Getting away for me into the mountains has always been an intense experience with God. This year our summer trip to Idaho was no different. While hiking with my husband, I could not help but think about the process of redemption and you redeemed girls kept coming to mind. As I sweated and strained to get up the mountain, I kept feeling like God was speaking these words to you. God is with you in the process. He is with you in the pain. He is in the business of redemption. The view at the top of the mountain is worth every step of the journey. This series of five poems are to be read as a picture of our journey of redemption in Christ.

 

Clothed

I was far off

Tossed in a corner

Battered, bruised, forsaken, scorned

I was lied to, told I was nothing

Only an object

To be tried on, worn –

But Your Arms

They

Gave me garments

Ones that fit my nakedness

Ones that transformed

Into Something all my nothing

Glorious, Adorned.

So your Light it

Calls me, beckons

To a life well-worn with Love

When I’m fit

Clothed for the Journey

Where I’ll find my Glorious Home.

 

Called

The Sun it rises o’er the valley

Giving Light to all I see

Fingers tracing, Fingers probing

Paths of well-worn antiquity.

Darkness banished,

Sends it fleeing

To furthest corners of space and time

The paths are open

The hills, they beckon

“Come and see!”

“Daughter, Come and climb!”

He’s set my heart to come and worship

He’s clothed my heart to truly live

The One who beckons, I have tasted

He is glory, deep within –

All my ways are known before You

I have told You everything

Yet You take me,

Own me, know me

Want me, with my everything.

So clothe me with Your lovely glory

Teach me Your Paths, O Gracious One.

Remove the false,

Get rid of darkness

For I have tasted lips of the Son.

(Proverbs 2:1-15; Psalm 119:26, 29; Psalm 2:12)

 

Climbing

The garments cling

The sweat, it drips

My legs burn with every step –

Weary-worn and tired of speaking

I stop for a moment to pause…and rest…

The valley teems with life below

Those who have chosen to stay beneath

The mountain is lonely, the paths are ancient

Is what I am doing insanity?

But the view, oh, it is breath-taking

Peaks and valleys, snow-capped ridge

Silent is the sacred journey

My heart, it sings

The song You give.

 

Cannot

Now comes the darkness

Deepest blackness

Night of all deepest despair.

I cannot see where I am going

I am blind by all my fear.

I stumble, trip, bruised in the darkness

No one here to hold my hand

Loneliness, it presses closer

Paralyzes, from the heart down.

I call to You –

But all seems silent

Where are You, my Lord of Love?

You beckoned me upon this Journey,

Yet on the path, I feel alone.

All at once, I hear the summons,

“Take one more step, you’ll see the way.”

And so in faith-fraught, fearful courage

I step along the ancient way.

And once I step, when fog has lifted,

Now the next step beckons me.

So through the night

I step, and follow,

Faith-filled path of mystery.

 

Caught

You are the Warrior of my Worship

Defender of all Ancient Ways

You keep the paths of wisdom open

For all who lose their life to save

O my God!  Fight for my worship!

Keep my heat set upon You!

These feet of mine, they stray so quickly

Off the path, off of all good.

And when I stumble, bleeding badly,

I feel such shame upon my soul

Come and lift my head up higher

To follow You, Lord of all Love.

Arms they beckon, hands they strengthen

Every step along the Way

And as light banishes all darkness

I wake to find Thee in my stead –

Never have I been alone.

Never was I cast aside.

There behind me,

There beside me,

There in front,

You’ve hemmed me in.

I cannot fall

Where You can’t catch me

I cannot stumble

Beyond Your reach

For when our hearts are set on worship

Anointed One, our paths You keep. 

 

Companion

Fellow traveler,

Listen closely

The Journey, it is arduous

The path is steep

The nights, they darken

But the Warrior-King, He beckons on.

Never will the One who found you

Cleaned you

Clothed you

Leave you alone.

Never will the One you follow

Leave you for a “better” one.

For you are His

Your worship precious

The paths He gives you

He will defend.

And when you stumble

He will aid you

Set your feet back on to Him.

And the views He gives are mighty

Stunning and so glorious

So take the Hand of your Companion

Ascend the path of Obedience.