In The Shadow Of God's Love

By Leelia Carolyn Cornell

Do you hunger to have a deep, personal relationship with God. Do you long to know more of His character? Do you need to find more of His peace, love, and mercy? Do you want more strength to face the challenges and trials of life and emerge victorious? God is so awesome it is impossible to confine Him to mere words. No two people relate the same way to God, and God is fresh in His dealings with each individual. Yet His character is constant and eternal, the same yesterday, today, and forever. We glean foremost from His Word but also by the insights of others, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to discover His Workings in the lives of mankind. These can be beams of light on our own pathway through life. The first part of this book attempts to capture a fragment of Who God is in poetry and verse. The second part is stories from the life of the author and her ancestors which proclaim God in every day living. God is to be in every part and aspect of life, and this book relates stories of life's joys, sorrows, heartrending trials, triumphs, and special times with God, as well as the mundane and the funny happenings of living. There are also poems of God's hand in nature outside the author's backdoor. To proclaim God, you must also live God. This book presents not only His Word but also how His Word can be applied to real-life situations and God's faithfulness throughout generations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641406154

Book preview

Scripture Poems

Behold! Me! I Create (Isaiah 55:17)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. Unorganized were the elements

Formless and empty it was, with darkness over the deep. Yet God’s Spirit hovered.

Life is empty, and darkness covers our souls, but gently over us God’s Spirit hovers.

We wander, we search, sensing the formlessness of our existence. Behold Me! He cries.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God from the beginning. Nothing was created except by His Word.

God spoke His Word across the universe, Let there be light! and there was light.

And in Him was Life, and that Life is the Light of man. God said, and light pierced.

God speaks His Word into the darkness of our being, and if we respond, He brings Life,

His Life that is Light to us. And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.

He stripped Himself of all His glory, humbled Himself, clothing Himself in humanity.

He, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the universe, stepped into time and space.

He the Word Whom God spoke, Who was before all things, Who created all things,

Whom through all things exist, and Who sustains all things by His powerful Word,

It was He Who was slain at the very creation to provide Life. God said it was very good,

But deception brought doubt, leading to disobedience. Sin entered, and death blossomed.

All creation was marred, subject to decay, yet God is love, both justice and mercy.

Even before death enveloped the universe, justice was provided through God’s mercy.

The life of a being is in its blood, and Blood that is what makes atonement. Behold Me.

The Word made the covenants. The Word spoke the judgments. Sin brings death.

The Word declares we are judged unto death for our deeds are dark. We are helpless.

He Who is the Word Who declared our death, He it is Who took our judgment for us.

God so loved that He sent His Son, the Word made flesh, to pay the price of judgment.

That whoever believes and trusts in Him shall not die but have His Life everlasting.

For to us a Child is given, to us a Son is born, and the government shall be upon Him.

The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

All power in heaven and earth belong to Him. He is the very nature of God Himself.

As He emptied Himself as we are empty, becoming even as a servant humbly as nothing.

He was despised, familiar with suffering, and we rejected Him, esteeming Him not.

God laid our sins on Him. He willingly became sin for us as it pleased God because

All God’s wrath for our sin was poured out on Him, piercing and crushing Him

For our sins and rebellions. He was obedient unto death, even our death to set us free.

On the sixth day, man He created. On the sixth day, to redeem man, He labored.

Putting to death in us the law of sin and death, His Word said, It is finished!

Our chains are broken; He ascended into the grave and rested from His work.

From our self-efforts, we must now also rest. In repentance and rest is our salvation.

Yet in Him is the source of Life and Light! Death and darkness could never hold Him.

Because His Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

By His mighty Light, He overcame death’s darkness. Out of our darkness, He calls,

Come into my glorious Light! Wrapped in Light, in His Light we see Light and Life.

The world was empty as we were empty. The world was marred as we were marred.

But He became empty and marred. God was satisfied. By His wounds we are healed.

The Righteous Servant justifies many, for He made intercession for the rebellious.

He raised us up to a new life of living hope, a new creation to walk by His power.

We are redeemed. Creation awaits the revelation. From His love, nothing can separate.

Emptiness vanishes. My soul finds rest in God alone. My peace comes from Him.

Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. For from Him,

Through Him are all things. How unsearchable is He. To Him be glory forever, amen.

(Genesis 1:1; John 1:1–4; Psalm 62:1, 104:2; Isaiah 53, 65:17; Romans 11:33–36; 1 Peter 1:3, 2:9)

His Word Is Established in the Heavens

Silently around the earth, the heavens wrap majestically like a garment.

Beyond understanding, their glory witnesses the greatness of the Creator.

Through stars, moon, and sun, steadfastly His truth to usward is revealed.

Earth, without excuse, His faithful trustworthy eternal natural can’t ignore.

The world is filled with glory of the supreme God! His Word is forever sent.

Beneath the heavens grow grasses and flowers of the field that die in frailty.

Flourishing for a season, with wind, scorching heat, or icy blast, they soon die.

Nature, mankind, to decay subjected, groans inwardly to be clothed in His life!

Bound for wrath, destruction we! Yet a promise is forever established in the sky.

By God’s Word in us, His infinity swallows our infirmity, guaranteeing eternity!

Oh, the joy of His provision! He didn’t leave us to destruction. He made a way!

Though our nature be sinful and we are as dust, weak and fragile as the grasses,

His awesome glory made us heirs of His inheritance to be free from eternal decay.

Accepting His Word established in the heavens, we are spared the fate of the masses.

Living forever, we will see His face in a light greater than the heavens on that day.

(Psalm 119:90)

Time

You see its destruction as it moves about, touching, changing all things, yet it is unseen.

Trees sprout and grow while plants flourish. Then all wither and die and blow away.

All creatures great and small who taste the breath of life meet death. They are no more.

Lines become etched upon beloved faces once young; all bodies age. Men too pass away.

Behold from everlasting to everlasting, He is God eternal with no end nor a beginning.

Elohim spoke, and it was so! The vastness of creation burst forth its genesis tangible.

The expanse of the universe, beyond measure, reflects the limitlessness of Elohim!

Unfathomable are the reaches of His dominion, reflecting the character of the Creator.

At the beginning of time, the earth was formless and empty with darkness over all.

His Spirit over the darkness hovered on the surface of the deep, the mighty waters.

Then the Word of Elohim, the Light of the world, He spoke! And there was His light!

From the beginning, His light shattered darkness, separating the light from darkness.

The sovereign light of Elohim reigned over creation until His Word spoke into being

A great light to rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night, the sun and the moon.

And throughout the heavens, He sprinkled the stars scattered throughout the expanse

To mark the seasons, days, and years. These lights, a measure of time within eternity.

And it was good! In a garden, He placed man created in Their own image, His likeness.

From the dust of the earth, He created him and breathed into him His own breath of life!

From the rib of man, Elohim created a woman. They were to rule over all the creation.

In the cool of the evening, face-to-face, they walked with their Creator. It was very good!

Time carved out of eternity, one superimposed on the other, was deemed for the created.

Limited and tangible, it is but temporary. Only eternity, timeless, unseen, remains forever!

Marking the seasons in the beginning perfect in a sinless state was time’s favored measure,

But man’s free chose disobedience, rebellion caused all life to be tinged again with darkness.

A curse upon creation is the sin of man. All subject to bondage of darkness, decay, and death

Not by its own choice, but by the will of God to show forth in the fullness of time His glory!

As for man, the invisible qualities of the Creator can be understood by His visible creation.

He made it so. Ordaining from the beginning, we have no excuse for our foolish wickedness.

The Word of Elohim became flesh to take His own wrath and break the curse of death!

In time, present sufferings of temporal life will give way to eternal glory of life and light!

All creation waits in eager expectation for this to be revealed, to be brought into freedom.

What is seen is but temporal with substance. What is invisible remains eternal, limitless.

In the beginning, His Light shattered the darkness. But sin shrouded darkness over creation.

All that is of darkness will be revealed, for light and life remain stronger than sin and death!

His light always overcomes! And time created, then infused by death, sin will be no more.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word will never cease, for He is of eternity, the I Am!

Death’s sting is sin, but death is swallowed up in victory through His Atoning Blood sacrifice!

The body of flesh, sown in the perishable, will be resurrected imperishable forever in glory.

The heavens and earth sin warped in time shall vanish. Behold a new eternal heaven and earth!

Sin with its suffering will flee, no more reasons to weep! In timelessness, forever Elohim with us!

(Genesis 1:1–27, 2:8–25, 3:1–19; Job 38–40; Psalm 41:13, 103:15–16; Isaiah 9:6–7, 40:8; John 1:1–2; Romans 1:19–20, 8:20–23; 1 Corinthians 15:50–58; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Ephesians 5:13–14; Revelation 1:8, 21, 21:1–8, 22:13)

On Eagle’s Wings

Time marches steadily onward toward a faint unknown until all of time shall be no more.

Chained to the order of time, we gaze at the dome of heaven, into the vastness of the universe.

Galaxy upon galaxy is yet but a speck in the realm of eternity. All creation is subjected to time,

And all that is seen will be gone, worn out like a garment. True reality is hidden to finite eyes.

The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him! His Being fills eternity!

Within the limitlessness of eternity, the boundaries of time are suspended by the hand of God

Who was, and Who is, and Who will eternally be. Substance is of eternity and endures forever.

Like the heavens destined to vanish, we are but of dust. We flower for a time, then wither forever.

Seeds of the perishable die. Only eternal blooms imperishable. How wretched we seem of time!

Eternity exceeds our fragile grasp. Beyond fathoming is the essence of forever. Yet hope is eternal.

Within its confines, time creeps forward, yet we are also engulfed in a surging tide advancing.

Wide diversity of opposing paths tangle while all that is created trod their way together, alone.

There is dancing through balmy meadows but also languishing while all grow faint and weak.

The hoof beats of time drum through the swirling mass of humanity caught in its mighty grip.

It’s for God to direct our steps. Our times are in His hand, written for us before our beginning.

What say we of our realm? It’s but shadow! Eternity is Light, and the Light is Life and Source.

The splendor of His brilliance is too wonderful for clay! In His mercy, He grants us His shadow

As light alone creates a shadow. His Light is the Source of time’s shadow. In it we may find rest.

For we rest in the shadow of the Almighty as we abide in Him. He is our shade at our right hand.

Walking through the valley of time is but death. Yet it’s only His shadow of life for He is there!

Awaiting time’s ending, therefore we shan’t fear tho all grow weary. Even the young stumble, fall!

Be still. He is I AM! All creation groans for redemption. We with His Spirit will transcend time!

Wait for the Lord! All who wait on the Lord will never be disappointed. Have you not heard?

The Creator never grows weary. He renews our strength and increases the power of our weakness.

We shall soar on wings like eagles! We shall run and not grow weary. We walk and not faint.

(Exodus 3:14; Psalm 23:4, 31:15, 37:23, 91:1, 102:26, 103:15–18, 121:9, 139:16; Proverbs 3:5–6; Isaiah 40:28–31, 49:23, 51:6; Jeremiah 1:5, 10:23; Habakkuk 2:20; John 1:4; Romans 5:5, 8:15, 22–25; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 4:28; 1 John 1:5; Revelation 4)

Love Is That He First Loved Us

There was nothing, yet there was everything. What essence was before the beginning?

And of what was the beginning? What began at the beginning and what was before?

God was in the beginning. God began the beginning by His Word which is life.

But from whence is God? He dwells in forever, eternity, where exists no substance.

There is no time, no space in forever, yet it encompasses the Creator of all existence.

God filled forever, majestic, awesome, powerful, a Being, but there was nothing else.

God didn’t begin, God IS, He, the I AM. God is love. Love was before the beginning.

God is holy, righteous, the Truth, very Life, but He cannot be grasped or fathomed.

There was no one else, nothing tangible or measured. Only God existed in forever.

True love cannot be defined, touched, or handled. Love is without beginning or ending.

There was no evil essence before the beginning. Only awe of God wrapped in light.

What is love? His love is perfect, ours imperfect. His love combines mercy and justice,

But justice and mercy were not needed since no evil existed. He reigned supreme. Yet

God was lonely and sought companionship. He began the beginning creating substance.

Substance needed boundaries and measures. Time and space commenced by His Word.

But all was formless and empty, so God’s Spirit hovered over the expanse He created.

His Spirit hovered to bring order from chaos of the formless, void created elements.

God spoke His Word, and He Who is Life, Who was with God from the beginning,

It is He Who brought Light to the beginning. Time and space, the very beginning was.

God declared the Light of Life was good. Evening and morning existed, the first day.

As God’s Spirit hovered and His Word spoke, chaos ended, the elements came together,

The earth formed, the great expanse above beyond came to be. God said it was good.

As evening and morning followed one another, time was established out of eternity.

Waters separated, dry land appeared, seed-bearing plants were spoken into existence.

And on the fourth day, God’s Word commanded the lights in the heavens to become.

A greater light ruled day, lesser lights ruled night to distinguish darkness and light.

God decreed these lights for man as signs to mark His seasons, days, and years,

Making known God’s days. Within the foundation’s fabric are God’s Appointed Days.

Upon these days, God decrees to do His mightiest works. They were appointed at creation.

Teams of living creatures came to be in the waters and on land at the Word of God.

Finally, the sixth day, God spoke, Let us, God His Word, His Spirit, our God is One,

Let us make man in our image, and He created them, male and female created He them.

God’s love sets free. Man was created with a choice, but love, God’s love, took the risk.

And God said it was very good. Then God rested on the seventh day. Work ceased.

God put them in a garden, walking daily with them, enjoying the fellowship He desired.

God gave one command. With choice, man chose disobedience. Sin and death entered,

Separating man from God, and cursed became creation. But greater is God’s grace.

In response, God’s love, mercy, and justice, existing before the beginning, unfolded.

God made many covenants, giving instructions, promising life, bridging the gap of sin.

Covenants are His Word. His Word is His covenants sealed by substitutionary blood.

But the consequences for man who breaks His covenants, His Word pronounces death.

Weakened by sin, man could not obey. God so loved, He Himself took the consequences.

For man, God’s Word left eternity, humbled Himself, became flesh in time and space.

God is Who took upon Himself sin, received our wrath, and died. Sin’s justice was met.

Taking man’s place, God’s Word paid the price the Word demanded for sin. This is love.

He was obedient unto death, canceling our disobedience. As the source of life and light.

Death couldn’t hold Him. He arose, offering new Life to whomever receives by trust.

God Who Was and is and is to come formed us for intimate fellowship with Himself.

For this, He created the entire universe to fellowship with man though man rejected Him.

For this, He then left His glory, took our burdens, paid our debt, and died our deaths.

Where can we go from His Spirit? Where can we flee from His presence? He hems us in!

He is in the heavens. He is in the deepest pit. He is in the far corners of the universe.

Over the turmoil, His love calls us to intimate fellowship with Him, the Creator of all.

The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the works of His hand.

Day after day, they pour forth speech; by night, they display knowledge, His Word.

The earth is fully established. Holy is the Lord; the whole earth is filled with His glory.

The Father, by His Word Who became flesh through His Spirit, spoke the world to exist.

The Father, by His Word Who became flesh through His Spirit, is my Beloved and I His.

There Is No Good in Me

There is no good in me, for I am sinful from birth. In sin, my mother conceived me.

Before me, He sets life and good, death and evil. Heaven and earth witness about me.

The power to choose, God grants, but unable am I to do good because I am too weak.

But where I am weak, He is strong. Through His power, He can grant me His strength.

I choose life and cling to Him! To death I wish to put self, for He is life. God, help me!

I saw the Lord. He was high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Awed was I.

Woe for I am sinful of unclean lips, but God provided forgiveness, setting me free.

He desires truth in our inner parts. Beyond my brain, my heart soaks up His Word.

His Word, a sword, saturates my being that self may die, and His Life lives through me.

In Him, I live and move and have my being. In me, He lives and moves and His Being.

Of what for me He did, humbled I am. Can I but confess He has changed my heart?

That my nature is sin, I know full well. I am very weak; I could not overcome myself.

He humbled Himself for me. In His grief, His agony, I saw my sin and became broken.

He put to death in me the law of sin and death. He died my death for me to set me free!

Humbly I cried repentance. To confess deceit now denies the power in His mighty love.

The evil one exhales himself over the Most High. The Almighty conquers wickedness.

Pride it is that denies the power of His saving grace, that which redeems and sets free.

If deceit remains in me, I do not love the Truth. He is the Truth Who destroys all lies.

Deceit brings death. His life is greater. Sin thrives in darkness. Light dispels darkness.

In Him is Light. Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

What has light to do with darkness? He, the Light of the world, is He not light in me?

Night is swallowed by day. Light dances over the mountains, chasing the shadows.

At dawn, light rises from the horizon and floods the hidden hollows across the plain.

His resurrection rises in my heart. His Light illuminates within my hidden recesses.

His Life cannot dwell in darkness. With Him in me, a deceitful heart has to flee.

Love is a Who, not what. Love is God Who for fellowship with Him created He me.

Beyond my brain or doctrine, His Word soaks deep into my heart and flows out in joy!

He saved me by His grace through faith alone. All my own works are but filthy rags.

My self died to Him. In me, He lives, moves, and dwells. I live, move, dwell in Him.

With my whole heart, soul, and being, I love Him. Where is now room for wickedness?

The river flows endlessly, always different, always the same. Its currents are tricky.

Life flows. Despite my varying heart, I am encouraged. He has overcome the world.

To him who overcomes, I will dress in white and not erase his name from My Book.

Where I’m weak, He is strong, my armor and shield. In Him, my heart strengthens.

Standing in the power of His might, walking in His strength, in love I conquer deceit.

I lift up my eyes unto the hills, and I ponder life. From whence does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord! He alone is the Maker of all in heaven and on earth.

He is my help, my shield, my Rock, my strong tower, refuge, my salvation forever.

I am born anew. I am a new creation with a new identity. I am a daughter of light.

I daren’t focus on darkness or confess to it, or I will once again sink into its depths.

Through Him, I will guard my heart, and I can overcome flowing steadily into eternity.

Though winter is barren on the land, spring breathes afresh, and new life appears.

Agreeing to deceit sows seed for sin to sprout. Look, my heart, to Him new life thrives!

It is He Who won the victory for me. How can I testify to less than His abundant life?

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory!

In the Beginning

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was void, without form.

God’s Spirit hovered over the face of the deep. Then spoke God’s Word. He was heard!

Let there be light. There was light. The light shone by God’s great might. His Word.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, He was with God eternally.

Nothing was created that was created except by His Word. By Him all was instated.

In Him is light, no darkness at all. His light is life of man. Hark less we miss His life.

It is He, God’s Word, Who is the source of all life. It is He Who is the source of all light!

He is wrapped in light. And by His light, we see light. He dwells in the very heights.

By His Word and His light, He gives us life. The source of all life, He dispels our night.

God said, Let us create man in our image. And it was so. By God’s breath, man lives.

By God’s Word, Behold, I create! It was tov m’ov good, very good it was foretold.

Only one command there was. Yet man disobeyed, causing sin and death to enter in.

Who can save me from my plight? Thanks to God, the might of Jesus sets me free!

And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. He left His glory, stripped Himself.

Humbled, He took on the form of man, obedient unto death, and strongholds crumbled.

On our sins Him God laid. No one took His life; He freely gave it. The way He made.

The way back to life, the path to intimate fellowship with God. He took our wrath.

For the joy set before Him of restoring to us life, He endured the strife of all our sin.

Surely He bore our sin, our sickness, all our consequences. His Blood was poured out.

Sin is always leading to death; becoming our sin, He hung bleeding and died our death.

In our place, He willingly entered hell, tasting it for us. His wrath toward us is satisfied.

Let there be light, and there was light. Light shines in the darkness and overcomes it.

The source of all life, death couldn’t hold Him. The sting, the power of death, is gone.

He, Light and the Life, overcame death and rose! We too can rise to new life the same!

If we accept His death for ourselves, we die with Him. We then will rise to His life!

The light shines in the darkness. Darkness cannot understand it. Yet it’s yours and mine.

If we live in His light, we are cleansed by His Blood and bask in fellowship with Him.

(Genesis 1:1, 2:16; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 53:4,5, 6,10-12, 65:17; Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6; John 1:1-4, 8:36, 14; 10: 14-18,20:1; Romans 6, 7:24, 8:1; 1 Corinthians 15:45, 55; Philippines 2:6-8; Colossians 1:16, 17, 3:1-4; 1 Timothy 6:16; 2 Timothy 2:11; Hebrews 12:2; 1 John 1:5, 7)

Though Your Sins Be as Like Scarlet

Lord search me and know me! Like sheep we all have gone astray doing what our hearts desire.

No one is righteous, and I cannot hide from You. No matter where I flee, You are already there.

You are even in the earth’s depth! You know my actions, my thoughts, my words before I speak.

Darkness is no cover for my sins because light and dark are the same to You. Woe to me, I cry!

Come let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, with Me they shall be white as snow.

He Who is awesome in glory, Who dwells in unapproachable light, in whose light we see light,

Upon Him it was our sins were laid, Who became our sins and carried our grief and infirmity.

Leaving His glory in heaven, He humbled Himself. God’s Word Who from eternity is forever God

Became flesh upon the earth which He created by His Word. There was no beauty about Him.

He wasn’t esteemed. He was despised and rejected by men and well-acquainted with suffering.

I am of perishable seed, cut off from God because of my sin! I deserve death by the hand of God!

He is of the imperishable seed yet was pierced for my transgressions, crushed for my iniquities.

Punishment was meted out to Him so I could receive His peace! It even pleased God to crush Him.

He willingly laid down His life because now through Him God’s wrath against my sins is satisfied.

His Blood for my blood cleanses me of all my sins, even the consequences of them. He set me free!

I was guilty, and the wages of my sin is death, but He, as my sin, my iniquity caused Him to die!

Yet in Him is life and that life is the light of man. Death and darkness is pierced by His light.

Death could not hold Him because He is the imperishable! He burst the chains of sin and death!

He burst them for you and me. He arose bringing us with Him giving us His Seed of eternal life!

Shouts of joy resound in the tents of the righteous! Our crimson sins become cleansed like wool.

No human work can possibly accomplish righteousness. The requirement is but to accept and