I’M STILL HERE

It’s okay to hurt... but it’s not okay to think he doesn’t love you because you hurt... that he even loves the fact that you hurt...
That He even wants you to hurt
I took a walk with Him down the path of hurt & I tabled my hurts
before him & He smiled piercingly with hurt
& Responded, thus -
“When you tears abound, I’ll welcome you without a frown...
Yeah, it feels like no one understands your miry ground; sincerely that’s a personal fable because every ounce of pain that grips you was once my hound...
Do not forget that I walked the same ground
Upon which you stand... that’s how I got my crown
Yeah! Friends abandoned on temptation’s mount
but that’s what Gethsemane was all about...
my best friends that were closer than my brother’s left me hanging... how does that sound –
for hurt?”
with that I let go of His hand
& he got hold of it again...whispering
“Are you still there? Because I am still here”
He asked me
“Are you tempted by fame
Is hunger besetting you; wealth-thirst the same? These were the exact things the devil tempted me with when He came...

For forty days that felt more like forty years every form of torture, pain, disease, infirmity attacked my bodily frame...
The Bible might not have mentioned them, but I too was tempted with booze, smoke logs, pornography’s lounge, red light district, religiosity, anger, frustration, tons & tons of beautiful dames
Every dirty, mangy, stinking, slimy, puke-evoking demon came
They had an attack roster for forty days that felt like forty years... just for my mission’s acclaim... yep! Their scroungy acts were for my acclaim...
All of them I overcame
That’s how I got my name
You see, there’s nothing really new in the game
Been there, done that... & I’ll go through it again -
just for you... but that won’t bring me glory again... what you face is for your glory; for I have predestined, called, & justified you, so you can be glorified in the final analysis in the presence of my glory
So rejoice when the pains, trials, tribulations, temptations & hurts come... do not flee from your glory”

Once again I let go of his hand -
because this weight is too much for me to bear... I can no longer stand
I try to run away... I accuse Him of unfairness but I don’t curse... just cannot curse my man
Then he grabs my hand again
Whispering once again
“Are you still there? Cos I’m still here
I’ve always been here & will always be here...
I understand everything you face... How you want to run from this cross...that’s why I availed my grace
That’s why I sent the comforter in my place...
Stay baby, hold on to him, do not release the embrace
I promise you this day...as you hear me; hear this; read this; you will not be disgraced
I see farther than you can, so stay
I know your end but you don’t, so stay
Cos I’m still here, I’ll always be here!”

I’m sure by you now, you know my shirt was drenched before he finished... truth, He’s here... & He’s there... wherever you are... wherever there is... He is there!