The following poem is by Joanne Whiteman Duisman.  It was given to me at some time in the past, and blessed me so much, that I tucked it away to keep among my own poetry and other favorite poems.  I think there are just some poems that capture a little piece of the eternity which God placed in our hearts, and they give a gift of peace when they are read.  This expresses the way I see this life, versus eternity!

“A Poem”

A baby lay in the womb, and a voice came, saying “It is time to leave”

But the baby said; “I like it where I am”.

The voice answered “haven’t you noticed? You’re growing.  There’s no room left in here“.

The baby said; “I don’t mind.  It’s all I’ve known.

The voice said; “There’s so much more out there”

And the baby said; “Like what?”

“Like rainbows and music, and all kinds of love, like mountains, and rivers, and ideas and books”

The baby said; “What are those?  I don’t understand!”

The voice said: “How could you?  You don’t know enough.  But the time has come”

And the child was born into the world, leaving behind the debris it no longer needed.

Someday, perhaps very soon, a voice will come to me;

“It is time to leave”

I will say; “”I like it here.  It’s all I remember.”

The voice will say; “There is so much more”

and I will say; “Like what?  What could be better?

“You don’t know enough, or see, or hear, or taste or love enough to understand.  Just trust.  It is time to go.”

And I will be born eternally, into God’s everlasting kingdom, leaving behind the body I no longer need.

©1988 Joanne Whiteman Duisman

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“They who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little of the God of tempests, but they who ‘do business in great waters’ these see ‘His wonders in the deep”‘. ~C.H. Spurgeon

Trials and struggles are the only means of becoming “fit” to witness the Glory of God.  If life is all ease and comfort, we would not know what great things God is able to do.  And so, do not sweep away the memory of the time when you faltered or failed.

Oswald Chambers said; “Let memory have its way.  It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow.  God will turn the ‘might have been’ into a wonderful culture for the future.

Does my faith in God extend to the reaches of taking my worst mistakes and using them for good?  Or have I discovered some depth of sin which Christ’s sacrifice is not sufficient to reach or cover?  If I am certain that I have so grievously erred that God could have no desire to redeem me, then I compound my crime and insult the character of a loving God.  You and I have nothing to commend us before Him.  All we can offer to Him is our brokenness, strife, and blackened hearts!

It just so happens that God is in the restoration business.  Have you not heard the story of the old violin?  Broken, used up, spent, and tuneless, in the Master’s hand it was revealed as treasure of great worth.  We cannot make ourselves more than we are.  But God can create in us a clean heart, and a right spirit, putting off the old, and making us a new creature in Christ.

If you think you are beyond redemption, you do not know the Christ Jesus that I know.  He knows you.  He has put a great deal of thought into all He would like to accomplish in you.  But you may never discover those things.  How can you, unless you go to Him?

Submit yourself to Him.  Jesus the Son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, are One.  He created you and will turn none away who seek Him sincerely.  The thief on the cross never served Jesus a day in his life.  Yet the Bible tells us he was with Jesus in paradise that same afternoon.

Every one of the heroes of the faith had egregious sins upon their records.  David: Murder, adultery, lying, abuse of powers.  Rahab: prostitution, lying. Solomon: Polygamy. Sampson, disobedience.  It seems as though the greater the exploits and endeavors God used these people for, the greater the magnitude of their sins.  This is the proof that we have no good or potential for good within us, and of ourselves, that does not have a corresponding and negating sin which cancels it out.  Paul murdered and tormented Christians.  Could his later ministry atone for even one life ended at his hand? No!

Falling for Satan’s sin-traps is bad enough.  We shouldn’t give reign to  the compounding of  sin which takes place if we remain falsely and unnecessarily staggering under the yoke of sin Christ already dealt with on the Cross.  It is a disservice to Christ and an affront to the sufficiency of His death.

This, my story, has not been a confession, in the sense that these things have long ago been confessed before the Lord.  The events of my past, though not something I often feel compelled to revisit or talk about, were never hidden away, they were just some aspects of my life experiences that I don’t care to re-live.  Carrying around expired guilt, is another tragic wrong that God had to make right by His work upon my understanding.  Satan is a liar, and the father of lies.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.  But that doesn’t stop Satan from trying.  When Satan comes bearing your past before you, read him John 8: 1-11.  He will flee!

More than anything, I guess that is why I’ve written this story to include the good, the bad and the ugly.  I’m tired of ceding territory to the enemy by way of his extortion.  Everything we give to God becomes permanently outside of Satan’s reach.  Can you imagine the difference that it could make, if the presidential candidate with skeletons in his closet, launched his campaign by releasing his tax record, disclosing his affiliations, admitting his affairs, and got everything out in the open first.  I think that guy might be elected on the basis of honesty and courage alone.  Shedding light into all the dark corners, while not always pleasant, certainly removes the power of the enemy to use those things to hurt us.  I am serving notice.  God has the last word in the life of this old girl.  It doesn’t matter what others think of me, it doesn’t matter what Satan says, it doesn’t even matter what I think of me.  Nothing can make unclean what God hath declared clean.  What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can make me whole again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Are you hurting, tired, frightened, weary, defeated?  Come to the open arms of Jesus.  Don’t believe the lies.  Don’t believe the accuser.  Jesus already paid for your sins, why pay for them again yourself when you don’t have to? Does that seem unfathomable?  That is because I speak as the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2: “not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth”.  The natural man can’t receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”.  You have to call upon the Lord to give you the understanding you need, in order to receive this gift.  Freedom awaits you that has already been purchased.  All you have to do is be willing to turn away from that nature of the flesh which is your enemy anyway, and turn toward the best Friend you could ever have.  It is up to Him to create that clean heart within you.  Are you ready today?  Do you realize this world is passing away?

God is extending His hand to you.  He is inviting you to know a future of hope, rather than of doom.  Just listen to this promise:

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9) For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind.  Right now, I have in my memory all the painful and difficult things that I’ve written about.  Those things still have the power to hurt me when I recall them, which is why I try not to think about them, though I can’t help that sometimes they come to mind.   These promises from the Lord tell me that a time will come when I will never remember them again.  How about you, do you have some things you’d like to never remember again?

Right now, doom is all around us.  Evil is  becoming more arrogant and brazen every day, because Satan knows that right now he still has your soul, and yours, and yours.  But it is not too late.  The thief on the cross was saved with only moments to spare, by simply understanding that he himself was guilty, but that Jesus was the Messiah whom He said that He was; sinless and perfect, the passover Lamb, whose blood was shed for the remission of sins.  The gift cannot be applied to you, unless you choose to receive it.  It is yours for the asking.

That death angel can pass over you as well, if that blood of Christ covers you.  I am nothing better than you, all that I am is covered under the blood from that cleansing fountain that flows from Emanuel’s veins.

Amen, amen, and amen!

Ben playing Funglish, game given to us by Adam and Sherry and Ashley. Ben has his Dad’s subtle humor and soft-spoken and gentle spirit!

I used to fear the teen years. Now, I think it’s as great as the baby years, only in different ways. Isaac, whose name means laughter, has always been naturally funny.

Our sons are a riot. I told Garrett that they will be so much fun when they get older, and I’m no longer responsible for them, lol!

The “us” before we became the four of us. I believe this was Easter, before church in ’94

The flamingo caper!

Mary, Mary(Left) and me!

Me and Hubby! People used to ask us if we were brother and sister. I said, “no, but my family is from West Virginia!

The photographer was so focused on getting the baby to smile that she didn’t notice Ben wasn’t looking at the camera. But this was the only good shot!

Tam on the left, me on the right. Who didn’t do glamour shots in the nineties?

’09-Hubby-n-me!

Daffodils mean Hope to me!

’93-The flamingo caper: My roomie Shan

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