you stand on the edge

of the abyss

tottering forward

on the precipice

I see you

as seed fallen

to the ground

ready to yield

its abounding harvest

Those things

which root you

to the earth

those pains

are pangs of new birth

You’re in a state

of transition

where you wait in position

as I ready to bring forth

hope of seeing Spring

I am training

you in love

before the raining

of my gifting

pours from heaven above

©JoyLenton2014

While we wait God is working on our behalf. We are being prepared for a destiny with an eternal perspective.

Keep trusting and believing. You are precious to Him . And though it may not look or feel like it yet ~ His timing is perfect.

*Bird photo credit:Image used courtesy of Kathy Snow

 

Joining here with Holley and other encouraging friends as we seek to offer #coffeeforyourheart

Also with Jennifer for #tellhisstory and with Lyli for #thoughtprovokingthursday

Fuel to light a fire

/ Joy Lenton / 16 Comments

In these dark days of Winter we need all the help we can get to stay hopeful and encouraged.

Some seasons of the soul have their own gloomy aspect.

Fog swims in to cloud our vision.

Hope gets lost. Despair can set in. Depression is at its heels.

How can we encourage ourselves? Here are a few ideas:

Stay focussed on the positive. There is always a glimmer of light somewhere.

Keep a daily gratitude journal.

Nurture yourself inwardly and outwardly.

Feed on God’s word.

Seek the balm of friendship and support from loved ones.

Finding ways to help and encourage others will restore joy to our own souls too.

Some more thoughts on encouragement for #fiveminutefriday where we pour out words as God gives grace:

START…

‘Encouragement’

Encouragement is the fuel which lights a fire

of hope to all our dreams and desires.

Life can seem worth living again

under the sprinkle of its refreshing rain.

A word in due season can impart

a soothing balm to a broken heart,

Holy oil to bathe wounds and hurts

as it pours into everywhere we insert.

Life-giving, enhancing, gift and grace

to anoint and energise us for our race.

Whether by caring word or deed

we sow love and kindness seed.

And it gives and gives and gives some more

returning to us when we’re wretched and poor,

lighting a spark when energy is low

providing far more than we’ll ever know.

So God encourages us all to strive

to pour this gift into another’s life ~ 

A listening ear, understanding, a hand to hold,

words and actions together make it twofold;

let it be given as we also enjoy receiving

the reassurance it offers to keep on believing.

©JoyLenton2014

STOP.

Joining here with Lisa-Jo, Mel and Laura and other brave and bold creatives as we share what God lays on our heart .

And for further encouragement ~ because don’t we just need it? ~ here’s a link to my writer friend James Prescott’s site where he specialises in the subject and has some great free resources to offer you too. Just click on his name to be taken there.

Words for wounded warriors

/ Joy Lenton / 7 Comments

In a season where there is more physical and emotional challenge than usual, it helps to think of others who are also in need.

So many wear smiles on the outside yet feel broken inside.

So many give and give and give some more until they are left as limp, worn-out rags.

It can take all the courage we can muster just to face another day.

And often the most holy thing we can do is just to take a nap.

A heart can ache heavy with unspoken fears and cares.

We can feel alone in a sea of faces.

We can move heaven and earth for our loved ones only to be rejected or neglected.

Try as we might, we cannot suppress all the pain we carry.

As I reflect more on my life in an effort to hear all God may be saying to me, I find myself thrown to my knees more often than not.

And there I discover the One who inhabits all the hard places we find ourselves in.

God’s grace crawls into every crack and crevice of our days.

All the mess and mayhem, muddle and struggle are known to Him.

So we pray…

‘A prayer for the hurting’

God bless the wounded warriors,

the ones who crawl and cry through,

those who press in and press on 

with leaking eyes and leaking wounds,

the battle-scarred and beaten down.

Bless the broken-hearted, bleeding and bruised

 reeds rubbed raw by those who have 

rubbished and rejected them,

those who can barely lift their face

weighed heavy with shame and disgrace.

Hold those who cannot hold on another minute,

whose lives are fear-filled,

whose faces are tear-filled,

who feel empty of worth and value

of no repute, cast aside, left behind.

Keep safe the ones who are drowning,

whose days and nights 

drip with disappointment,

dread, darkness and torment 

of body and soul.

Cradle the lonely;

let your love wash over them,

embrace their emptiness

and fill with the companionship

that only Your Presence provides.

Come alongside the misunderstood,

the marginalised,

the misfits,

the mayhem makers

and risk takers.

Bring strength to the weary,

grace for the weak,

hope for the hurting,

freedom for captives,

peace for the pain.

The path is long, the way is hard,

finishing line too far to see

as we drag there on our knees,

dry and thirsty for relief

desperate for some ease.

Walk with us as you did of old

on sand-crusted shore,

dirt-trodden pathways,

seeking and saving 

those who are lost.

For we need you, Lord Jesus;

Your return seems far off,

We fight and we fail,

shout, cry and rail,

for a touch from above.

Amen

©JoyLenton2013

 “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out” ~ Isaiah 42:3

This poetic prayer lament appeared first on Words of Joy. It is a heart’s cry God delights to answer. Hungry, hurting hearts will always find grace to help in time of need.

May it bless you to read it here and remember that God is with you in every trouble, trial and testing. If you would like me to pray for a specific need, please reply in the comments below.

And keep in mind that God loves you so much, just as you are ~ He really does ~ and wants above all things for you to seek His face in the everyday challenges of life.