Words seem so empty
      when friends have great hurt.
If it would help them,
     I’d give them my shirt.
We plan and we dream
     and we work really hard.
Yet, when our dreams are shattered
     we get cut by the shard.
While the wound isn’t open
     with blood rushing out.
The hurt is as painful
     and we want to shout!

We sit and we wonder,
     we’ve waited so long.
How in the world
     did things go so wrong.
The days have no answers
     the nights creep on past.
The hurting continues,
     how long will it last.
Then we start to question,
     when life’s so unfair.
What have I done, so
     that no one would care?

In these long moments
     and miserable days.
It’s very important
     that I change my gaze.
Looking within me
     is a good place to start.
To examine my motives
     and clean up my heart.
To change what needs changin’
     from inside to out.
And do it completely
     to leave room for no doubt.

When I have examined
     all that’s inside.
I lift up my head,
     I have nothing to hide.
I look back with sorrow
     at what was back there.
Then look up to heaven
     to feel His great care.
It’s in this here moment
     that I understand.
My God did not cause this,
     He is holding my hand.

So what am I saying
     and what have I learned?
In the midst of rejection
     when I feel so spurned.
Whether it’s my fault
     or the fault of some man.
God’s not left wondering,
     He still has a plan.
It may not be better
     as people will say.
But it will be good,
     for that is God’s way.

©

I wrote this poem . . . or more accurately, this poem fell out of my head in about 10 minutes as I was praying for some friends who are going through a difficult time. Difficult times are never pleasant — that’s why they’re called difficult times 😉 — but they can help us grow strong in faith and compassion. I pray that whatever difficult times you find yourself in, that you would allow God to strengthen and comfort you so that you can be used to strengthen and comfort others. I pray that these words reach all who God purposed them to touch as He gave them to me.

In prayer,
Tom Lemler