Taunts:Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

                Taunts 

                Winds carry to her

                taunts of caravans

                passing by.

                Whistle tavern songs

                rapping baudy

                proposals.

                Wide spread

                tales of laughter

                parodies.

                Whisper longing

                to stop enemy's

                parade.

Psalm 37:14: "The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those who walk uprightly;"

Reflection: Wholeness: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions

         1. Were you ever mocked in school growing up? Or in public since? For what reason?

         2. Whether based on truth or lies taunts can pierce our 'inward parts'. How do you respond to them now as an adult?

        3. Do you think that God's truth can feel like being pierced when we recognize it? Why or why  not?

Share: What can make His piercing a hope instead of a bitterness?

Wholeness: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Lamentations 3:13-15: "He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts. .... ".

Wholeness

How often do we forget, or ignore, that before healing can begin the cancerous contents needs to be removed. In body, in thoughts, in memories, and in our soul.

The weakness, sin, and lies need to be identified. Brought out openly to see clearly.

Then through light and clarity we can recognize the hope to persevere. To follow the truth into His restoration.

Lord, please show us how to persevere through the decay and receive Your new path. To walk upright in Your wholeness.

Your thoughts,

Reflection:Wholeness: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     “For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” Psalm 127:1 Why do we, do you, find this promise difficult to absorb?

2.     What changes in words or action would help you to live into hope this week, this year?

3.     Where do you want to build a new beginning?

           

4.     Write out a description of what that might look like. Then offer it up as a prayer over the next several days with a listening heart.

5.     Write down what God shows you as wholeness over the next several days.

                       

Wholeness: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 40 “And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever.”

Whole valley,

Can we leave the past, with complete trust in the Lord’s protection, so as to move forwards from our wilderness into new beginnings?

Are we ready and willing to entrust Him with all the pain and the loss and give it into His shelter?

Otherwise we too can become trapped in the wilderness unable to heal—unable to follow His light.

Yet the Lord continues to give us His grace to keep us remembering the hope He provides. And as He has carried us through loss, He will continue to carry us through new beginnings.

Lord, may we build only where You lead us to, and only by Your Spirit’s insight and timing. May Your will be done in all our days in the whole valley of our time.

Your thoughts,