poetry | Faith Centered Inspiration

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Backstory:
I have always loved the hymn, How Great Thou Art. So of course I had to look up the backstory behind the lyrics. It was originally from a poem by a Swedish preacher named Carl Boberg. He came from a visit to a beautiful country estate on the southeast coast of Sweden. He got caught in a midday thunderstorm with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence, followed by a clear brilliant sun. Soon afterwards he heard the calm, sweet songs of the birds in nearby trees. The experience prompted Boberg to “fall to his knees in humble adoration of his mighty God.” A British minister named Stuart K. Hine contributed heavily to the version of How Great Thou Art that we are familiar with today.

When the Thunder Roars Inside

Dear Father, you know that I have struggles that seem heavy at times,
And feeling the weight on my shoulders feels like a huge boulder I have to carry sometimes.
Some days I feel like a figurative thunderstorm is roaring inside of me,
With thunder, rain and lightning striking my soul and obstructing what I can see.

Then the sun comes out after the storm is over,
And I feel the sun's rays on my shoulders as to You I draw closer.
Then my soul starts to sing as I look at the beauties of nature around me,
And inside my soul, I start to feel free.

I wish that I could feel like this every minute of every day,
Because the gratitude and the joy in my heart is more than I can adequately say.
But there is opposition in all things and the clouds come out inside me from time to time,
And sometimes I feel like my soul is so weak from all of the storm’s grime.

My soul sings again when I think that You sent down to earth Your Beloved Son,
And You sacrificed Him so that my burdens wouldn’t seem as heavy as a ton.
Your Son willingly sacrificed Himself so that I will never feel alone,
And because of this amazing sacrifice my mind is completely blown.

My Loving Father, I know that You are always there,
And that for me and all of Your children you do always care.
Please, help me to feel more joy in my soul,
So that my heart will feel whole.

The Takeaway: We all have hard times when we might feel like there is a storm inside of us. But there is always hope because we have a Loving Heavenly Father who knows and loves us very much. And He sent His Beloved Son to suffer so that we don’t have to suffer. He will help heal the broken parts of us. There is always something to be grateful for that can make our hearts sing for joy.

Backstory:
I have always enjoyed literature and books. Writing has been a really great outlet for me the last few years. I heard of this metaphor and really liked it: that we may only see one stanza of a poem at a time-but God knows the entire poem-and it is beautiful, even when it’s unfinished. This really resonated with me being a poet and with my love for words and books.

Ink Blots and Masterpieces

We experience life line by line,
We don’t see the big picture because our vision is so fine.
Just one stanza of a poem may feel awkward and incomplete,
And in the beginning of writing it the theme doesn’t yet feel concrete.

As our Master Poet, our Loving Father in Heaven
Sees the whole poem in its entirety and its theme is never in question.
He sees the opening lines, the long middle where growth happens,
And the final resolution that brings meaning to every earlier line and all of its captions.

What feels like a rough draft to us with our paper and pen,
To our Father is part of His divine plan in the end.
Our unfinished lines in our poems of life,
To us may seem like failures full of strife.

Our inward growth in life is not about perfection in a single moment,
But as long as we progress and keep writing until we are out of content,
Then our Savior comes along and turns our unfinished work into a perfect and beautiful masterpiece,
And we can finish our rough draft with Him as our editor whispering in our ears words of love and peace.

Some of the most powerful poems are full of hard moments when the soul is aching and yearning for more,
Our lives are the same because we long to be in our Father’s Loving Arms but all we need to do is open the door.
And one day after this life is over-our poem of life will be read aloud in its finished state,
Then all of our earthly cares will be gone and our souls won’t feel so much weight.

The Takeaway: We are all writing our unique stories while we live on this earth. But we are never alone in our journey in mortality. By our side is our Master Editor in our Savior, Jesus Christ. He will help us erase our shortcomings and weaknesses. He will be there to whisper words of love and peace to our minds when we feel darkness inside. Our Father will also be there as our Master Poet to help us write our stories into something beautiful and full of purpose.