My Testimony - In The Clouds

In the Clouds

People all around me,

I hear them every day,

They talk to me, but their voices

Are coming from far away!

One day I just got tired

Of not hearing what they hawked,

I shook myself up roundly,

And was shocked at how they talked!

“Oh, we talk but she can’t hear us,

She’s off inside the clouds.

We try but she won’t listen,

Even when we’re very loud.”

“We love her and we want her back,

To feel and laugh and play,

‘Cause there’s nothing that could hurt so bad,

That love can’t chase away!”

This day it was no different,

From any other day,

But their voices sounded pained and hurt,

And pierced me through my heart

Suddenly I felt those pin pricks

Of their love poking me through the clouds

That had covered me so completely,

And I no longer felt alone.

Each time love’s pin-prick pierced my heart,

Another cloud fell away

Until finally, I saw God’s sunlight,

And the pain had gone away!

There was so much rejoicing,

At my return to the fold,

I felt that I’d never gone away,

And then my story I told:

My brothers and my sisters,

You who prayed and talked with me,

Listen well now, pay attention,

To what you see as me!

For long I paid lip service

To the practice of my faith,

Until the world felt like a crushing weight,

Covering up my face.

I’d gone through all the motions,

Gone to church, said the prayers, paid the tithe,

But it was no longer satisfying,

And I just wanted to hide.

I got so good at hiding,

First from you, then from me, then the Lord,

But unknowing to me, the Great Lord of the Tree,

Had an army out praying for me!

People called and many visited,

In my dreams their faces I saw,

They begged, they beseeched, “Please return to your seat!”

The Father has issued the call.

Then one day the voices got louder,

They kept interrupting my daze,

And that’s when I was suddenly shaken,

To get myself out of the haze.

Those voices had finally gotten to me,

I no longer felt safe in my cocoon,

With no more dark thoughts to sustain it,

It was safer sitting under the moon.

Now, today, I stand before you

A testimony to what prayer can do,

No matter how sad, lonely, mad or bad,

There’s someone out praying for you!

So, as a memorial to my journey,

And a testimony to the power of love,

I collected the pieces of my broken cocoon

And crocheted this quilt for my Love!

Dear Father in heaven,

I give you today,

This quilt made with sorrow and shame,

There’s sadness, rejection, pity — no reflection,

Disgust, contempt and some blame.

In the middle of this quilt, Dear Lord,

Are all my praises to you

You issued the call and your children did respond,

To return this little mite to you.

So that I’ll never forget my great journey,

I’ve chronicled the pieces of my quilt,

Each section is made with a different brocade

And sewn with the thread of my regrets.

There’s pink to represent the pity myself

The green represents all my greed

Yellow is cowardice in yielding to temptation

And black is the burden of my needs.

In brown you’ll find the strands of my betrayal

In apple is purest agony

Gold is my love for the things of the earth

And ocher — opposition to the Lord!

And then there are animals in my quilt so profound,

Showing off all my baser instincts:

The peacock is my vanity displayed

The fox helped me outwit the world

The lion represents my pride in my craft

And the cheetah helped me run away from God.

And then in the corners of my praise quilt to you

Are four pure white turtle doves,

Proudly standing for all to behold and representing,

Charity, Faith, Hope and Love!

Each dove is carrying a message you

On dirty white representing my soul

Thanking you, praising you, loving you, wanting you

Always to cover me with your love!

The tempter tried to take me away

Saying “What kind of god would give pain

To a child who loved long and so faithfully —

You know, that’s not a fair exchange!”

Yes, I stumbled, lost my faith, and then was humbled to know that you loved me so!

Though I broke faith, You never turned your face and today I re-take my place

At the foot of the cross where you paid my cost,

Never more to wander away!

Yes, I strayed, my friends prayed, His voice I obeyed

Because my sins with His life He paid!

The clouds are all gone

I’m back where I belong

His praises to sing evermore

The quilt is my tribute

My friends I salute you

And thank you for not giving up the faith!

Psalms: 51:10-13

(my favorite Bible text)

Create in me a clean heart, oh Lord

And renew a right spirit within me

Cast me not away from Your Presence

Nor take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!

Return unto to me

The Joy of Thy Salvation

And uphold me

With Thy Free Spirit

Then will I teach transgressors Thy Ways

And sinners will be converted unto Thee.

Covenant

(from one of my favorite pieces of choral music)

Lead me, Lord

Lead me in Thy Righteousness

Make Thy Way plain

Before my face!

For it is Thou, Lord

Thou, Lord, only

That makest me dwell

In safety!

My Favorite Piece of Choral Music as My Song of Praise: "Thanks Be To God!"