They Say Some Clouds Are Silver Lined

John Francis Wallace III

Description

A volume of inspirational poems reflects on everyday experiences rooted in biblical truths while honoring God and providing hope that He will always love us more than we love Him.
There is a secret place
Where only I can go.
It is a quiet place
Far from life’s ebb and flow.
It is a place of kindness,
Of faith and hope and love.
John Francis Wallace III loves God. Yet although many believers talk about how much they love the Lord, John has discovered that the more time he spends with God, the more he realizes that God loves him more than he loves Him. One way that God has shown his great love for John is through his journey into poetry.
In a collection of inspirational poems inspired by John’s experiences and relationships firmly rooted in the teachings of the Bible, he reflects on sorrows and joys of everyday circumstances while reminding others that God dearly loves each of us, no matter our faults or sins. Within poems shared in three parts, John offers his favorite verse that explores faith, prayer, and hope in a multitude of ways, reveals a candid glimpse into his struggles to understand all the challenges that God has placed in his path, and the good fight he continues as he pursues his divine purpose to inspire other believers.
They Say Some Clouds Are Silver Lined is a volume of inspirational poems rooted in biblical truths that honor God and provide hope that He will always love us more than we love Him.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Inspiration
• Love
• Christian
• Hope
• Faith
• Poetry
• Devotion
• Devotional
• Religious
• Subjects
• Themes
• Inspirational

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 23 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664274754
• Langue: English

Extrait

THEY SAY SOME CLOUDS ARE SILVER LINED






JOHN FRANCIS WALLACE III









Copyright © 2022 John Francis Wallace III.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.



WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7476-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7477-8 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7475-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914461



WestBow Press rev. date: 08/22/2022
















To my beautiful wife, Paula,
and my two precious daughters, Renee and Rachel,
without whose unwavering encouragement this book
would have never been completed



Contents
Preface
Part 1: Favorites
My Dwelling Place
The Masterpiece
My Warrior King
My Heart Afire
The Warrior’s Daily Covenant
Part 2: Struggles
A Prayer for the Weary
Weight upon My Soul
A Prayer in Las Vegas
Anxious Soul
A Prayer of Confession
My Companions, Grief and Sadness
I Will Wait Patiently for the Lord
Dry Wells
Part 3: The Good Fight
A Battle of Praise
The Joy That Is to Come
The Place of Sacrifice
The Well Seems Dry
Today’s Warfare
A Quick Prayer
Part 4: Our Hearts Sing
The Whippoorwill of Eternity
Glorious Lord of Heaven
He Is Risen
A Song of Freedom
Water, Wine, and Joy
My Father’s Song
Part 5: It All Belongs to You
It All Belongs to You
The Tapestry of God
This Is Your Community
The Kingdom of Heaven
Grant Us Faith, Hope, and Love
Part 6: I Belong to You
Our Thoughts
With You I’ll Stay
Part 7: What Jesus Did
The Passion of Jesus
Fifteen Facts about Jesus
You Came to Us
My Father’s Love
The New Man, Jesus Christ
The One
Eternal Life
Part 8: My Calling
To Go Where Jesus Goes
Revival
Bought with a Price
My Source, My Strength
The First of a Thousand Sacrifices
My Calling
My Hope for This Day
A Word into Chaos
The Lie-Swatter
Daring to Love
Just for You, Jesus
The All-Things of Life
Part 9: No One Like Him
Your Presence
My Lord and My God
Your Name from A to Z
There Is No One Like You
Glory
Hope Like a Dope
Jesus Is My Friend
The Living Word
My Redeemer’s Grace
Part 10: Women of Faith
Twenty Years of Beauty
For Paula on Valentine’s Day
The Gift I Did Not See, The Words I Did Not Hear
The Mother of My Girls
Teenagers
Renee
Rachel
The Woman at the Well
Part 11: The Word
The Word
The Word of Life
My Only Son
Part 12: Faith
Where Is Faith?
Faith and Reason
My Life Is in Your Hands
In Your Good Hands
The Windtalkers
We Dare to Believe
Part 13: His Creation
Your Creation
Understanding
The Acorn
The Ocean Waves
A Morning Sky
A Million Billion Stars
Part 14: Thank You
Thank You for Sleep
Thank You for the Surprises and More
Thank You for This Gift
Acknowledgements



Preface

My experience with God is that He loves me. To me, a commandment greater than the Ten Commandments is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Matthew 22:37), and many people talk about how much they love God. However, the sense I have as I spend time with God is that He loves me much more than I love Him. One of the ways in which God has shown his great love for me is through a journey into poetry.
This journey started when I was sixteen years old. I enrolled in a high school creative writing course, and among other things our teacher showed us various types of poetry, meter, and rhyme. Then, she did something that terrified me. She told us our homework assignment was to write a poem in iambic pentameter. I began to pray—literally. I was convinced that I was not a poet, much less able to write a poem in iambic pentameter!
The day before the assignment was due, I said, “God, please help me, because I don’t know how to do this!” That morning, as I looked out my bedroom window and watched the sun rise, I noticed that the clouds appeared to be lined with gold. Suddenly, a poem began to form in my mind. I got a piece of paper and began to write. This is what came out:
They say some clouds are silver lined,
But often I think not.
I do not think they’re silver lined,
But with fine gold they’re wrought!
For look! Behold! The eastern sky,
As the morning sun doth rise.
It seems as though, with the brightness so,
They’re cast in golden dies!
I was astonished as the words poured onto the page. When I was finished, I realized that not only had I used iambic pentameter, but, to me, the poem seemed pretty good. Still, I thought that because I took some metrical liberties with the iambic pentameter, I might not receive a very good grade. When the teacher returned the assignment, I was amazed to see that she had given me an A+. Then she asked if she could share it with others. I could hardly believe my ears!
My parents, however, did not encourage me. To them, poetry was something “nice” but not worthy of much time and attention. So I hid away my talent, convinced that this poem was just an answered prayer for a single assignment. It was not until many years later, when I had become an adult, that I realized I continued to write poetry in bits and pieces. I just filed them away, not showing anyone, unaware of the talent God had given me.
Then in the late 1990s something amazing happened. At the time, I was going through therapy, and I discovered a theme running through my life: freedom. One morning I awoke with the following poem running through my mind.
Freedom
Freedom is frightening,
Freedom is true,
For freedom depends not on me or you.
God is at work, and
God is at play!
We can rejoice or moan in dismay,
For whatever we may,
Nothing, and no one, will stand in His way.
It was then it began to dawn on me that perhaps God had given me a gift. Other poems followed:
Freedom Redeemed
Dancing
Singing
Painting
Drawing
Weaving to the sounds of joy.
Hearing
Seeing
Freely being
Ones who share the gift of joy.
Sudden stillness.
Pause
Reflection
Weeping at the death of joy.
Anger
Madness
Profound sadness
As the chaos reigns in freedom.
Hopeless
Helpless
Stained with lies
Shattered lives beneath the skies.
Startling!
Fright’ning!
Strangely dawning
Freedom rises from the grave.
Hopeful
Truthful
Ever Faithful
He who rescues weaves in us …
Dancing
Singing
Freedom bringing
Hope and Truth and endless Love.
I Tremble
I tremble at the thought of living free,
I tremble at the thought of not.
I tremble at the thought of being me,
I tremble at the thought of not.
I tremble at the thought of seeing Thee,
I tremble at the thought of naught.
Glimpses of Freedom
I am seeing bits of freedom,
Freedom from those chains within.
And I know you will complete it,
For you are my Guide, my Friend.
Amen.
Soon I began writing poems and prayers to God, and about my relationship with Him and with others.
This journey into poetry has amazed me. It is most often a joint effort between me and Him. This book is a peek into that journey, and I hope it will allow you to see how dearly He loves you.



PART 1
Favorites
Do you have favorite books, authors, or writings? Many people do. This section contains some of my favorites among the poems I’ve written. The process of writing poems involves becoming vulnerable before God, listening to His voice, and letting the poems flow onto the page. In this process, certain poems particularly bless me. It as if the voice of God is speaking to me in a very special way.
I don’t know why I am particularly fond of these poems, but perhaps it is because they speak so profoundly to my relationship with Him. I hope they bless you as well.



My Dwelling Place

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1 1
There is a secret place
Where only I can go.
It is a quiet place
Far from life’s ebb and flow.
It is a place of kindness,
Of faith and hope and love.
It is a gift to me
From Him who is above.
It is a place where I can dwell;
No fear can enter there,
For the one who made the place for me
Is ev