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This post is dedicated to Jill @Pathway to Purpose. Her oldest child has an on going health issue. She has been strong and expressed her faith at each turn of this journey. Today I dedicate this poem from Ruth Bell Graham to her and all mothers. We all go through seasons with our children in which there are struggles with physical, health or spiritual challenges. We will also see challenges again with our grand children, since we still live in a fallen world. Ruth Bell Graham experienced struggles with her own children, as well as, her grandchildren. She also witnessed God's faithfulness, yet her poems express the heart of a mother crying out to her Lord.
Had I Been Joseph's Mother
Had I been Joseph's mother
I'd have prayed
protection from his brothers.
"God, keep him safe.
He is so young,
so different from,
the others."
Mercifully,
she never knew
there would be slavery
and prison, too.
Had I been Moses' mother
I'd have wept
to keep my little son:
praying she might forget
the babe drawn from the water
of the Nile.
Had I not kept
him for her
nursing him the while,
was he not mine!
- and she
but Pharaoh's daughter?
Had I been Daniel's mother
I should have pled
"Give victory!
-this Babylonian horde
godless and cruel-
Don't let him be a captive
-better dead,
Almighty Lord!"
Had I been Mary,
Oh, had I been she,
I would have cried
as never mother cried,
"Anything, O God,
Anything....
-but crucified!"
With such prayers importunate
my finite wisdom would assail
Infinite Wisdom.
God, how fortunate
Infinite Wisdom
should prevail.
Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI just cried reading this. Then, I tried to read it aloud to my daughter and I cried again. I don't think she got why I was crying.
ReplyDeleteShe will.
At least that's what I'm praying as HER mother.
Not even one full cup of coffee yet and my heart still kicked in. Tears in my eyes as I read this. Beautiful, just beautiful. It made me think of one of my friends, gifted with a baby in her 40's, that child needed and had a heart transplant and currently is in the hospital after a kidney transplant. Not even two, that child and family have shown more strength in their struggles than I could ever imagine.
ReplyDeleteThat is so beautiful. She surely captured every mother's hearts and thoughts. His infinite wisdom may test us and try us, but in the end, we see what He was accomplishing.
ReplyDeleteoh you already know that her poems touch me so. I have her book of them sitting right over here on my shelf. She had such a unique and honest gift of expressing what we feel.
ReplyDeleteJust what I needed this morning; thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteIt beautiful and the words reach deep in my spirit.....
What humanity...and the truth is His ways are so much different from our own. A mother's thoughts can be so far from The Father's. Still He is good and will work it all out for His glory as we yield to Him. That poem is powerful.
ReplyDeleteVery sweet. Thank you, Friend. I enjoy all your posts, but this one touched my heart. And I enjoyed all the comments as well.
ReplyDelete~a
Lovely, lovely poem, I love Ruth.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to remember and pray for our own children. Thanks have a great weekend. I had tea last night in that cup and I sat and thought of you. :)
Thank you for the birthday wishes for our son, Janette.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood (IN PART) His methods long ago but do not always like them. He knows. I tell Him all the time. ;)
Thanks for sharing.
Have a gorgeous weekend.
Sometimes I think it is the mercy of our Lord that we do not know what to pray not to happen. For these things if they didn't happen where would we be? I pray for my sons that the Lord be with them to the very end, no matter what that means. What a hard prayer to pray. ((sigh))
ReplyDeleteBeautiful my friend.
Blessings and ((HUGS))
-Mary
Just beautiful! Thanks for sharing, I love Ruth Graham, what a gentle and quiet giant she was! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteThere is something about a Mother's love...we are there for all the good and bad times.
ReplyDeleteThis poem shows us that we can get through, only with God's help.
I heard a quote,"A mother is only as happy, as her saddest child".
Oh my soul, that's beautiful!! Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you dear friend. Love you! This was just beautiful-I am going to print out a copy and put it in my journal I am keeping of this journey we are on. Thank God for the blessing you are to me. Praying for you.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Love
Jill
Oh how beautiful this poem is, and such a tender post for your friend!
ReplyDeleteI will pray for Jill and her oldest child! Sweet blessings to you, Janette...sweet, sweet blessings! xo
Janette,
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely poem, and how timely for me personally.
blessings to you - Marsha
Beautiful, Janette!
ReplyDeleteThe poem really cuts right to the heart of Who's wisdom we should adhere too. We would skip the pain and the suffering, and then lose the greatest blessings. Through these sufferers, our world has been transformed. Blessed is the sword that pierced their hearts and rendered to the world these spiritual giants, and Our Savior.
ReplyDeleteJanette, this was so lovely. A mother's heart - no one can fully understand it - no one except another mother - or the heart of a Father.
ReplyDeleteHow I pray for my boys - all grown up. Sometimes it's all I can do to hold on to the fact that my Heavenly Father loves them even more, way more, than I do.
His Son died for my sons. I continue to pray for the strength to release them into those arms of Love.
GOD BLESS!
What a beautiful poem! Thank you for posting this Janette. I know my prayers for loved ones are often to keep them safe. But God's will may require some unpleasantness. If I really trust God, I should offer my loved ones to Him with open hands.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Debbie
More tears. Loved this. I try to pray for God's will, not my own, but it can be so difficult. I will remember this now. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeletexo
Leslie