Sometimes I stay up
     for I need to pray.
For family and friends
     who have a rough day.
They struggle with faith
     and questions of why.
Is God with me now,
     is He up in the sky?
Is He even real,
     how would I know?
I’m looking for proof,
     just what will you show? 

Faith does surround us,
     it is in us all.
We have faith in something,
     whether big or quite small.
Each day that we live,
     we trust something unseen.
(That’s just how it is,
     I’m not being mean.)
Show me a picture
     of what keeps you in place.
You trust in gravity
     for you’re not out in space! 

You cannot see it,
     but you certainly feel.
When you fall from the roof,
     gravity must be for real.
There’s some unseen force
     that pulls you to earth.
You learn to accept it,
     almost from your birth.
I know some will say,
     it isn’t the same.
It’s not about faith
     as I want to claim. 

That is quite different,
     perhaps some will say.
It’s not only proven,
     we feel it each day.
It is a real thing,
     perhaps none will dismiss.
Gravity existed
     before any knew this.
It can be explained,
     the how and the why.
Even show the effects
     to all who deny. 

For me to say,
     that there can be no God.
After all that He’s done
     would really seem odd.
Some say it is fake,
     that it cannot be real.
There’s some other reason
     for all that I feel.
Explain it away
     if you think that you must.
Your doubt and resistance
     won’t diminish my trust. 

I believe in the unseen
     that pulls me to earth.
I believe even more
     in the One who gives birth.
I feel the force
     that keeps my feet on the ground.
And the presence of God
     I can feel all around.
You ask me to prove it,
     that God could be real.
But you want something more
     than just how I feel. 

That can be quite hard
     if you won’t receive.
That I am who I am
     through what I believe.
If anything’s seen
     that is good in me.
It’s because of my faith,
     it’s His work you see.
Life’s not always easy,
     hard things I endure.
I have the strength
     for my hope is secure. 

Take God from my life
     and it falls apart.
Just how He works in me,
     oh, where do I start?
Science is good,
     it teaches us much.
But it can’t explain all things
     that God’s hand does touch.
Where did life start,
     and where will it go?
Men have their theories,
     but they really don’t know. 

To say it just happened
     is a huge stretch to me.
When I look at the wonder
     of a single tree.
It takes in the sunshine
     and what we exhale.
It refreshes the air
     so that it isn’t stale.
We study and research
     and figure the how.
But why it can do this,
     we’re not quite sure now. 

We jump to conclusions
     to fit our belief.
To evolve to this now,
     is quite a relief.
For if it hadn’t happened,
     when we take a breath.
Instead of fresh air,
     we’re breathing in death.
It’s almost ironic
     that most people see.
The complex ecosystems
     that sustain you and me. 

You believe it just happened,
     I believe it was God.
Examine the detail
     and which seems most odd?
The statistical chances
     of all things falling in place.
Or a God who created
     all earth and all space.
This poem’s about finished,
     I hope that you see.
Without a Creator,
     there’s really no me! 

© 2014 by Tom Lemler

 I’ve spent much of the night praying for a friend who is asking if God is real.  As I’ve prayed, God put this poem in my mind.  Faith is a difficult thing because it forces us to let go of all that we are comfortable with and trust that which we put our faith in.  I choose God because I’ve seen Him pull me through circumstances that seemed impossible.  I’ve experienced incredible changes and growth in my life because my faith in God believed He could use me and do things in and through me that I would have never dreamed or imagined — these poems are just one example of that.  I pray that this poem is an encouragement to you whether you are secure in your faith in God or trying to find it.

In prayer,
Tom