PRAYER CHANGES THINGS

by John Paul Jackson © May 2011

My relationship with God changed dramatically in 1978. That was the year I started praying every day. I did so because my marriage was in trouble, my little business was in trouble, my job at a major corporation was in trouble and everything was going downhill. 

You know what? I thought. If I'm going to get fired, I might as well get fired because I'm a raving Christian and not because I’m being a bum, like they think I am. So I started praying — not because I was passionate about prayer but because I really, really wanted to keep my head above water!

NO MATTER THE COST

by Gloria A.Walker © 2011

Out of the broken places of my life rises the fragrance of my worship.  Even as my arms open like the petals of a rose and drink in His loveliness, I remember from whence I’ve come. I remember my heart as it lay in pieces at the feet of those who said they loved me. I remember my body bent beneath the burdens heaped upon me by the very ones who promised to help me. I vividly remember that dark place where I tried with everything in me to escape in the deep recesses of my mind so I would not feel the pain and disappointment dealt to me, even in the household of faith—the one place where escape should have been possible. I remember lying there with my eyes closed, broken and bloody from the warfare around me that only I could hear, see and feel.

REFINER'S FIRE

by  Gloria A. Walker © 2007

        Forged in the flames of adversity. 
        Welded in the crucible of pain. 
        Tried in the furnace of affliction.
        Birthed in the heat of the same.

        Parched for God’s Holy Presence.
        Thirsty for His healing rain.
        Yearning for dew drops of mercy
        To quench the heat of the flames.

GOD'S WOMAN

by Gloria A. Walker

excerpt from "Out of the Depths of My Heart I Cried" © 1996

There's a beauty of the spirit

That she simply cannot hide.

She's surrounded by so great a love

It will not stay inside.

It overflows into our lives.

It fills our empty days.

It draws us every closer to

Love's awesome, burning flames.