Peace & Poetry

My friends have all gone;
Those which said they’d never part.
Perhaps they’d forgotten?
Or planned it from the start?

The walk of faith is sacrifice.
Consider the costs.
Everything is temporary;
I count it all loss. 

How can I complain
That I’ve been rejected?
Christ was betrayed by a brother;
An evil foreknown yet unexpected.

And so was He persecuted.
Then why me any less?
Only that my heart be strengthened 
That I faint not in this test. 

Be happy and rejoice, my soul,
For suffering is not without reward.
Let your patience be established,
And your faith be greater than before. 

How great it is, and wonderful
That I am never alone.
Even in this isolation, 
And when all have gone. 

I can handle being alone;
It’s not too great for me.
So long as I have You,
And Your Spirit to dwell with me.