Letter from your Father

For the longest time me and my friend Shirley had this whole play on words thing with her name...it started when our school choir sang the messiah one year and "Surely, Surely" became quite a hit...i sent her this a long time ago...took me a while to piece all the right verses together and make the most of her name as well...eventually i just added her name in places just to make it more personal to her...but tonight I dedicate it to those of us who are sad...hurt...and kind of overwhelmed with life...I know I get that way ALOT...so tonight...if there is anyone out there stuck in a viscious gong show of doubt wondering what could possibly happen next...well this is my little offering..

Shirley,
goodness and mercy will follow you...
For I, your Father God,
knit you together in your mother's womb
Your frame was not hidden from me.
When you were made in the secret place,
woven together in the depths of the earth.
When you were a child I loved you,
and out of Egypt I called you,
It was I, your Father,
who taught you to walk,
taking you by the arms.
I lead you with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.

Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from your Father of heavenly lights,
I do not change like shifting shadows.
All the days ordained for you
were written down before one of them came to be
Why would you ever question or wonder saying,
"God has lost track of me,
He doesn't care what happens to me?"
The God who created the cosmos,
stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth
and all that grows from it,
who breathes life into earths people
and makes them alive with His own life
I am God.

I have taken responsibility for you,
kept you safe,
you will dwell in your Father's house
forever, and ever...

Shirley,
you can say,
"As for me, I wait in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Saviour,
my Father will hear me."
The Lord, your Father,
has made proclamation
to the ends of the earth...
"Say to the daughter of Zion,
Is not Shirley my dear child
in whom I delight?
I still remember you,
I have great compassion for you.
I have made you beautiful,
I have set eternity in your heart.
You will be called,
'Sought After'
a mother,
Wake up, wake up, Daughter!
Wake up, wake up, and break into song."
and Shirley,
I am with you always
even to the very end of the age.