I long to be remembered

To be thought of through the hours

I long for someone loving me

Who sends me gifts and flowers

Now here I am reminded

That before all time began

In the depths of all eternity

My rescue You had planned

Your love for me was on Your mind

Before the sun did shine

My name was written on Your hand

Before You measured time

To secure my liberation

A covenant of three

Agreed upon a battle plan

To set the captives free

The plan would bring humility

To One who was divine

You set aside Your deity

To do what God assigned

Enduring pain and sadness

That I cannot conceive

You gave Your life a ransom

So I might now believe

Not only did You pay my price

But gifts You gave to me

The Spirit carries battle plans

So Your direction I might see

And in His silent whisper

Encouraging my heart

This holy voice reminds me

How the covenant did start

Because I was remembered

Was thought of before time

A holy God was loving me

Though I was bound to crime

Your love was so deliberate

Intent to set me free

That each One of the Trinity

Made a covenant for me.

Written 2/21/05

Copyright 2005

Were there tears in your eyes as you spotted the mountain-

As you answered your servant’s questions?

Did you blame it on the sand and sun

While your heart screamed out

Did you hear yourself say,

“I will obey . . . No matter the cost.”

Did your feet grow heavy as you took each step?

Did your eyes fix on your son?

Did your mind drift back

To long gone delights

Of baby’s coos . . . and sweet sounds

Of child’s laughter?

Did you hear yourself say,

“I will obey . . . No matter the cost.”

Did your arms grow weak as you stacked wood?

Did you remember the first time you held him in your arms?

As now you lifted him to an alter.

This was not how you had pictured it.

Did your hand tremble as you lifted the knife

To kill your only son?

Did you hear your heart say,

“I will obey . . . No matter the cost.”

Was there a moment when you wondered

About this God who asked such a price

Did you question His goodness for even a moment

Returning to the certainty

Of things you’d heard

Of things you’d seen

Did you hear yourself say,

“I will obey . . . No matter the cost.”

Oh Abraham, tell me about that day!

I need to know!

For I am there

Laying down all my dreams.

To know your questions . . .

To know your heart . . .

I’d be surer of mine

As I hear my heart say,

“I will obey . . . No matter the cost.”

Written November 2003

Copyright 2003

Last year I did a Bible study on the Covenants from a Reformed perspective.  I was fascinated at the way God had demonstrated His love for me, and fufilled His vows through the Covenants.  It did wonders at easing some of my heartache from broken promises and feeling torn asunder from my husband.  The Lord gave me this sweet poem during that study.

To me he gave his name

A ring upon my hand

Belonging unto him alone

To share his life and land

When each time upon that circle

My eyes didst fall and see

Reminders of the promises

He’d made to only me

Through days of weary trials

Through victories and joys

We two shared all together

Mutually inspired strength and poise

And future seemed some wonder

Where dreams were realized

Through time it seemed from couple

One life materialized

Then came a day I never thought

To fear or dread to see

One life was torn asunder

And you were you and I was me

At once I knew the meaning

Life rent by broken dreams

I now know separation

I know what “cut off” means

Those things I’d come to treasure

One goal, one family

The unity of purpose

The headship made for me

With just a few decisions

So many things did change

I panicked groping headless

My life now felt so strange

Yet through the desperation

Along with tears of grief

What came in angry bitterness

Was understanding and relief

I learned that man-made promises

Can never long compare

To everlasting covenant

That I am blessed to bear

For now I wear my name with joy

My Spirit-sign I bear

Delighting in reminders

He chose me with great care

I look upon, with eagerness

A promised life and land

I look back with devotion

To the promised One who took my hand

For though I’ve tasted in the flesh

Abandonment and shame

My hope and joy are found within

Sharing my Savior’s name

With Him no separation

“Cut off” I’ll never be

For long ago my Lord fulfilled

A covenant of love for me.

Written March 25, 2005

Copyright 2005

One of my greatest aches is to see my sons mentored by committed, godly men.  They are desperate to be taught by men.  It is a frightening world to entrust this duty to someone other than their dad, but I cannot teach them much about being a man.  And they will be husbands and fathers one day.  My prayer is that they will learn to make godly choices.

Tell me what will you say

To your little girl that day,

When you see her eyes filling with tears.

Will you stop and recall

That a boy oh so small

Had a need for a man all those years?

He was bleeding inside,

And was learning to hide

All his fear, and his shame, and his pain.

All he needed was one

Who could model the Son

And could teach him from self to abstain.

When your daughter he wed,

Inside already dead,

Though he looked from outside like the rest.

Even then had you known

The seeds could have been sown

That would grow to a man with a chest.

Tell me how you will speak

Busy week after week,

While these boys all around need your care.

Tell me what you will say

To your daughter that day

Of her husband who needed you there.

Written January 17, 2006

Copyright 2006

I wrote this shortly after my dad died.  As a single mom choosing to stay home to raise my boys, it was a scary thing to lose the one thing that seemed to be God's source of provision for us.  I spent many nights fighting the temptation to worry about what was going to happen to us.  God has not yet disappointed me.

A harsh storm blows against me

It’s done so times before

But under shadow of your wing

I’m safe from it once more

Sometimes I look upon the wind

I see the tidal waves

And feel myself begin to sink

‘Til Your hand firmly saves

At times I face temptation

“Curse God who brought this on!”

But if I did, where would I turn?

My life from You is drawn!

And through the fiercest tempest

I’ve learned to see Your face

You’re Father, Lover, Comfort,  Friend

I recognize Your grace

But of all things You’ve proved to be

The one I love the most

In the middle of the storms of life

You are my God, the Lord of Hosts!

Written April 16, 2005

Copyright 2005

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare of the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I am trusting him.  For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague.  He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.  Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day,  nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.  Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.

                                         Psalms 91:1-7 (NLT)

We just watched March of the Penguins last night.  As I read this, one of my favorite verses to the Lord tonight, I could picture Him, not as a rooster safe in the farmyard, hiding the baby chick from some unknown, unseen danger, but as the Emporer Penguin, defending his unhatched egg from its very environment.  I know for myself, the Lord has only allowed me to be exposed to the elements of the world and of sin as I was mature enough to handle them.  The penguin daddies suffer almost four months or more of starvation to care fo their babies.  They literally are dying to protect thier offspring.  So my Lord died for me.  Many penguins do not make it.  They fall to the harsh climate, or predators.  But I am safe in my father's protective covering.  And He feeds me from Himself, just like the daddy penguins do. 

Isn't it amazing how all creation preaches the Gospel?

I almost went back there today

That place I was before

Filled up with fear and with dismay

Your voice determined to ignore

I missed the luxury of meat

The vegetables and bread

Those memories were pure deceit

An enemy put in my head

Remember how it was back then?

The pain and the abuse?

I want to be a slave again?

To wear the devil’s noose?

And Oh, my words they came so close

My rebel tongue revealed

The idols of my heart exposed

Lord, why will I not yield!

But You, my hero came once more

To save me once again

Exposed idolatry at core

Unveiled my complaint

Reminding me of tenderness

Of how Your love provides

Though where we go I cannot guess

In You it’s safe to hide.

Written September 2005

Copyright 2005

i am

i am but the hem of Your garment

Chosen by You with care

i long to be used to heal the sick

Though most may not notice i’m there

On air i am a vibration

That carries the words You speak

i know that no one can see me

But the sound makes their interest pique

i am mud in Your fingers that heal

Or bread or a fish that feed

i am story that captures their interest

So You might meet each of their needs

Oh Lord how my mind does wonder

That You can use one so small

That you can take i who am nothing

And use me so that You can enthrall.

Written January 28, 2005

Copyright 2005

OK, my biggest worry right now is what I will do when I run out of old poems to post.  I guess I'll just have to trust God to give me something new to say!

Her feet were marred and ugly

Weighted down with scars of sin

She feared to trod

With feet unshod

Before the eyes of men

Some days she tried to hide them

Disguise the hurt and shame

Avoid the stares

Repressing cares

Claim ridicule as name.

Another time in loathing

Determined to control

Just change her ways

Defy decay

She’d will herself be whole!

She pled with God to change them

Restore her to her youth

Muster belief

Hope for relief

Yet mirror told the truth

When still no change befell her

When faith had hit a wall

Now finally still

Providential will

Came through with louder call

And in such humble moments

Dependence found at length

Embraced her call

Rejected pall

Her frailty brought His strength

She stepped into the masses

New confidence to speak

Shame left behind

No more confined

She finally saw the broken and weak

Armed with her grace-filled story

With news that is so sweet

To truth she clings

God’s Word that sings

How beautiful the feet!

Written February 1, 2005

Copyright 2005

It broke my heart when my husband left me for another woman.  I have come a long way in forgiving him, but it has been very hard to let go of my anger toward her--a woman I don't even know.  But God did some amazing work on me a couple of months ago and let me see her in my Bible.

To the Other Woman

by Lisa Baker

Women of old

With stories untold

Mere glimpses of lives we see

When I take a look

In this ancient of books

A snapshot in them of me

Yet tonight I saw there

A new kind of heir

To the legacy scripture can weave

And now I must release

My resistance to peace

So forgiveness my hate can relieve

For you are like dear Hagar, proud

Should you be rejected and cry aloud

El Roi will hear your humbled  plea

And prove to be the One who sees

And you are like Rahab of old

Whose intervention still is told

Despite disgraceful reputation

Was used to bring the world salvation

You are Bathsheba, mother to kings

Gomer with heartache in her wings

You are the woman before the crowd

Insisting stoning was allowed

At times I wondered at this lot

So used by God though to men naught

These women I’ve seen with prideful eyes

Disgusting sins—then I realize

That I am like them in some ways

For any goodness God be praised!

But you are like them somehow too,

Should I not love like God loves you?

Written September 25, 2005

Copyright 2005