Jehovah Nissi

They say light
Restores memory
I see
Through this hoarder’s house–

Old newspapers
Moldy books
And the lovely curves
Of antique chests and bed frames
Buried in the dust

At the end she lived only in the kitchen, bathroom, cluttered dining room
Still the afternoon light
Tunnels through

Somehow

All old women
(Now bent trees) were once
Young and lovely

….children
If you could tip the hour glass back
Shake the sand down to make time go
Upward

I would still be
thin and hopeful
Standing beneath borrowed shelter in a
Temporary wedding dress

Know now this–
Only the true king
Can make a single seamless garment
Into shelter

How Big Is the Cage?

The moon is a smudge of light
On the forehead of darkness
Ash Wednesday penitent
In negative relief

I reach for you
Child, arms outstretched
Love scooped up

But cannot touch the mark my sin has left
On you, matchless Love
God with his arms thrown wide
For this insignificant girl
Smaller than the lesser
Light to govern the night

Who governs the night of this cage
I rattle
And percuss these wrought
Iron bars strung together
Cupped hands, carved-out bones
Ribs around a single
Beating heart

The Duggar Fiasco

A story of a 14 or 15 year old brother deliberately, repeatedly, invasively preying sexually on his very young and helpless little sisters is a nauseating, nightmarish scenario, not a frickin’ altar call.

Yet the Duggars claim it led them all closer to God.

Perhaps the god of celebrity, self-deception, and pride, but categorically not Jesus.

I know this because I too was once horrified to find that my teenage son (adopted from foster care) had preyed on his younger siblings and their friends.

Devastating.

I wept and I sought God.

My husband reported him to CPS.

I took my babies to forensic interviews, their doctor, and a licensed therapist.

And we fought to have him incarcerated for his monstrous crimes.

I sought out every parent whose minor children had been exposed to Charles. I treated his behavior as a public health hazard.

Because it is.

I asked Jesus–how do I get through this?

His answer was calm and incisive–the Truth will set you free.

It has. No one tells you how excruciating that kind of truth and freedom can be.

I look at the Duggars’ response to their son’s crimes and marvel at the damage they have caused to their children and their own souls.

Mrs. Duggar profoundly abused the content and intention of a portion of Matthew 18 in her interview on Fox. Tragic, offensive, and ironic….because Matthew 18:6 is the verse she should be quoting–

Matthew 18:6 NIV
[6] “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.