The Beauty Prize

Keep on Walking

This poem is one I wrote about how you shouldn't let it kill you, when you feel like you see yourself through someone else's eyes. It's hard to not let what someone else thinks of you get into your head too much. And I think at times, when you have to walk away, you have to just look up to God in order to remember that you are loved by Him and that's what matters the most, even if everyone else in the world's let you down.
So yeah, here is something I wrote on it.

 "Realizing that you are not enough,
is beyond just tough.
Realizing you aren't worth the miles and time,
Makes walking away feel like you aren't worth a dime
To see those sweet words just as lies
Makes it so hard to see your worth through another person's eyes.

And when that time comes for you to move on,
Don't let your heart stay for too long
Give it all up to God,
All of these emotions in a wad.
Carry on, for God has a better way,
Don't be afraid of any mistakes, for He will tell you to go or stay
Keep in mind that He loves you so
That even through the ups and downs, He will make you grow
So when the time comes, walk on still
For your Saviour has a perfect will
In your Father, there is love
He even prepares a place for you above
He chose you when you deserved hell,
He chose you even when you fell.
He has struck worth into your soul
And anyone who doesn't see that should be found a fool
See your worth through His eyes,
And don't let your life be weighed down upon by someone else's lies."

God Bless,
  A.W.

Dear Pain,

This is a poem to my pain, that I wrote yesterday.
I hate that it makes me feel like being depressed, hate it so much. Tempted to fall into depression this week. And out of that resistance came this poem..


"You cannot break into this soul,
Even when the pain is full.
You can make your living here
But to my life you cannot draw near.
You cannot push me down,
You cannot keep these lips forever in a frown.
You cannot rule my life,
Nor can you drive me to take my breath away by a knife
You can make your bed in my fallen state
Start your work in the early morning and keep me up late
You may steal my sleep
And try to pull me into the deep
Make my future bleak
Make me tired and weak.
You can enjoy and stay,
You never have to go away
Unless my Saviour commands you to go,
I accept that you might never show.
You may stab and burn,
But through every pain I have a lesson to learn
You will not take control of the depression I feel
Though you can make it so I never heal
So I say one last time, that you may stay here,
but to my soul you shall not draw near."

Things Not To Be Done

 Something that I need to remember throughout life. God's teaching me not to hold so closely to my plans lately, thought I'd finally write out my emotions in a poem.

“There are plans in life not to be done,
Life is not always full of love and fun
And yet our hopes and plans we hold too tight
Even if we know they will never happen, we say they might.
There are things we must learn to take,
When all our plans and hopes are at stake
We must learn to be disappointed and live on,
Though it may last all our days long.
There are people who will let you down,
But you must learn not to frown.
Rarely will you find a faithful friend who will always be there
Rarely will mankind not drive you to despair
But learn to deal with it, you must,
Learn to deal with it and yet still trust.
We believe such sweet lies and hold on longer
We fool ourselves into believing it makes us stronger.
But the more we hold on, the more it will break our hearts
The more damage it will do as it tears us apart.
Remember to hold all things loosely if all must one day go,
Even if it means we must keep our hopes low.”

Suffer Well

 "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. -Romans 5:3--5"

"Dear Self,
God does not promise to rid your life of affliction and difficulty. He does, however, offer to give you the grace needed to suffer well, and through grace to discover the riches and beauty of the gospel. It isn't wrong to ask God to relieve you of your pain, but it is more important that in the midst of the pain you reply on the promise of God to work such experiences for his glory and for your good--to use these times as a means to perfect our faith, strengthen your spirit, and transforming your life in such a way that you are becoming more like Jesus.
I know you want relief, but often relief comes, not in the form of the removal of the affliction, but in the strengthening of your faith. And that is what these trials are designed to do--test, prove, and strengthen your faith. In times of ease you have sometimes wondered just how real and robust is your faith. In times of your own weakness you have asked God to sanctify you, grow you, and strengthen you. Well, here is your answer. God accomplishes much of that through your "fiery trial" when you suffer well. To suffer well doesn't mean you put on a stoic face and muscle through the situation without a word. It means that through your suffering you trust God, bless him, look to him, and point others to him.
When the world strips away your comfort and confidence in things temporal, when friends become enemies and attack you, when in the providence of God suffering enters your life like a flash flood, you are given an opportunity to see very clearly where your ultimate dependance lies and where you find your identity. And it's not just something that reveals truth about yourself; it is also something God uses to sanctify you.
Do you want to be confident in God's good purposes for your life? Then you must discover them in times of ease as well as times of difficulty. Do you want to become more like Christ? Then you must suffer, and suffer well."

--Note To Self, Joe Thorn