Leah Ness's Blog, page 6

Defining Success

 

(Originally published 8/28/13)

I’ve been thinking about success a lot lately. It was never really something I considered much because to me it used to mean ‘go to work, don’t get fired, get home safely.’ Mission accomplished. I never really aimed high in any job or position I had because I’ve never been career oriented.

Don’t get me wrong, I had work ethic and I always (usually) tried to give my best to my job, whatever it was at the time. After all, I was called to do all things to the glory of God and I was gonna put my back into it. But it was never for the glory of me. So long as I got my paycheck, I was happy.

Then I started writing. And now all of a sudden, success is not only a goal, it’s a necessity. And by success I mean a published manuscript. And maybe a writing award or two couldn’t hurt. The thing that bothers me, though, is how desperately I want it. Need it, even.

A few months ago, publishing my book wasn’t even a priority. Now, if it doesn’t happen, I will feel like a completely worthless failure. I feel that pressure on a daily basis. And the thing is, I don’t think God cares all that much if I get published.

I set out to glorify Him with my writing and I really did strive toward that end. At first.

Now? I can tell I’m striving for my own glory.

The reasoning that I need to do this for God is a laughable lie. The Bible tells us that all our best efforts are as filthy rags to Him (Is.64:6). Furthermore, neither he who sows nor he who waters is anything; it is God Who gives the increase (1Cor. 3:7). I could win a Pulitzer and it would be only by the extraordinary grace of God.

I keep forgetting that He is the one who gets to define success. I may have this grand idea of what His plan should look like but only He knows the end game. And it could have nothing to do with books. Not to mention, I can achieve nothing without Him.

In Luke 19, Jesus tells the story of two servants who were faithful with their master’s money and gained an increase for him. Yet look what they say when he asks them how they did;

‘The first came and said, “Sir, your mina has earned ten more.”’

Luke 19:16

See? These servants recognized that they alone were nothing and there was nothing they could do for their master without his help. Even when they went out and worked with the gifts he had given them and produced a profit, they surrendered the extra with a humble heart that said, “Look what You have done.”

God doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need any of us. He didn’t even need great Biblical heroes. Remember Jonah, who was so dead set on leaving the people of Nineveh to die in their sins? He headed the other way and God sent a fish to swallow him and put him back on course. Was that because God needed Johan in order to save the people of Nineveh? Jonah 3:4 says

‘Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”’

Does verse 5 say that Jonah then got on his face and fasted for thirty days and tore his clothes and wept and begged and pleaded with the people until, after many years of living among them and pouring his life out for them, they finally repented? Nope. It says,

‘The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.’

Whoosh. Just like that. God did not need Jonah. He saved the people of Nineveh because He is good and merciful and because He loved them. And he sent Jonah because He loved him and wanted to do a work in his heart.

It is so easy to fall into the mindset that we have to be successful in order to be valuable, to God, to ourselves, to the world, etc. But that is such a lie. Jesus died for us, while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). There was nothing we could do to earn that. We weren’t even alive yet. And there is nothing we can do now to make it up to Him.

He adopted us not because of any merit on our part, but because He, in His unfathomable love and goodness, chose to love us.

Chose to love me. Chose to love you. Because HE is good.

And even if we were rejected by every other person on earth, God would remain faithful and His love would be more than sufficient.

So what does it look like to be a successful Christian? Mother Teresa once said, “I am not called to be successful; I am called to be faithful.” Good point, but I think it’s even more than that.

More than striving and working hard for the kingdom, I think that true success is finally, finally, accepting what we mean to God. I think it means resting in His love for us, setting our value in Him and not in the world. Fully accepting His freely given love, grace, and forgiveness. And walking in that.

When my life is said and done, I want to know that I was successful in delighting in the fact that I am the beloved daughter of the awesome Kind of kings.

Even When

I’ve recently learned something about faith: it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. At least, mine isn’t. Let me explain.

As many of you know, 3.5 months ago my husband and I moved across country. Reason being, we felt God telling us to. We had no friends, no job prospects, and a rapidly dwindling savings.

But hey, that’s the perfect recipe for adventure, right?

I thought I was prepared for what God would do in our lives; I thought I had a pretty good idea of what He had planned.

Haha, silly Leah.

As I shared last month, what I thought was a beautiful representation of a faithful Christ follower turned out to be something very insincere. With this revelation came a clue as to what God was up to, supposedly confirming what I had suspected all along.

I decided that everything we were going through was God’s way of strengthening my faith. This was the crux of the matter. It had to be.

So I surrendered myself to the lesson but, as is my wont, more so I could learn it and be done. I thought that we were stuck in unemployment because my faith wasn’t strong enough so I focused on faith strengthening exercises so we could get un-stuck.

And when Hubby completed not one but two very promising job interviews, I thought my new plan was working. They even said to him, and I quote, “We’ll call you with next steps.”

But they didn’t call. Not that day, not the next one. By day three, I was done. I felt like I was riding a roller coaster and was sick to my stomach from the hopeful-disappointed-hopeful up and down motions.

So what did I do? I did what any self-respecting adult would do. I called my mommy and cried to her over the phone about my wussy faith.

It was while I was sitting on our front steps, pouring my whiny heart out, that Hubby stuck his head out the front door to tell me that he had just received the job offer.

Ah the irony. Here I am convinced that God will move only when my faith is strong enough – my very own brand of name-it-claim-it – and He waits until my very weakest moment.

The conclusion I’ve drawn from this? It’s not my faith that moves mountains, it’s God’s faithfulness.

If we are faithless,

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself.

2 Tim. 2:13

All that to say; PRAISE REPORT! God has given us a job! My thanks to all of you who kept us in your prayers =)

He is faithful!

Baggage Claim

(Originally published 8/26/13)

Last Sunday they showed this video at my church:

I’m not trying to promote Celebrate Recovery because I’m not sure exactly what it’s about or if I’ll go, though my church is offering it. I just really liked the video itself. There’s a lot of truth there.

We sure do love our stuff. And it is very hard to let go of. I myself carry a lot around with me. Worry and anxiety are chief, followed closely by grudges and insecurities. And it’s so true that these are things I have to let go of on a daily bases. Usually multiple times a day. And a lot of the time, that makes me feel that either I’m doing something wrong, or that there is something wrong with me.

We live in an instantly gratifying culture. We’re so used to getting what we want when we want it that when it takes an extra minute or two at the ATM, some of us (myself very much included) even get indignant. As far as self improvement goes, you only have to glance at the self-help section of the book store to see title’s like ‘A New You by Friday,’ ‘Change Your Life in Seven Days,’ or ‘How to Heal a Broken Heart in 30 Days.’ But the sad truth of the matter is that life changes, especially big ones, take time. It’s unrealistic to imagine years of thought patterns and habits will disappear in a fortnight and yet that is so often what we expect.

Anything worth having is worth working for, and that includes the freedom of an intimate walk with Christ. And the beautiful part of the Christian walk is that God has already done all the work for us. He has already won the battle and we already have ‘Everything we need for a godly life’ (2 Peter 1:3). The old fleshly man has been crucified with Christ and all we have to do is walk in the freedom and grace of the Holy Spirit living through is.

That isn’t so tough, is it? Ok, so maybe it’s a daily struggle for you like it is for me. But what a worthwhile goal we’re reaching for.

If you are anything like me, you will lay your burdens down at the foot of the cross, exhale a sigh of relief, and five minutes later, take them back again. It’s a constant back and forth, give and take, motion. Kind of like tug-of-war only God will not grab your burdens from you. He’ll only take them if you ask Him to. And He’ll give them back if you ask Him to. The good news is that as in any activity or exorcise, practice makes perfect and the more you trust God, the stronger your faith muscles will grow.

So maybe you were only able to lay that burden down for six minutes yesterday before you took it back, but today it was seven minutes. Even if you backslide back to five minutes, God has grace for that and if you keep pressing into Him, He will keep giving you the strength you need until one day, you have laid your burden down for good.

So keep fighting the good fight! I know it’s hard and it can get downright exhausting (Believe me, I know). But God has promised to help us with this and it pleases Him when we trust Him with our problems. He wants us to come to Him, even if we have to keep coming to Him. He will keep ‘raising us up on wings as eagles,’ strengthening and refreshing us. His grace is sufficient for us, so all we need to do is trust Him and walk in it. 

I’m Melting

Three months ago, almost to the day, I set out to have a great adventure with God. I left behind almost all the people and things that used to mean ‘home’ and headed out into the wild blue yonder, hoping and trusting that God had my back.

I was sure that taking this leap was going to strengthen my faith and bring me closer to Him. But as the days trickled into weeks and months, I felt my strength melting away and my faith felt weaker than ever.

I couldn’t figure out why all my best laid plans were crumbling. I had felt so well prepared, so eager to showcase God’s greatness. I felt like I’d spent months, maybe even years, sculpting this offering of a good Christian heart to lay at the feet of my King.

Imagine my hurt and confusion when my beautifully sculpted offering began to melt.

In Philippians, Paul calls us to be sincere. The root word of ‘sincere’ comes from the Greek and literally translates to ‘able to withstand sunshine,’ or ‘without wax.’

You see, it used to be that whenever the ancient Greek sculptors would slip and ding the marble, they would make a patch with wax and fill the gash. They would then present it to the patron as perfect. I’m sure you can guess what happened to the stature after it was left on display in the courtyard for a few days; the wax melted, ruining the artwork. So they began to inspect the statues before they were put on sale, and the true works of art were labeled ‘sincere,’ without wax.

Well, my offering wasn’t sincere. Neither was my faith. 

I made sacrifices, but only with the understanding that I would be fully compensated.

I trusted God to provide, but I figured it would only come through our plans and actions.

I set out to further the Lord’s Kingdom, but only as long as my own kingdom was likewise firmly established.

I sought the Lord, but not with an undivided heart jealously guarded from idolatry.

It’s no wonder I was unable to withstand the Son-shine.

It’s been hard to watch all my best efforts liquefy into a dirty puddle. There have been many times when I’ve shielded my work from the light and tried to harden the wax and put it back in place.

But God is immeasurably merciful to me, and so has continued to shine on my life. And my heart has continued to melt.

I resented the work, I tried to halt it. Then I noticed something wondrous. There, at the core of my creation, was a shard of pure faith.

Not faith in myself, my plans, my abilities, or those around me. And not something big, strong, and formidable. But none of that matters. The important thing isn’t how impressive this faith is; the crucial thing is Who this faith is in: Jesus.

That’s what the Lord was after; that’s what He was working to expose. Himself, there at the root of all my fleshly works. He’s been tearing down my work so that He can do His own.

And thanks to this long and painful process, today I was able to pray, sincerely pray, for the first time in a long time. And this is the prayer God led me to say:

“I am Yours; do with me as You will, and I will praise You for it.

Sincerely,  me” 

When Everything Goes Wrong for the Right Reasons: Part 2

(Originally published 8/22/13)

Here is another interesting take on hard times; it could be that the trials and tribulations in your life are actually answers to prayers.

I was driving to work not too long ago, mulling over how difficult life was and questioning God. ‘Lord, if I’m really walking according to Your will, then why are You making things so difficult for me?’ His answer, ‘Because you asked Me to strengthen your faith.’

It was a very big ‘duh’ moment for me, let me tell you. I have this tendency to think that since things like patience, faith, and character are good things to have, God will be so thrilled I asked that He will just wave a magic wand and zap me with supernatural doses of each. But while God has already given me everything I need to live a Godly life, I still need to practice using these gifts before I become proficient.

The tools God equips us with are like any other tools. The laptop I’m typing on right now is incredibly powerful and it came fully equipped with all the latest technology. But that doesn’t mean I was able to sit down and instantly be able to type 100 words a minute. I have the capacity to do so, as does my computer, but first I have to master the skill. Trusting God and waiting on Him works the same way. We need to exercise our faith muscles and practice the skills necessary to trust Him fully.

This is why patience and grace for ourselves is so crucial. It’s not an overnight fix. A close and intimate walk with God takes work and perseverance, especially when it’s hard and we don’t want to. As my dear husband says, “You can only build character when you don’t want to.”

Furthermore, we do not know God’s plan for us. I frequently watch two little boys and sometimes they are convinced that I am out to make their lives miserable. But the truth of the matter is that I love them and I know that candy at 7am in not healthy for them, so I say no. They may think I’m trying to punish them by not taking them to the park, but in fact their dad is coming over to surprise them and if we leave the house we’ll miss him. I also cruelly take away the scissors when they start running with them. I know a lot of things the 4yr old and the 2yr old don’t, therefore I’m far more capable of making the best choices for them. God knows even more than I do, hard as that may be for me to believe sometimes. He is all knowing and all powerful and everything is happening according to His good pleasure.

I might get upset that He is taking things away or withholding things from me, but really, He knows what He’s doing and He’s doing it because He loves me. Laura Story sings a beautiful song about this called ‘Blessings‘ and if you have a few minutes I highly recommend it.

All this to say, if you are going through a storm in your life, hang in there. The bad things that are happening in your life could be very good signs. It’s not the end of the world – however much to may feel like it – because God is on the throne and He does hold your life in His hands. He is molding you to be more like Him and He is fully planning on giving your beauty from ashes. He DOES have a wonderful plan for your life (Jer. 29:11) and He IS preparing a place for you (John 14:3). Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. 1 Cor. 16: 13-14

When Everything Goes Wrong for the Right Reasons: Part 1

(Originally published 8/21/13) 

If you have ever tried to walk in God’s will for more than a couple of minutes, you’ll know firsthand that it is hard. I’m talking really hard. Sometimes doing what you believe God is telling you to do can feel like swimming against the tide.

My husband and I believe there is a calling on our lives to write books that glorify God. Much of our first three and a half months of marriage has been spent in front of our computers, typing away and trying to find agents and publishers. So far, we have very little to show for our work. We have even questioned whether we heard God right. I’m sure we are not alone in our almost automatic assumption that if we do not seem to prosper, it’s because we have misheard God and He is not in it with us.

But I’m actually coming to believe that trials and adversities mean the stark opposite. If we are truly walking according to God’s will and striving to glorify Him, than satan can’t be too happy about it. He won’t want us to succeed in this; he won’t want us to accomplish what the Lord has set us to accomplish and he won’t want God glorified, even a little. So it makes sense that he would send his minions to oppose us at every turn.

If you never have the opportunity to read C. S. Lewis’s ‘The Screwtape Letters,’ I highly recommend that you read even just a snippet of it. The book is about a demon who is writing letters of advice to his nephew on how to trip up and discourage the human his nephew has been ‘assigned.’ It’s a real eye-opener to the weapons of the enemy.

2 Cor. 10:3-4, 1 Pet. 5:8-9, Eph. 6:11-12, and many more verses make it clear that we are involved in spiritual warfare. The devil does not want you to walk in victory and he will hinder you and plague your every step. He will show you your faults, others’ faults, and everything that is going wrong. He will do his best to blind you to all the blessings in your life and all the little ways God is loving and encouraging you.

One of the main things he will try to belittle is your perseverance. We humans are impatient creatures and satan will use that. When we start to think we did something wrong because life isn’t adhering to our time line, the devil will pounce on that and agree with us wholeheartedly. He will grow those feelings of angst in the hopes that we will give up and leave God’s will in favor of trying things out on our own.

Satan will also try to distract us with this shiny, pretty world of his. He’ll point out all the new toys and all the rainbows we ‘should’ be chasing. He’ll try to fool us into thinking this world is it, and distract us from the truth of eternity. When we buy into these lies and chase after the things of this world it won’t take long at all for us to grow discouraged because earth’s treasures will never be enough to satisfy.

So really, hard times can be a very good sign that you are on the right track and getting under the enemy’s skin. Honestly, if we’re not ticking him off and starting a fight, we’re probably doing something wrong. We need to be vigilant during the rough patches. We need to be able to recognize the lies of satan so we can rebuke him in Jesus’ name and press on towards the goal.

Tips for the DIY Christian

It’s been said that the chief end of man is to glorify God. Even if you don’t agree with that completely, you’ll probably still concede that glorifying God is a big part of the Christian walk.

It’s been my own personal aim for years. But how do we go about it? I’m a big DIYer and I love tips and step-by-step instructions, so here are some things I’ve been applying to my life:

Spend time in the Word. Every day, for as long as you can, read the Bible. Don’t miss even one day. Even if it’s the last thing you want to do, make yourself read the Bible.
Pray. Pray, pray, pray. Take time, every day, and set it aside as your special prayer time. I like to do mine in the morning to check it off my to-do list early. It’s even better if you can go on a prayer walk so other people can see you spending time with Jesus.
Smile. Even if your life is crumbling around you, make sure you’re presenting a joyful countenance. No one will want to be a Christian if they realize how hard it is so make sure you show them a smile.
Give money to the people with cardboard signs. I know you don’t want to, neither do I, but Jesus said to give to the poor, so if we want to be good Christians, we have to be generous.
Above all, make sure you are producing the fruits of the Holy Spirit. No matter what it takes, make sure there are signs of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control in your life. Some people say if you don’t have signs of this fruit in your life, you might not really be saved, so make sure the fruit is there.

There you go; a nice five step plan. Maybe you’re already doing some of these things, or maybe you have extra items you could add. But this is the list I try to follow. And I can tell you from personal experience, IT DOES NOT WORK.

I try to be a good Christian, I try to follow Jesus in all things, keep the rules, and glorify Him in my life. And I fail, every single day. At the end of the day, I’m left wondering ‘what was that?!’ and promising that I’ll do better tomorrow. That’s my nightly prayer: ‘God, I’m sorry, please help me to do better tomorrow.’

I keep forgetting the simple, beautiful, mysterious truth of Gal.2:20;

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

I’m like that little kid who wants to paint a beautiful picture to show off how great their daddy is. So I grab my paintbrush and I paint on a big smile, I spruce up some of the drab colors, and I draw lots of little pieces of spiritual fruit everywhere. And in the end, I crumple the picture up, toss it over my shoulder in frustration, and tell God I can do better. I even ask Him for pointers on painting. And all the while, He just wants me to give Him the brush.

I’ve been operating under the assumption that whenever I think righteous thoughts, speak words of love, or do good works, I glorify God.

As if anything I can do on my own could be considered good.

As if there were anything good in me other than Jesus.

Every time I love someone who is difficult to love, every time I rejoice through the pain, every time I choose to follow God and please Him, it’s not really me doing it, it’s Christ in me. It’s me dying to the flesh and allowing Him to have His way and bear His fruit. John 15:4 says:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

Most of us don’t want to acknowledge that there is nothing good in us and that the results are up to Him. We want to bring something to the table. We want to do something to earn grace. So we make up our to-do list, our 5 Steps to the Perfect Christian, and all the while, we already have everything we need for a godly life. Christ in us, the hope of glory.

All we are supposed to do is abide in Him. We have to stop trying to paint pretty pictures for Him and hand over the brush.

Stepping back and allowing Christ to live in and through me is the only way to turn my life into a masterpiece that glorifies Him.

Strong Language

(Originally published 8/13)

This is going to be the absolute greatest post I’ve ever made! Did I get your attention? Do you believe me? Probably not. You might even be thinking that was an egotistical boast. It would have been if I were serious, but I wasn’t. I was exaggerating, something I’m prone to do.

A lot of us are. By this I don’t mean that we all go fishing and bring home stories of wale hunts. What I mean is we use strong language to get our points across. If someone asks us how we’re doing we reply that we’re ‘great.’ Someone shows us their new car and we tell them it’s ‘awesome.’ We use words like ‘never’ and ‘always’ ‘all’ the time. It’s so ingrained in our social language that we don’t even notice we’re doing it.

This isn’t really a problem because most of us only use this type of language either in person where whoever we’re speaking with can see our facial expressions and thus determine our true meaning, or with people who know us well enough to tell when we are exaggerating. So we continue to use big words for regular things and it doesn’t cause many misunderstandings.

There is, however, a danger that comes with all this strong language; big words are becoming common, overused, and unbelievable. We are using all our strong language for everyday little things and we are weakening them. So when we go to church and sing ‘How Great is our God’ it’s not coming through to us in the same way. Sure, God is great, but so was our meeting with the boss last week. God is awesome, as was Monday night’s game. God is perfect, just like our delicious burger. See the problem? It’s harder to get across big things when we’ve trivialized the words.

Even worse, now the words don’t mean as much when we read them in the promises of God. Look at 2 Peter 1:3:

‘His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.’

Look at the use of the word ‘everything’ there. That’s huge! We have everything we need for a godly life. But we also have everything we need to make lasagna so we don’t get as excited by the word as we should. Look almost anywhere in Psalms and you’ll read of God’s greatness. Ps. 96:4 says;

‘For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.’

We read that and then spill our coffee and exclaim, ‘Great! That’s just great!’ A big one is the word love. The Greek had four different words for love but we have just the one so we love God but we also love that new T.V. show. Therefore, verses like John 15: 9, in which Jesus says,

“As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you,”

doesn’t hit home as hard as it’s intended to.

Finding new words is fun and there are a lot out there that few people know exist. But there aren’t enough to replace all the words in the Bible and I don’t think people are going to rush out and invent a bunch of new words so we can rewrite the Bible with more flamboyant language. Neither can we expect our culture to abandon their wordy ways and use words like ‘great’ and ‘awesome’ and ‘perfect’ only when pertaining to God. We have one word for love and it will probably continue to be used to name favorite sport teams.

We need to rewire our brains to realize what these words mean and remember to keep things in context. When we read through the Bible, we need to stop on those common, big words that we usually take for granted and really think about them. If you can, google the verse you’re reading and try to find the original Greek words and their meanings, especially for love verses. There is a lot of strong language in the Bible and God makes a lot of ‘big word’ promises. Read slowly so you don’t miss them. And when you do find them, take a moment to really think on them and enjoy the powerful language and love of God.   

On Praises and Storms

We’ve all seen our fair share of storms. Sometimes, these seasons seem to last forever and sometimes they are brief whirlwinds. But pretty much all of us at some point ask the question ‘Why?’

I’m in the midst of my own storm and I’m very familiar with that question. It’s one that’s haunted my path and taunted me with doubts. The search for an answer has not only consumed my thoughts, it’s swallowed my praise.  

My search led me to the book of Job this morning and it was there that I had an epiphany.

Job never read the book of Job.

Ok, I know. Duh. But seriously, from Job chapter 1, verse 6 we are privy to God’s reasons. We know that God was pleased with Job and when the devil asked permission to tempt Job, God granted it.

We see clearly throughout the book that God is always in complete control of the situation, that satan can’t do a thing without God’s permission, and that the reason behind all the testing is to prove that Job is a Godly man and to make him even more of one.

But Job had no idea what was going on! He lost everything; he was brought to the lowest point any of us can experience on earth. And he never knew why.

He questioned God the way we do. He was human and he wanted an explanation, just as many of us do. And, like many of us, he may have even felt entitled to one.

He got an answer, but not an explanation. Job 38-41 records God’s answer to this just man who felt unjustly afflicted. It is truly humbling. I wish I could record it here, but space fails me so let me sum up:

“Because I am God, and you are not.”        -God

We are granted the tiniest of glimpses as God’s might through these few verses. More importantly, we are shown that God owes no man, either explanation or blessing. Sometimes He does give us answers, but He doesn’t have to, as so many of us (*raises hand*) seem to think.

Job presumably went to his grave never knowing the reason behind the darkest days of his existence. But he still praised God.

Phil. 1:29 tells us:

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,”

See that? ‘Granted.’ As though to suffer for Him were a gift and an honor. Funny how we never ask Him ‘why’ when it’s sunny.

It is not a sin to bring our questions to God. Just look at the book of Psalms. But it’s dangerous to obsess over the answer, especially when one of the reasons we want it is so that we can manipulate the situation. “Why me?” very quickly turns into “How do I make it stop?”

God has a plan. And it is a good plan, because He is good. He is in control. He doesn’t owe us an explanation for what He allows to happen to us, or for the blessings He withholds from us.

He doesn’t owe me an answer. But I still owe Him praise.

Casting Crowns released a song awhile ago called ‘Praise You in this Storm,’ and I have been trying to do that. But I think that true obedience and faith goes even further than that.

From here on out, through the strengthening and enabling of the Holy Spirit, I’m going to praise You for the storm.

Very Soon

Something a little different today: a poem. Written by my wonderful and talented husband.

Very Soon

Very soon now I shall go

And then fulfill my dream;

Very soon the world will know

I was more than I seemed.

Quite soon now, but not yet

For first I must prepare;

Quite soon now I will get

What I need to get me there.

Somewhat soon, a few days

Or perhaps in a week;

Somewhat soon, then I may

Have that prize which I seek.

Someday, if God wills it

Though the dream did not die;

Someday, no, I’ll not fulfill it

For time has passed it by.

Very soon now my life will cease

And I’ll have nothing to show;

Very soon now, I have no peace

For I failed very soon to go.

By Johnathan Ness