:: Birthday Prayer and Poem ::

Our Prayer

“Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more – a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me
As if Thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.”

– George Herbert

.24.

If another wrinkle forms today,
May it sit in the crease of a smile;
For joy has been etched within its lines,
Friends, do not suspect a wile.

Twenty-four, and older, true,
Yet hopefully, still wiser.
One thing undoubted, I must claim –
Of grace, a greater miser.

Uprooted and away for this year,
Tested and vulnerable, but still fully blest;
New seed, He waters day by day,
Tis’ growing up, while aged days rest

Under Kenyan stars, into Kijabe wind,
God has received my triumphs and tears,
And surrendered, daily, I lose my life,
In the clothes of mercy, Christ calls me to wear.

Mother and friend to seventeen,
How sweet it is to enter their world,
Their broken hearts, stories, and lives,
Though slowly, have now begun to unfurl.

Crevassed in my very soul,
The wonder of this ministry,
Deeper still, is knowing Him,
Who uses weak vessels, such as me.

Tis His glory, bright and true,
That gleams off of my own countenance –
Not my will, but His being done,
That culminates my great recompense.

The world hunts and prowls for riches untold,
A satisfied sense of being and self;
But what can compare, to what I have found?
In Africa, eternal wealth.

Still more wrinkles will form ahead,
Many through trial, storm and fire –
Yet, His victory! those lines will prove:
The Christ, the Rock, who for me, stood higher.

– Emily Jansen