Monday, February 15, 2010

"LOVE ME WITH YOUR EYES!"



LOVE ME WITH YOUR EYES!

by

Linda J. De Graw

(copyright 1991)


Please don't touch me !!!
Love me with your eyes alone.
You see, it hurts.
My body remembers.

If you touch me
I might cry.
I might run away ... sob ... scream ...
My body remembers.

I want you to love me...
I need your love so much!!!
But, love me with your eyes alone --
I'm afraid I'll run away from your touch!

My body remembers
when violence wore a cloak of "LOVE" ...
when being touched by someone who "loved" me
left me cold and dead inside.

I NEED you to love me...
I want your love SO MUCH !!!
But, love me with your eyes alone --
I'm afraid I'll run away from your touch.


Sunday, February 14, 2010

This Is the Year…



In 1986, I was dying, literally, when I met my LORD and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He invited me to have a relationship with Him...I said "YES!"...because I had never known LOVE like that before--ever.

In 1987, He told me to start going to church...I balked...because I wanted it to be just me and Him and my Bible--forever. But, He gently persuaded me that this was a good thing.

In 1988, He told me to do my baptism like a wedding...I obeyed...because I wanted to please Him--more than anything in life. It was a genuine "Honeymoon".

Then, I started having blackouts. I didn't know what was happening to me. This went on for months. I was confused and scared.

In 1989, He told me that I was going to have to "look at the sexual abuse issues" in my life...I panicked...because that was the one thing in life I didn't think I could live through--again. I begged and pleaded with Him not to make me do it. I felt I would go insane.

When He wouldn't back off of that subject...I ran away from Him...because I didn't trust Him with that area of my life--the "Honeymoon" was over. We had just had our first fight.

In 1990, I had an accident that nearly cost me my life. My "Bridegroom" said to me, "This is the last call."...I surrendered, finally, even though I knew it meant I would lose my mind...because I would rather endure that than be separated from Him--eternally.

It was after I submitted myself under His hand that I wrote "In Secret Places".

It wasn't for another year, or more, until I came upon Jeremiah 23:23, 24 in the New King James version of the Bible…I was stunned…because I had no idea that the words "in secret places" were in His Word--until then.

For the next eighteen years, He told me to "Write."...I didn't...because fear and terror had a stranglehold on me--and it was that, and the disobedience, that almost stole my sanity.

In 2008, I finally created a blog...there's still nothing there--yet.

In February 2009...I was in anguish...because I felt I had committed the unpardonable sin for not writing--for so many years.

I joined an online Christian women's neighborhood in March, after staying up all night searching for blogs and bloggers who wrote about writing, abuse, trauma, addictions and how they survived it in Christ.

I've spent the last year trying to get comfortable writing to women about the hard stuff...only somewhat successfully...because I had lost my voice--in infancy.

In January 2010, the LORD opened my spirit to know that "This is the year" that what He asked of me will happen.

In February 2010 I started this new blog...still scared "to tell", but in faith...because He will bring me through this--with a sound mind and healed spirit.

In the decades since I've been trying to deal with all of this, I have learned..."The only way over is through"...and, it's not just for me--it's for you, too.

I have never known Him to bless just one person in any situation; He always produces a "win-win". And 2010 is the year I believe He is going to bring unimaginable healing into the lives of the walking wounded of the world.

In my mind's eye, I see Him directing us to form a human chain that reaches down into the darkest depths of hell we have endured, meets Him at the Cross, and then carries us all the way to His throne.

 

"IN SECRET PLACES"




IN SECRET PLACES

by

Linda J. De Graw

(copyright 1990)


In secret places, deep inside,
I've buried hurts, fears, pain and pride.
I thought they'd stay there, out of the way,
but somehow they keep surfacing today.

Oh LORD, it's not right to feel anger and hate !!
Won't You please HELP ME . . . these feelings abate ???
I've been struggling all day with these unpleasant foes.
They rob me of joy and in its place leave woes.

I'm sick of this see-saw -- ELATION/despair . . .
My soul needs renewing, overhauling and repair !!!
But, I guess I'd like a "magic cure"
so pain and discomfort I won't have to endure.

Yes, You're right, LORD, denial never cures the past --
it just keeps re-surfacing, and again I'm harassed !
But HOW can I put it PERMANENTLY to rest
when its offspring of imps keeps putting me to the test ???

In that dark little corner, over there to the right,
is where I keep "REJECTION" well out of sight.
Yet daily it seems to raise its ugly head
snapping at me from morning 'til bed !

My "FEARS" I keep over there on the shelf,
ignoring them, and trying to encourage myself.
But they keep sliding off and rolling my way --
ever tripping me up so I make no headway.

"GUILT" and "SHAME" are tucked snugly underneath;
but, they too, harass me beyond belief !!
Even though I've confessed all that I can think of
they retort that I've no right to receive any love.

And "THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER"
-- that keeps glaring me in the eye --
is the one I never escape, named Me, Myself & I.
It hounds me incessantly all night and all day
with its "shoulds" and its "oughts" and the debts I can't pay.

But there, well-hidden -- (even from me),
is where the worst tyrant struggles to be free.
With its silent screaming and rattling of cage,
jarring my soul . . . this thing called "RAGE".

And that over there?? No, that's not a lake . . .
it's an ocean of tears -- unshed for "PRIDE's" sake.
Oh, yes, it's an ocean. Real salt you can taste.
Too bad it's so big . . . so much room it does waste.

LORD . . . ? If I were to let You drain that ocean from me --
would that at last from my past set me free ? ? ?
Fountains of Living Water You've promised to give . . .
Oh, LORD -- is THAT what I've needed to learn how to live ???

Then drain this salty marsh, with its muck and its mire,
and give me the Springs of Your Heart's desire !!!
Wash clean those hidden corners of my dark soul . . .
then fill me with Your Spirit 'til I am made whole !!!

It almost seems just too good to be true . . .
But if I let You empty me, You can FILL ME with YOU!
Oh LORD, make haste; let there be no delay !!!
Possess me entirely -- come fill me TODAY !!!


"Am I a God near at hand,"
says the LORD,
"And not a God afar off?
Can anyone hide himself
in secret places,
So I shall not see him?"
says the LORD;
"Do I not
fill
heaven and earth?"
says the LORD.


Jeremiah 23:23, 24 (NKJV)
(emphasis mine)