Your Dying Spouse 651 - It's OK To Despair

So often I hear Christians beating themselves up for feeling despair, thinking that their faith is somehow not strong enough.

That's baloney. Jesus despaired, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and later, on the Cross.

"Father, why have You forsaken Me?"

If He's allowed despair, so are you.

You just have to work not to let it win. You can't stop birds flying over your head, but you don't have to let them nest in your hair.

Jesus made the path for you, to despair, and beyond it.

Take His Hand.

He knows the way.

The poem below originally appeared as a comment to the Books and Such Literary Management blog post Quotes To Inspire Your Writing Life, written by Rachel Kent.

I wish that I were in the place

where affirming words could guide my way,

but hope's now lost, with little trace

and I've forgotten how to pray.

In the past they raised my heart,

beloved phrases, held so dear;

but in this loathsome bleeding's start,

someone get me out of here.

And silence, like a cold dark weight

covers all my once-good earth;

in mocking stillness informs the fate

of what I thought God planned from birth.

In freighted echo, Calvary-cry,

"Father, I'm forsaken...WHY?"

Music from For King And Country, with Shoulders.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.