Longing for Acceptance

Feelings of insecurity assail me.

I compare myself to others,

And always come up short.

I want to be myself –

To be who I truly am…

But I am afraid.

Afraid that people won’t like me.

Afraid that I am different;

That I won’t fit in.

All that I have ever wanted

Was to be “normal.”

I’m told, “There is no normal.”

But this doesn’t make me feel any better,

And it doesn’t assure me that I am not some freak

Just trying to look like everyone else.

Why can’t I be myself?

Why can’t I be “different?”

Fear. Confusion. Doubt.

Lack of confidence. Loneliness. Indecision.

My brain just doesn’t work like everyone else’s.

My thoughts get a little crazy,

And my emotions can be unstable.

I feel alone and misunderstood.

I feel…judged. And I don’t like it.

I wish there were someone who understood,

Someone who cared.

Someone who would walk beside me in the darkness.

Who would hold my hand,

And tell me that everything is going to be all right.

But I’m still waiting. Longing. Hoping.

I know to Whom I need to go,

And I know that He is the missing piece to this puzzle.

But sometimes I feel as if He’s not there.

That He doesn’t see me.

That He doesn’t care.

That He has the power to deliver me, and yet He doesn’t.

Why does He leave me like this?

My thoughts are tortured, my mind is calloused.

My words pour forth, and yet I feel that they fall on deaf ears.

Is there anyone listening?

Is there anyone who cares?

Is there anyone who understands?

Is there anyone who will see me for who I truly am,

And love me just the same?

Is there anyone – anyone at all –

Who feels the same way?


I lift up my eyes to the mountains –

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

The Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2


Image Credit: Alberto Restifo

Sing Sweetest in the Dark

Sing a little song of trust,

Oh my heart!

Sing it just because you must,

As leaves start;

As flowers push their way through dust;

Sing, my heart, because you must.

Wait not for an eager throng —

Bird on bird;

It’s the solitary song

That is heard.

Every voice at dawn will start,

Be a nightingale, my heart!

Sing across the winter snow,

Pierce the cloud;

Sing when mists are drooping low —

Clear and loud;

But sing sweetest in the dark;

He who slumbers not will hark.

And when He hears you sing, He will bend down with a smile on His kind face. As He cheerfully listens, He will say, “Sing on, dear child. I hear you and I am coming to deliver you. I will carry that load for you. So just lean hard on Me, and the road will get smoother by and by.”

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! – Philippians 4:4

~ Taken from Streams in the Desert, December 28th


Photo Credit: Singing Nightingale, an acrylic painting by Laura Milnor Iverson

The Light Will Prevail

Grateful…

So grateful.

Although darkness pervades,

It will not prevail.

Light exists as well,

And it causes the darkness to scatter–

To scamper away like a mouse before a cat.

God is good.

He will provide. He will sustain. He will uplift.

He WILL keep His promises.

Although darkness floods my soul,

It will not overcome.

For the light is greater than the darkness,

And God is greater than all.

HE will prevail.


Photo Credit: Sebastian Boguszewicz