Some of these may relate to personal situations and times of distress, but show that we can share our deepest thoughts and fears with God - Who already knows.A PRAYER OF INTERCESSION
For this world
Your hands are stretched out.
And I lift my hand
For a weeping world –
A world torn apart
By grief and pain,
By greed and exploitation.
For the abused –
Hurt by those
Who should have shown care.
For the grieving –
Torn apart by separation
From those they love,
For those in pain
Of body or of mind –
Emotional chaos,
Ravages of dementia,
And for those who care
And share their pain
With no respite.
For those burdened
By fractured
Or hurtful relationships.
For those held fast
By addiction –
Drugs, alcohol, gambling
Or the ‘acceptable’ addiction –
Self – indulgence.
For those hating themselves,
Bound by anorexia or bulimia,
By body dysmorphic disorder.
For those who no longer
Wish to live.
For those who live in fear
And pain of war –
Man’s inhumanity to man,
Murder, genocide,
Or the much quieter weapons
Of rejection, ostracisation,
Of mental torture.
For those taken into slavery –
Human trafficking
To meet our lust and greed
With human life –
Forced labour
In sweatshops and plantations.
For those trafficked
For human gratification.
And for ourselves –
By our inactivity
Condoning what we cannot see,
And therefore presume
Does not exist.
Lord, open our eyes.
Open our hearts.
Renew is with Your power.
Rekindle us with Your fire.
Give us Your vision,
Show us our task
And help us to be
Faithful
To do Your will.
~~~~~
A pessimist's prayer! by ann_c
Lord, help me to realise
That You didn't put me here to be
"The world's greatest nit-picker!"
To find the snags in every possibility;
To view life through the eyes
of the "eternal pessimist"
And make sure everyone else
Sees it that way!
Help me to remember
That You are the God of LOVE,
Not legalism;
That change is more likely
Through the carrot than the stick.
Help me to live as You would -
Encouraging, motivating, shaping
By involvement;
Not to turn a blind eye to things
Which NEED to be changed,
But to move in Your love
To get things right
In Your way, not mine;
To have more faith in You
Than I have in Murphy's Law!
To know that You are in control
And You are working,
Even when I cannot see or feel it.
Help me to be a change-maker
For good -
For You -
Starting with me today
Ann S Clifton Author's Notes:
I've been thinking a lot about the difference between people who have a motivating or demotivating effect on me - and realise that as I could merit some of the descriptions above, I need to change!
PTSD REVISITED
The voices –
Clamouring voices;
Taunting voices.
“You’re not normal.”
“Funny face.”
“Scaredy-cat.”
“You talk funny.”
“You can’t climb.”
“You have two left feet.”
“We don’t want you on our team.”
“Go away.”
Most of all
“We don’t want you.”
“You’re a misfit.”
They press in.
They stifle me.
They frighten me.
“We don’t want you as a friend.”
“Your Mum shakes.”
“You’re weird.”
“Teacher’s pet.”
Voices from the playground deafen me.
Then the footsteps –
Quickening.
Hands reaching out;
A knee in the back;
A knife at the throat,
Knee removed.
“Did I fall, or was I pushed?”
Is all the police want to know.
Waiting in that pub –
Unwanted again;
Unhelpful police;
Endless questions;
Endless pictures;
The long walk home
Alone
In the dark.
Then those children –
Jostling,
Taunting.
“Old lady.”
Yet my name, too;
They bring it all back.
I’m scared.
I’m terrified.
I’m that lonely child
In the corner of the playground.
I’m walking along that road
In Hackney.
I’m alone,
Enveloped in fear
And the flashbacks come
Together
And I feel paralysed,
Despairing;
Terrified of meeting a child –
Any child.
Please help me, Lord
~~~~~ Author's Notes:
One Thursday I was jostled and taunted by a group of young teenagers and it has brought back the reality of events at primary school and of the mugging in London about 40 years ago.
YOU LOVE ME
You love me.
You accept me.
You do not turn away
Or look on my limitations.
You see me as beautiful;
Your child;
Precious and honoured;
Welcomed;
Belonging;
A member of a vast family
Not and only child –
Isolated.
Called to be free,
Not bound
By care and rejection.
Called to be ‘me’ –
A ‘me’ that is ‘worth it.’
Valuable.
I accept Your love.
Please tech me
How to love others,
Myself
And You –
The loving God.
~~~~~
TEARS
(based on the book ‘The Blessing of Tears’ by Julie Sheldon)
My tears are in Your bottle –
You make them beautiful;
A jewelled crown from weeping –
A gift so wonderful.
You understand my weeping;
The times I cannot cry;
And You will not despise me
Or turn my soul away.
You are ‘the Man of Sorrows,’
Acquainted with my pain.
You knew bitter rejection;
Tears that naught could restrain.
You showed all Your emotions.
You want me to express
My bottled-up, dark feeling,
As gently You caress.
One day with You in glory
All tears will banished be
Save those of joy and gladness,
When I Your face will see.
My tears turned into jewels
Fashioned in darkness here,
Each facet then reflecting
My Lord, My Saviour dear.
~~~~~
BALAAM’S ASS
(It’s easy to feel proud when people appreciate my poetry etc. – but …)
You do not choose the wise,
The strong,
To speak Your word.
You chose Balaam’s ass.
I am like that ass, Lord!
I do not choose the words
The pictures
By some skill of my own.
And so the credit
Can’t be mine.
I am weak.
I am flawed,
Yet You choose me
To be Your channel.
I am like that ass.
I am like a bit of rusty pipe.
Help me
Not to take the credit;
Not to seek for praise
For what is Yours,
But just to thank You;
To obey You;
To give You
All the glory.
~~~~~
OBSTACLES
My way is blocked, Lord.
I cannot go round.
I dare not turn back.
My only option is to climb.
But I am afraid, Lord.
Please take my hand.
Steady me;
Support me
Upon the obstacle
Which blocks my way,
That I may once again
Reach the open path
That leads me
To You.
~~~~~
Author's Notes: Written for a card in the scrapbooking set with a picture of a stile at Burrswood. Add poem to your favourites
SET A WATCH, LORD
(Based on a thought in ”God’s little book of peace”
“Your words are like nitroglycerine: they can either blow up bridges or heal hearts)
Set a watch, Lord,
On the door of my lips.
It’s so easy
To speak the unnecessary word;
The cutting word;
The discouraging word;
The critical word;
The angry word
To blow up bridges, when I should be
A bridge-builder.
Set a watch,
That my words may be
Seasoned with Your grace;
Healing words;
Encouraging words;
Helping words;
Friendly words;
Christlike words
To heal the hearts
Of all I meet today.
And set a watch
Over the words I say
To myself.
For words can blow up
My bridges to You
As I say I am worthless;
As I say I am unwanted;
Excluded;
A nuisance;
As I say things will never change.
Set a watch,
That the words I say to myself
May be Your truth.
Remind me that I am Your child.
Remind me that I am a new creation.
Remind me that ‘I am worth it.’
Remind me that in You
I can prevail.
Remind me that You are changing me
To be like You.
And as I speak these words –
Your affirming words;
Your true words;
My heart is healed
To face the day.
Ann S Clifton
~~~~~ Author's Notes:
I wonder if other members suffer from 'foot-in-mouth disease' and are perceived as verbally aggressive when they have no intention of being so.
TOUCH ME
(Written in ministry time at Burrswood Healing Service
12/05/2007 – 7pm, and Salvation Army song)
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Fill my life anew.
Touch me with Your grace and power.
Let Your life flow through.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Take my brokenness
And restore to Your design, Lord,
With Your calm caress.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Make me fully whole.
Permeate my mind and body.
Sanctify my soul.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
May I truly know
Your own life, Your love, Your glory.
May I for You go.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Send me out for You
In Your strength and by Your leading
Your own will to do.
~~~~~
A PRAYER
Lord, please help me
To respect this body –
Your temple.
May I not abuse it.
May I not take risks with it.
May I not regard it as a basis
For clinical experiment.
Help me to remember
That You have set me apart
To be holy.
Help me not to take
Holy things lightly.
Help me to regard
The sacredness of the moment
In which You have set me –
Not some mere transit-point
To the future – to heaven,
But a time to be holy,
Set apart for You,
Reverencing Your temple
No less
Than I would reverence
Some great cathedral.
For I am Your temple.
You live in me.
You live through me
And I am Yours.
May I not take holy things –
Take THIS holy thing
Lightly,
For it is Yours,
Devoted to You.
~~~~~
(This is another one on the same lines as 'Holy to the Lord', written just after I'd skipped two day's essential meds and allowed my BP to hit the roof, which wasn't exactly treating my body well)
A PRAYER BEFORE A HEALING SERVICE
Lord, I’m scared.
This has been a scary week, health-wise.
I know that You CAN heal.
I know that You DO heal.
I know that You have healed me in the past.
And equally I know
That you do not always
Answer in the way we expect.
Is this your way?
Is NOW Your time?
I confess my part
In my illness.
Help me to play my part
In my healing.
Thank You for medication.
For those who developed it.
Help me to receive it
With thanks.
Help me to accept Your healing,
Yet acknowledge my limitations.
Help me to acknowledge
That it is as I am weak
That Your strength is made perfect;
That I cannot give out
From myself,
But only as I depend on You
And let You flow through.
~~~~~
For this world
Your hands are stretched out.
And I lift my hand
For a weeping world –
A world torn apart
By grief and pain,
By greed and exploitation.
For the abused –
Hurt by those
Who should have shown care.
For the grieving –
Torn apart by separation
From those they love,
For those in pain
Of body or of mind –
Emotional chaos,
Ravages of dementia,
And for those who care
And share their pain
With no respite.
For those burdened
By fractured
Or hurtful relationships.
For those held fast
By addiction –
Drugs, alcohol, gambling
Or the ‘acceptable’ addiction –
Self – indulgence.
For those hating themselves,
Bound by anorexia or bulimia,
By body dysmorphic disorder.
For those who no longer
Wish to live.
For those who live in fear
And pain of war –
Man’s inhumanity to man,
Murder, genocide,
Or the much quieter weapons
Of rejection, ostracisation,
Of mental torture.
For those taken into slavery –
Human trafficking
To meet our lust and greed
With human life –
Forced labour
In sweatshops and plantations.
For those trafficked
For human gratification.
And for ourselves –
By our inactivity
Condoning what we cannot see,
And therefore presume
Does not exist.
Lord, open our eyes.
Open our hearts.
Renew is with Your power.
Rekindle us with Your fire.
Give us Your vision,
Show us our task
And help us to be
Faithful
To do Your will.
~~~~~
A pessimist's prayer! by ann_c
Lord, help me to realise
That You didn't put me here to be
"The world's greatest nit-picker!"
To find the snags in every possibility;
To view life through the eyes
of the "eternal pessimist"
And make sure everyone else
Sees it that way!
Help me to remember
That You are the God of LOVE,
Not legalism;
That change is more likely
Through the carrot than the stick.
Help me to live as You would -
Encouraging, motivating, shaping
By involvement;
Not to turn a blind eye to things
Which NEED to be changed,
But to move in Your love
To get things right
In Your way, not mine;
To have more faith in You
Than I have in Murphy's Law!
To know that You are in control
And You are working,
Even when I cannot see or feel it.
Help me to be a change-maker
For good -
For You -
Starting with me today
Ann S Clifton Author's Notes:
I've been thinking a lot about the difference between people who have a motivating or demotivating effect on me - and realise that as I could merit some of the descriptions above, I need to change!
PTSD REVISITED
The voices –
Clamouring voices;
Taunting voices.
“You’re not normal.”
“Funny face.”
“Scaredy-cat.”
“You talk funny.”
“You can’t climb.”
“You have two left feet.”
“We don’t want you on our team.”
“Go away.”
Most of all
“We don’t want you.”
“You’re a misfit.”
They press in.
They stifle me.
They frighten me.
“We don’t want you as a friend.”
“Your Mum shakes.”
“You’re weird.”
“Teacher’s pet.”
Voices from the playground deafen me.
Then the footsteps –
Quickening.
Hands reaching out;
A knee in the back;
A knife at the throat,
Knee removed.
“Did I fall, or was I pushed?”
Is all the police want to know.
Waiting in that pub –
Unwanted again;
Unhelpful police;
Endless questions;
Endless pictures;
The long walk home
Alone
In the dark.
Then those children –
Jostling,
Taunting.
“Old lady.”
Yet my name, too;
They bring it all back.
I’m scared.
I’m terrified.
I’m that lonely child
In the corner of the playground.
I’m walking along that road
In Hackney.
I’m alone,
Enveloped in fear
And the flashbacks come
Together
And I feel paralysed,
Despairing;
Terrified of meeting a child –
Any child.
Please help me, Lord
~~~~~ Author's Notes:
One Thursday I was jostled and taunted by a group of young teenagers and it has brought back the reality of events at primary school and of the mugging in London about 40 years ago.
YOU LOVE ME
You love me.
You accept me.
You do not turn away
Or look on my limitations.
You see me as beautiful;
Your child;
Precious and honoured;
Welcomed;
Belonging;
A member of a vast family
Not and only child –
Isolated.
Called to be free,
Not bound
By care and rejection.
Called to be ‘me’ –
A ‘me’ that is ‘worth it.’
Valuable.
I accept Your love.
Please tech me
How to love others,
Myself
And You –
The loving God.
~~~~~
TEARS
(based on the book ‘The Blessing of Tears’ by Julie Sheldon)
My tears are in Your bottle –
You make them beautiful;
A jewelled crown from weeping –
A gift so wonderful.
You understand my weeping;
The times I cannot cry;
And You will not despise me
Or turn my soul away.
You are ‘the Man of Sorrows,’
Acquainted with my pain.
You knew bitter rejection;
Tears that naught could restrain.
You showed all Your emotions.
You want me to express
My bottled-up, dark feeling,
As gently You caress.
One day with You in glory
All tears will banished be
Save those of joy and gladness,
When I Your face will see.
My tears turned into jewels
Fashioned in darkness here,
Each facet then reflecting
My Lord, My Saviour dear.
~~~~~
BALAAM’S ASS
(It’s easy to feel proud when people appreciate my poetry etc. – but …)
You do not choose the wise,
The strong,
To speak Your word.
You chose Balaam’s ass.
I am like that ass, Lord!
I do not choose the words
The pictures
By some skill of my own.
And so the credit
Can’t be mine.
I am weak.
I am flawed,
Yet You choose me
To be Your channel.
I am like that ass.
I am like a bit of rusty pipe.
Help me
Not to take the credit;
Not to seek for praise
For what is Yours,
But just to thank You;
To obey You;
To give You
All the glory.
~~~~~
OBSTACLES
My way is blocked, Lord.
I cannot go round.
I dare not turn back.
My only option is to climb.
But I am afraid, Lord.
Please take my hand.
Steady me;
Support me
Upon the obstacle
Which blocks my way,
That I may once again
Reach the open path
That leads me
To You.
~~~~~
Author's Notes: Written for a card in the scrapbooking set with a picture of a stile at Burrswood. Add poem to your favourites
SET A WATCH, LORD
(Based on a thought in ”God’s little book of peace”
“Your words are like nitroglycerine: they can either blow up bridges or heal hearts)
Set a watch, Lord,
On the door of my lips.
It’s so easy
To speak the unnecessary word;
The cutting word;
The discouraging word;
The critical word;
The angry word
To blow up bridges, when I should be
A bridge-builder.
Set a watch,
That my words may be
Seasoned with Your grace;
Healing words;
Encouraging words;
Helping words;
Friendly words;
Christlike words
To heal the hearts
Of all I meet today.
And set a watch
Over the words I say
To myself.
For words can blow up
My bridges to You
As I say I am worthless;
As I say I am unwanted;
Excluded;
A nuisance;
As I say things will never change.
Set a watch,
That the words I say to myself
May be Your truth.
Remind me that I am Your child.
Remind me that I am a new creation.
Remind me that ‘I am worth it.’
Remind me that in You
I can prevail.
Remind me that You are changing me
To be like You.
And as I speak these words –
Your affirming words;
Your true words;
My heart is healed
To face the day.
Ann S Clifton
~~~~~ Author's Notes:
I wonder if other members suffer from 'foot-in-mouth disease' and are perceived as verbally aggressive when they have no intention of being so.
TOUCH ME
(Written in ministry time at Burrswood Healing Service
12/05/2007 – 7pm, and Salvation Army song)
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Fill my life anew.
Touch me with Your grace and power.
Let Your life flow through.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Take my brokenness
And restore to Your design, Lord,
With Your calm caress.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Make me fully whole.
Permeate my mind and body.
Sanctify my soul.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
May I truly know
Your own life, Your love, Your glory.
May I for You go.
Touch me with Your healing hand, Lord,
Send me out for You
In Your strength and by Your leading
Your own will to do.
~~~~~
A PRAYER
Lord, please help me
To respect this body –
Your temple.
May I not abuse it.
May I not take risks with it.
May I not regard it as a basis
For clinical experiment.
Help me to remember
That You have set me apart
To be holy.
Help me not to take
Holy things lightly.
Help me to regard
The sacredness of the moment
In which You have set me –
Not some mere transit-point
To the future – to heaven,
But a time to be holy,
Set apart for You,
Reverencing Your temple
No less
Than I would reverence
Some great cathedral.
For I am Your temple.
You live in me.
You live through me
And I am Yours.
May I not take holy things –
Take THIS holy thing
Lightly,
For it is Yours,
Devoted to You.
~~~~~
(This is another one on the same lines as 'Holy to the Lord', written just after I'd skipped two day's essential meds and allowed my BP to hit the roof, which wasn't exactly treating my body well)
A PRAYER BEFORE A HEALING SERVICE
Lord, I’m scared.
This has been a scary week, health-wise.
I know that You CAN heal.
I know that You DO heal.
I know that You have healed me in the past.
And equally I know
That you do not always
Answer in the way we expect.
Is this your way?
Is NOW Your time?
I confess my part
In my illness.
Help me to play my part
In my healing.
Thank You for medication.
For those who developed it.
Help me to receive it
With thanks.
Help me to accept Your healing,
Yet acknowledge my limitations.
Help me to acknowledge
That it is as I am weak
That Your strength is made perfect;
That I cannot give out
From myself,
But only as I depend on You
And let You flow through.
~~~~~