Don’t go alone.
Take God dancing.
Swim in Him.
Chase butterflies by His side.
Taste Him in the ice cream.
Try to find Him hiding in broccoli.
Look for Him in a tickle.
God goes undercover in every hug, wink and smile.
You can’t miss Him in a kiss.
You are the dimple in God’s smile.
He delights in your laughter.
when He throws you in the air,
Never fear, He catches you on the way down.
Did you know, He’s got your picture on His fridge?
©2012 Joann Nelander
My Jesus, I wait in humble expectation,
For the fulfillment of Your desires for me.
The Father wills,
That You be all in all in me
What will I look like,
When You fully reign in my heart?
How have I distorted Your Image?
How do I hold You at bay?
The most beautiful monstrance,
Without You at its center, is empty.
Shine out of me.
Be the heart of me.
Be Lord of this manor.
Be heart, hearth and home.
Draw the world to Your Table.
Feed the world with your Holy Bread.
Flesh and Blood, You,
Penetrate the Gift of Life.
With ever new hope in me,
You wait to fulfill all You Promise.
You are my Sweet Salvation
Given as unmerited and undeserved gift.
Believing and bowing low,
I am lifted!
Touching the hem of Your garment
My faith finds Your favor.
Holiness of the forgiven sinner,
Live the fullness of Your Life in me.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
by Chris Rice
Take your candle, and go light your world
Frustrated brother, see how he’s tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister, she’s been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame
So Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, the tired and worn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world
Cause We are a family whose hearts are blazing
So let’s raise our candles and light up the sky
Praying to our Father, in the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times
So Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, deceived and poor
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hepeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world
The seed is alive,
With the Future.
The seed
Buried seeking light.
The one Adam,
The store of generations,
Begetting,
But not solely of himself.
One alike in nature,
But unique to the task,
Played by his side,
The delight of Paradise.
Sin entered in.
Nature, sublime,
Met the devil in his slime.
Havoc and hell followed,
On a Fall
For the all,
Yet to be.
Generation,
Degeneration,
Retribution.
No restitution,
No remedy for institution.
Generations
Living under a curse,
Dying in time.
Eden lost,
Without return.
Until the One,
The sent
The holy.
Began His reign,
Faith born.
To invite again,
To turn again
From the mire!
Unto hope.
Confronting the curse
Hanging from the cross,
Accursed,
Becoming Sin,
Sin meeting its end
In Him.
Meeting His end
Defeating the end
To be the beginning,
First born of the Dead.
To be for us
To be forever New,
New life
New hope.
Finding Adam in his grave
Dry bones moved by the Spirit.
Rise with him.
A new beginning
Rising from death
To call all to life.
The life of Adam,
Born through the ages,
Played out in generations.
Out of one, many.
He, Christ,
Descending
Gathering ,
Mending,
All ascending ,
Captive to the Light.
The seed
Become
His Life,
The future without end,
Living life without end.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
A million miracles ride the deep,
And play beneath the surface
Of Your fury,
In fall of water,
Rounding o’er the rocks,
In rush and billows,
Froth and foam.
Swift river carry me
And write on my memory.
Though seated on the bank,
I sail in heart,
And hurry,
In your wake
Finding joy as a petal,
Skirting the obscured,
Dancing o’er temptation,
In an act of will,
To follow in Your stride,
O Master of the deep.
The glint of sun
In steady flash
To gild rocky edges
As You do my soul.
The wash of swift current,
Pouring joy as palpable
As bird song,
Swimming the swollen crowns,
Like ribbons of life,
Skimming hidden cliffs,
Caring and carrying me along.
Their path and destiny one,
In faith’s repose.
Let not the world
Still or interfere
To make me tarry,
When You bid me come,
Contemplate my end,
And sweet beginning.
One with Providence’s
Plan,
I fear not Thy wild ride.
A million miracles cry out to me
From the beauty
Of depth and mystery.
I am lost in Your Presence.
There You are
Smiling back at me.
I simply smile and gaze.
I am nothing and no one,
Yet You whisper,
In You and Yours,
I am more.
You sing to my soul,
And tell me beauty tales.
Of gaining all I leave behind
In Love’s pursuit.
Grace creates a place for me.
After the mind of God.
I surpass the wonders I behold.
Hold me in this instant,
To capture Paradise
For the journey onward,
Singularly one with everything,
And bound to all,
And none,
Save You.
©2013 Joann Nelander
With the rising of each sun,
I seek the Sun of Justice,
That coming up over hill or horizon,
He might climb the sky,
Shattering my limits, my lacks,
And poor persuasions.
O, Conqueror of Death,
And King of New Day,
Let nothing deter
Your mounting my sky.
As nothing could chain You in the Tomb,
Or dissuade Your Rising,
To pick up Life,
And surrmount High Heaven,
Here, at my beginning,
Call me forth.
With the Force of the Commingled,
And Communal Love,
That begot Thee,
For I choose Thee,
Thou, Who gave my soul substance without Matter,
Spirit without Space,
Dependant, only on Thee,
My Champion.
Love begot Thee.
Loves conceives in His Knowing,
And Love,
Takes wing,
To welcome me,
One God,
Thee, My Three,
Now regarding me.
O, Sun of Justice,
Arise, and in me , ever be.
© 2017 Joann Nelander
