Through Trial and Tempest

Through trial and tempest

Through doubt and fear

Ever your hand that been

Near me

Through anger and pain

Through worry and blame

Thy name alone

Do I claim

Thou hast been as always

And ever wilt be

Thou most faithful

Thou most true

My joy my one desire

May thee ever be

I thank thee this day

For thy great abundance

Thy grace full shown

In me is it known

The cost so great

Thy love beyond

Hope of my life

Love divine

May thy ways

Be as mine

Surrendering all

To thee and for thee

Living and loving

Suffering and serving

That thy joy may be full

Found in me this day

For this and many more beside

I thank thee

-Joshua Lee Foist

Between the Autumn and the Spring

Between the Autumn and the Spring
The wind that chases everything
How soft and sweetly once
They did sing

Now their dissonant cords ring
Through the passages of time
Playing their melancholy rhyme
And I am caught in their song

The days go on and on
From dusk to dawn
My heart, my mind
Seeks once more

To find the lost
One that once more
May be found
The one so loved

Might be loved on
Yet dawned that day
Now so many
Daze of rain

Wash their welcome
Cross this glazed
Window pane

And ere my heart
Doth pain
To think of thee
No more

Of thee I do adore
I ask shall it ere be
That we should
Know love

For its broken chemistry
Where hath thee gone
And the winter stead
By which the nights
Chill is fed

We make our bed
And sleep
The night
And pray

Recite
These words
One day dear Lord
Thy will be done

And awake anew
In this view
All others forsake

What ere
The hour or day
May break

Save for thy sake
Shall return
Or yet to wait

Thy love
Enough to warm
The coldest of hearts

In the deeper parts
That fragile love
And fallen
Can ere to know

No despair
Can cloud
Or enshroud
Its hopes

No more shall fear
Come and freeze
Thy hopes thy dreams
Shall warm shall please

For thy ways are sure
And close the door
Of past days afore

What ere shall be
Shall we yet
Take this journey
Onward and out

Into the great
Oceans of imagining
Where our hearts once
Flurried now

Our worries
Are lost in thee
Who guides us
Beyond
The raging sea 

-Joshua Lee Foist

On this day I do accept

On this day I do accept

Me for who I am

Of others whether kin

Or not in part

My heart it must release

My soul be satisfied

In Him who accepts

No matter what

I am

Oh love come swift

Come take thy hold

Upon me

Give me boldness

To see that which long

My eyes distorted

Did refrain to see

Believe

My mind so clouded

Enshrouded in

Self doubt and pity

Beyond itself

Broken I am

And beautiful

To you

You who make me

Acceptable and true

Bind me to your

Heart

Give me acceptance

For those too as I

Broken banished and bruised

Grant me joy in service

For those in need

May selfishness

Drift and selflessness

Feed

For all we need

And all we hope

We cannot

We dare not

On our own

We need thee

We find thee

Our source

Provide

Now give us hearts

And minds

That will abide

To welcome

And warm the coldest

Of hearts with love

From you who only

Can make all

Things new

-Joshua Lee Foist

In this moment presently

In this moment presently
May my wandering thoughts
Cease to be

Wonder in me
Wonder in thee
A taste of thy glory
Found in me

Flee oh fleeting follies
Flourish oh fabulous faith
Grow in me a courage
To face the uncertain certainty

Breathe thy grace
May it comfort
May it trace
My heart to thee
Anew

Afix my eyes
To thy ways
Most sure

Think my every thought
Upon that which thou
Dost adore

While the vapor
Of this faint existance
Flickers and fades
In the wind

Take my delight
My joy
My hope
And make it
Thine

-Joshua Lee Foist