Thank You for the Trials

Thank You for the trials
For the fire, for the pain
Thank You for the strength
Knowing You have ordained
Every day

Painting #1

I Have A Shelter

I Have A Shelter

Sovereign Grace Music
(Steve & Vikki Cook and Bob Kauflin)

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows

I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation

I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail
You’ll bring me home to heaven

In The Hour of Trial

In the Hour of Trial

Coram Deo Church
(James Montgomery)

In the hour of trial, Jesus, plead for me,
Lest by base denial I depart from Thee.
When Thou seest me waver, with a look recall,
Nor for fear or favor suffer me to fall.

With forbidden pleasures would this vain world charm,
Or its sordid treasures spread to work me harm,
Bring to my remembrance sad Gethsemane,
Or, in darker semblance, cross-crowned Calvary.

Should Thy mercy send me sorrow, toil and woe,
Or should pain attend me on my path below,
Grant that I may never fail Thy hand to see;
Grant that I may ever cast my care on Thee.

When my last hour cometh, fraught with strife and pain,
When my dust returneth to the dust again,
On Thy truth relying, through that mortal strife,
Jesus, take me, dying, to eternal life.

Dear X

Dear pain, oh, it's been a long time.
Remember when you were holding me tight?
I would stay awake with you all night.
Dear shame, I was safe in your arms.
You were there when it all fell apart.
I would get so lost in your beautiful lies.
I let you go,
But you're still chasing

Dear hate, I know you're not far.
You would wait at the door of my heart.
I was amazed at the passion in your cries.
Dear anger, you made me so high.
You were faithful to show up on time.
Such a flame that was burning in your eyes.
I let you go,
But you're still chasing

Go ahead,
You're never gonna take me.
You can bend,
But you're never gonna break me.
I was yours...
I'm not yours anymore.
Oh, you don't own me.

Go ahead,
Put a target on my forehead.
You can fire,
But you've got no bullet.
I was yours...
I'm not yours anymore
Oh, you don't own me

You tempted me to look back,
But everything that we had together was a lie.

The masquerade is ending.
There is great strength in vulnerability.

The character, Death, divides black from white...eternal damnation versus everlasting life in Heaven. Specks of chrome surmounted among the black is because Everyman does not see death for what it is, but for what it appears to be- enticing and desirable. What a distorted mindset of hell we have... but that is the intention of the devil, because we are tempted due to the fact that we do not see evil for what it truly is. We see chrome. We hear the gentle urging. We feel welcomed and unafraid as we follow when the devil whispers, "Come with me." We forget that hell is a place of destruction. Fear overwhelms Everyman as Death approaches unwillingly. But, there is security, and peace for those who rely on faith. The messiness of Death is often what brings about confusion. Why rely on darkness when the brightness of Light and Life is clean?

Lo, yonder I see Everyman walking;

Full little he thinketh on my coming;

His mind is on fleshly lust and his treasure,

And great pain it shall cause him to endure

Before the Lord Heaven King.

-Death

Silenced

The deafening sound causes the ears to seek for peace
To listen for a beautifully orchestrated tune.
To accept the voice of acceptance
And to rejoice at the sound of laughter.

The voice- it yearns to roar!
The tongue dances behind these lips at the voice of freedom.
But the mouth remains unmoved.
Speech is impaired by the one who speaks too much.

In this makeshift reality I have limited myself to be a victim. But in the abandoned truth is reassuring hope for reconstruction. And after a night of deprived sleep I have woken up to who I am. Now it's time to rewrite our history. Not with bias anger but overwhelming compassion.

The key to unlock the mind is swallowed by a deceiving thought. Slithering down its host's throat the deceitful thought finds a tender surface on the heart and begins to burrow. Smothering words smooth talk their way beyond seduced lips and release a lethal poison into the room. Each breath that the subconscious body inhales contains depression and the emotions begin deteriorating the lungs. Destructive desires strike your frame like electricity and kills the lights. Darkness. The thought has successfully broken through the delicate muscle surrounding the heart. Sunken eyes capture distorted shadows dancing on the ceiling. The pupils dilate with the frail flickering of movement. Too much to witness and the overwhelming visions cause the retinas to explode out of their sockets and visions deflate themselves leaving black holes to gaze out of. Chains linked by innocent bones that are covered by the impurity of human flesh have been discreetly placed around a vital structure that compels ones self to sense injustice and leads the subconscious. The soul. The chains are pulled creating a gut wrenching tension. Bones splinter and shatter as the weight of burdens in the form of a sledgehammer maliciously massacres the skeleton. Screams morph into laughter, which signals to the brain that life is soon to end. Insanity calms your heartache as a flock of teeth baring paper cranes made up of every self pitying journal entry ever to leave your pen, rips the sound from the throat and leaves it to be obliterated by the explosive taunts of the only sounds a mute can make. voices in the head.