Introspective

Introspective

At times, its hard to express the way you truly feel. 

More often than not, we struggle to identify what that even is. 

All I can say is that I am grateful to God for His mercy. He is a great God and He loves me.

The Cross

 In evil long I took delight,

Unawed by shame or fear,

Till a new object struck my sight,

And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,

In agonies and blood;

He fixed His languid eyes on me,

As near His cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,

Shall I forget that look!

It seemed to charge me with His death,

Though not a word He spoke.

A second look He gave, which said,

"I freely all forgive;

This blood is for thy ransom paid;

I die that thou mayest live."

Thus while His death my sin displays

In all its blackest hue,

Such is the mystery of grace,

It seals my pardon too!

—John Newton

Destined for a Fall

 There was a people long ago

     Who had great riches, wealth untold;

     They built a city with a wall,

     A kingdom they thought would never fall.

     How they labored unceasingly

     To lay up treasure increasingly;

     They gave no thought to what lay beyond,

     That their kingdom would someday be gone.

     But one by one the stones came down;

     The city was leveled to the ground,

     No more fortune to be found,

     No one left to wear a crown.

     The mighty kingdom fell at last;

     Its beauty's gone, its pleasure's past;

     All was lost they sought to gain,

     Their lives were wasted, their labor vain.

     You can build a kingdom with a mighty wall,

     But like the kingdom long ago, it is destined for a fall,

     Unless Christ the Lord becomes your King

     And ruler of everything.

—Perry Boardman

Forever with the Lord

 Forever with the Lord!

Amen; so let it be,

Life from the dead is in that word,

'Tis immortality.

Here in the body pent,

Absent from Him I roam,

Yet nightly pitch my moving tent

A day's march nearer home.

My Father's house on high,

Home of my soul, so near,

At times, to faith's far-seeing eye

Thy golden gates appear!

Yet clouds will intervene,

And all my prospect flies,

Like Noah's dove, I flit between

Rough seas and stormy skies.

And the clouds depart,

The winds and waters cease,

While sweetly o'er my gladdend heart

Expands the bow of peace.

In darkness as in light,

Hidden alike from view,

I sleep, I wake, as in His sight,

Who looks all nature through.

Forever with the Lord!

Father, if 'tis Thy will,

The promise of that faithful word

Even here to me fulfil.

Be Thou at my right hand,

Then can I never fail,

Uphold Thou me, and I shall stand,

Fight, and I must prevail.

Knowing as I am known,

How shall I love that word!

And oft repeat before the throne,

Forever with the Lord!

Forever with the Lord!

Amen; so let it be,

Life from the dead is in that word,

'Tis immortality.

—Octavius Winslow