Amazing Grace

Today did not start out very well. I am stiff and hurting and my blood sugar is up. Sydney was whimpering at 6 AM and I found him all wet so I had to strip everything, give him a bath and do a couple of loads of laundry. I began to pray that despite how I was feeling God would bless me that the Light of Christ might shine through my eyes and that I might feel His love and His presence with me. As I have mentioned before, I am always humming and God sends me messages through song.

I cannot remember the music that was coming to me when I first woke up but after I had finished everything and was out the door to give Missie her walk, an amazing thing happened. As I prayed once more, the strains of amazing grace came to me and I found myself humming and then singing outloud the verse that begins, "The Lord has promised good to me."

"The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures."

As I sang the words over and over again, an amazing thing happened. I began to feel His light shining through me and I felt His presence beside me. I still felt stiff and in pain, but with His presence I was able to rise above it. The words are true. He has promised good to me, His word does my hope secure and He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Poems

Follow The Master

Sometimes our visibility is poor,
But the Master stands at the door.
If we but follow the Master's lead,
We will find those in need.

If we follow the Master,
He will calm each disaster,
But if we follow the world,
With each wind we'll be hurled.

If you put your feet upon His path,
He will save you from all wrath.
Serve others as He serves you.
Follow the Master in all you do.

The Master will take you in His arm
And keep your soul from harm.
Day by day, hour by hour,
The Master will bless you with power.

17 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday
John 8:12, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."


He Will See You Through

If you but stop to ask,
God will help with the task.
He will see you through
All that you need to do.

He will help you to teach
And to each soul reach.
He will help you to lead
And to plant many a seed.

He will help you to find
Love and peace of mind.
Consecrate to Him all you do
And He will see you through.

14 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday
2 Nephi 32:9


His Arms Around Me

Today while just sitting in a weekly indexing call, I felt Jesus arms around me. It was like a hug.

Jesus put his arms around me
And gave me a gentle hug.
From worry He set me free
And made me feel warm and snug.

Often for a purpose I cannot see
Father blesses me wih His grace
That a better servant I might be,
And opens my eyes to see His Place.

I cannot imagine dealing with life
Without Father's many gifts of love.
In moments of the greatest strife
He often sends help from above.

10 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday

Doctrine and Covenants 6:20, "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love."

Extractors

I am an assistant Extraction Director in my stake and have workers in my ward. Up until last October I had still had two very faithful extractors along with several indexers. They both just could not work any longer. Last Thursday Don G Excel died and Doris Gardener is in a coma and not expected to live. Because of this I wrote the following poem and gave it to Don's family.

Extractors

Those, who while on this earth
Work diligently for the other side,
Are doing something of great worth.
With them the Spirit doth abide.

God is pleased for every hour
They spend extracting each name.
He grants to them great power
That they might fulfil their aim.

When they pass to the other side,
They are welcomed with great joy
By those whose names they spied.
To them the work was a life buoy.

Name by name day after day
The extractors index each record:
Birth to death and along the way,
Hoping each by someone is adored.

Through their fingers the work flows
Until someones life pattern is drawn.
In their hearts the extractors know
heir importance to someone gone on.

25 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday

Some Days

Doctrine and Covenants 24:8-9 "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." "And in temporal labors thou shalt not have strength, for this is not thy calling..."

Often that last verse applies to me. In temporal labors I often lack strength but when I am serving the Lord He buoys me up and I am able to accomplish amazing things. Last night one of my new missionaries was wondering how I manage to do it all. She said, "It seems like there are not enough hours in the day."

I replied, "Sometimes I find that God gives me strength only to serve Him and I feel the Spirit and get energized when I am serving him by being on call or helping my missionaries but I have to struggle to wash a dish." That statement is what inspired me to write the following poem:

Some Days

Some days it is hard to wash a dish
Or make a broom go swish.
But God is always there for me
Giving me strength to like Him be.

I may not have strength to sweep
But spiritually I can take a leap.
He gives me all the strength I need
To one of his children lead.

I can help someone on the phone
When all other strength has flown.
He helps me His servant to be
And from fear He sets me free.

My great desire is to with Him abide
And for that I will willingly set aside
Many an earthly task I cannot do.
For I know He will see me through.

8 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday

Sitting at Jesus' feet

I had a bad night and woke up in pain. I asked Heavenly Father to let me go and sit at Jesus feet for a little while. In my mind's eye I went and sat at his feet. I could feel His love for me and for a short while the pain lifted. Several of my friends have been going through troubling times and I have been praying that Jesus would hold them. One friend in particular has a grand daughter in a lot of pain. I want her to be held by the Savior. I woke up and wrote the following poem.

At Your Feet

Let me come sit at your feet
And hear your Word so sweet.
Put your loving arm round me;
Of this world may I be free.

Shadow me in my pain;
Let it all be to my gain.
In the storm give me peace
And from concern a release.

May I choose the better part
And feel your love in my heart.
May I always be filled with joy
And songs of praise employ.

May I always be your little child,
Loving, sweet and mild.
When I reach heaven's door,
May I sit with you once more.

In your loving arm may I rest.
Help me daily in my quest.
Lead me on each day;
Lovingly show me the Way.

7 May 2008 Suzanne Halliday

Luke 10:39, "And she had a sister Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word." Isaiah 33:2, "O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble."

Commitment

I have been thinking about the principle of commitment for sometime. Early this morning Diane Pederson posted something called "The Ladder of Achievement" in a group chat of mine. It really hit home and inspired me right away to first find a scripture on commitment, Psalms 37:5 and then to write a poem about it.

Ladder of Achievement

100% I did
90% I will
80% I can
70% I think I can
60% I might
50% I think I might
40% What is it?
30% I wish I could
20% I don't know how
10% I can't
0% I won't

Commitment

Blessings seem to accrue

When God we commit to

In everything we say and do.

It begins in one small way

And grows bigger everyday.

The more we commit our way

To follow Him everyday

As we humbly kneel to pray,

The more we will hear His Word

And know what we have heard.

As we make the choice

To commit to follow His voice

We will have cause to rejoice.

He will set our hearts on fire

And bring to pass our great desire.

As we set a steady pace,

He will add grace to grace

And lead us toward His place.

He will fill our hearts with peace

As our many fears we release.

4 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday

Psalms 37:5, "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and he shall bring it to pass."

His Smile

Despite taking medication before I went to sleep, I woke up at 3 my time in pain from arthritis. My prayer brought the Savior's presence. He filled me with such love and joy that I had to write the following.

His Life Buoy

Jesus held my hand today.
His light showed me the way.
He bouyed up my heart,
Promised He would not depart.
His smile filled me with joy
As He threw me His life buoy.

Those who do not believe
Cannot this miracle conceive.
But Jesus' love is very real
And He alone doth truly heal.
He comes as answer to prayer
And helps me all pain to bear.

Even in the darkest night
He brings me peace and light.
He bids me to keep going on
Even when my strength is gone.
He touches my very soul
And leaves it pure and whole.

He will sustain me thru the day
And chase each cloud away.
His love will my constant be
And His grace will set me free.
He will surely lead me on
To a much brighter dawn.

1 May 2009 Suzanne Halliday

Hebrews 13:5, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."