Strength and Encouragement: Poetry for the Journey of Faith

By Laura Gasque

Everyone needs extra strength and encouragement in their walk with the Lord. As we journey in our Christian life, we experience sickness and death, loneliness and suffering, and fear and doubt. Sometimes we do not understand ourselves or God, or we want to give up. At other times, we may need a reminder of the true meaning of Easter, Christmas, repentance, and forgiveness. In some instances, we are searching for a meditation to help us praise the Lord or one to push us toward serving others. The poems, reflections, and scriptures in this book can offer us a special word from the Lord for these times, helping us to be strong and courageous, leading us to a spiritual place that is closer to His heart and to the hope we need to continue this lifelong journey of faith

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636301686

Book preview

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Strength and Encouragement

Poetry for the Journey of Faith

Laura Gasque

ISBN 978-1-63630-166-2 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63630-167-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63630-168-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2020 Laura Gasque

All rights reserved

First Edition

Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Cover photo by Laura Gasque of bridge at Lake Junaluska, NC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Scripture about New Beginnings and Change

Scripture about Confession and Repentance

Scripture about Forgiveness

Scripture about Easter

Scripture about Prayer

Scripture about Servanthood and Call

Scripture about Doubt, Fear, and Worry

Scripture about Seasons

Scripture about Loneliness, Suffering, and Pain

Scripture about Salvation and Holiness

Scripture about Death, Resurrection, and Eternal Life

Scripture about Thanksgiving and Praise

Scripture about Christmas

Preface

We all need strength and encouragement for this journey of life, our journey of faith. No matter who we are or what age or stage in which we are presently living, everyone needs some help along the way. This can come from any number of sources available to us. It may be from our spouses, our friends, our children, our extended family, our neighbors, or our coworkers who are there when we feel weak or discouraged. Perhaps reading books by well-known Christians are what gives us a lift. Attending spiritual retreats, listening to sermons, reading scripture, and singing hymns may give us hope. Our prayers and the prayers of others can open doors of healing and grace.

Christian poems can bring strength and encouragement in our faith journey too. After all, many hymns are simply poems put to music. And the book of Psalms is considered poetry. How many times have we received light during the darkness by reading Psalms or by singing the hymns? This is my purpose too. With the poems included in this book, my hope is to bring strength and encouragement to others in their journey of faith through this poetry that is a gift from the Lord.

I didn’t begin my educational journey with the burning desire of being a poet. None of my teachers in high school or college ever suggested I become a writer, a poet, or a journalist. When I became a poet was when I started my spiritual journey with my Lord Jesus Christ. After I surrendered my life to Jesus in 1992 was when I discovered this new talent of writing spiritual poems. The beginning line of a new poem would just appear in my thoughts. So I would sit down, listen, and write. I was totally amazed at this gift God had given me! And for many years, I thought about publishing but never did.

For about twenty-seven years, I have been writing these messages from the Lord in poetry form. At certain times like Christmas or Easter, I would share one of these poems with family or friends or church members. Sometimes I would read one very special poem at funerals. But pretty much, most of them have been kept in a safe place at home and on my computer, hidden or buried.

The words buried or hidden are what I considered for years on end. In the parable of the talents from Matthew 25, the person who is entrusted with one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money (verse 18 NRSV). This servant or slave had not used the gift the master had given. What the master had entrusted with this person had been hidden or buried. Nothing increased. Nothing was invested. Nothing happened to bring the master great joy when he returned. For an extended period, I felt that I had buried this talent, even though I had shared some of these poems at times. Much more could have been done to spread this message of strength and encouragement from Him.

I was afraid of publishing the poetry because I didn’t think a book of poems would interest many people. I didn’t believe people read poetry books much anymore. And I surely didn’t know how to publish. So the fear of failure and being busy with other work for the Lord kept a lot of the poetry hidden for twenty-seven years. But the thought of hiding what the Lord had given me was always in the back of my mind. And I did want to publish at some point in time…eventually. Procrastination is not a good thing.

One night, in February 2018, at a prayer group, one of my friends made a comment, thanking someone else in the group for regularly sending her elderly mother a card. Her mother appreciated so much being remembered. This planted a seed in my spirit that grew immediately. I could do the same thing with my poems. I could send my poems through the mail to older people who were at home or in a facility. They probably had plenty of time on their hands, might be lonely, and may want to receive encouraging Christian mail on a regular basis. I found a group of people who might spend time reading the poems every month! One at a time. Not in a thick book. And I could write some personal note at the same time too. I finally found a way to share what God had so generously given to me! And I didn’t have to publish them!

What began as a way to share my poetry with a few church members and friends has expanded into what I consider a new ministry for the Lord in my life. Many people have been added to this ever-growing list of those who regularly receive a Christian poem through the mail. And the blessing for me is that new poems keep coming faster than I can send them out!

After receiving much affirmation from those receiving the poems and encouragement from my supportive husband, Paul, who has already published, I decided to finally do what I believe God wanted me to do all along. I believe His purpose for giving me these poems is to share them with many other believers. This is one way of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. These poems have helped me immensely in my own faith journey. It is my prayer and hope that you will be strengthened and encouraged in your own walk with the Lord by these poems too.

Introduction

Life is a journey of many steps. From the moment we are born until the last step we take here on earth, this journey is one we make in the presence of Jesus Christ. He sees and knows each one of us. He walks with us as we continue day by day, season by season, growing and maturing. Some recognize and acknowledge His presence early on and walk hand in hand with Him for the rest of their days. Others do not sense His love and patience in their lives until many years have passed. The day finally comes when they walk out of darkness and enter the light. Then there are the ones who never know His presence and live without hope. In this journey we call life, no matter who we are, we need the strength and encouragement that Jesus and those who follow Him can give us.

This spiritual journey we make with Christ is the daily walk of a lifetime. When we follow Him on the path where He leads, we go up high mountains and down in deep valleys. We experience the joy and gladness and the sorrow and the pain. Some of our journeys seem to pass by too fast and other journeys feel like they will never end. The one constant is that He is with us always and never leaves us. We need His strength and encouragement as we make this marathon journey