A poem from Shattered: A Heart in Search of Mercy - A Book of Hope & Healing 

MERCY (Inspired by John 8:1-11)

Boldly, desperately, Your mercy calls me!
Bring your woes and the pain that binds
the crushed spirit, the broken heart
So I run to You, knees buckling
heart melting
fear gripping
bowing before You
my hair falling across your feet to wipe away my tears
sins so dark, I can't get away from the accusations they throw 
shame consumes as their rocks are chosen
standing as witnesses against me
as if I am nothing, not worth saving
My failures and mistakes evident
caught in the act
never even thinking this would be something I'd do
​
Their Ignorance dominates, deceptively concealed
righteous ones hiding behind holy words
but it's in the chaos and condemnation, Lord, You speak
Your loving eyes baring into my soul, declaring what is loving and just
Your justice
Your love
Tender mercy speaks my name
grace releasing the shame I no longer carry
accepting who I no longer am
free from the things I no longer desire to do

One by one my sins disappear
wiped clean off the chalkboard of remembrance
erased are the memories I tried to destroy in my own incapable and non-existing power
each offense now crucified
the weight of shame becoming light as a feather...flying away

Sweet peace kneeling before Your mercy seat
forgiven of the hurt I've caused
forgiving the one who hurt me
a beautiful dance between heaven and earth
memories fading fast
confession sweet to the spirit
Love washing me clean
leaving me secure under waterfalls of grace 
sins red as scarlet now white as snow
this is mercy's victory

Amazon.com: Shattered: A Heart in Search of Mercy: 9798986681504: Thomas, Rikah: Books

                                                         Which Response Will I Choose?
                                                                       Rikah Thomas
                                                                    ***************                                                                               
It’s a new year with new promises and possibilities! I think of all things I want to write and create; so many things I’ve heard God speak to me about. That blog. That story. That novel. That song. I see the visions of what could be, and then I find myself at a crossroads of choosing faith or surrendering to doubt.

As I sit by the warm fire, coffee in hand, the story in Luke Chapter 1 fills my mind. Intrigue over an angel, two chosen people, two promises, and two possible conceptions unfolds. As I read, I feel the questioning of my own heart—am I more like Zechariah, or am I like Mary? And if the time is now, which response will I choose for 2022?

The first character I see is a didn’t-know-it-yet-soon-to-be-father, named Zechariah. He was the priest on-call, whose job was to burn the incense in the temple. As the people were praying and he was busy about his duties, an angel of the Lord appeared to give him a message.

He told him not to be afraid. He told him that his prayer had been heard. It seems that Zechariah had been praying for a child even though he and his wife, Elizabeth, were too old and she had never been able to conceive. The angel even told him to name the child, John, and gave specific details about how John should be raised and how he would live; what his life would hold for God’s kingdom.
In response, Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man, and my wife is along in years.”  Seems like an honest response, right? I can relate to the praying, seeking, longing, and desire to conceive and birth my dreams. I can also resonate with hearing the details of my promise—the book title, the message to share, the story to tell—for God’s kingdom. I’m hearing, but how can I be sure?

A little while later, Mary is also visited by an angel of the Lord, who says to her, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you...do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”

Mary too asks a question of the angel, “How will this be since I am a virgin? She then follows it up with, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.”

At first glance it looks like they both were doubtful on how such promises could be fulfilled, considering their realities—one being old age, the other having never been with a man to get pregnant. Life had given them both challenges and truths to consider, and, yet, God had spoken.
This got me thinking about my life and the things I believe God has spoken to me about. In this case, specially about my writing assignments and the books I will birth. The stories I will tell, and the messages He wants me to share with others. Maybe it wasn’t through an angel, but I know He spoke, whether through His Word, through another person, or in tangible circumstances and creative ways that gave me glimpses of His plan for me.

At a foundational level, I know He invited me to write. Write anything. Write everything. Take the next step. Believe what He showed me in the quiet places. Bring them to life. Write because I sense deep within that God gave me a story to tell. To share what He has done for me. To boldly put it all out there for others to read, watch, or listen to, so they can be encouraged, comforted, and touched by God through the words I share.

As we go into the next year and hear God leading us to write, will we choose to respond like Zechariah, with doubt and unbelief because we are focused on the challenges? Will we think more about, how will I ever get that book out when I’m (fill in the blank) too old, don’t have time, don’t have the resources, feel discouraged, or don’t believe I can? Or when we hear that the time is now—to write, edit, or maybe even publish, will we choose to have the heart of Mary, and believe that in the midst of the challenges, we can confidently say about our writing dreams and promises, “Let it be for me as you have shown me and spoken so many times before. For Lord, I know you are able, and your word never fails.”

Happy writing and creating this year! The time is now to say yes to God, yes to your story, yes to believing that with God all things are possible, and you can finish what you started.
Have fun and enjoy the process; we are cheering you on! KWA
 
Happy New Year!
Rikah Thomas 😊
Artist/Author
“Inspiring hearts and minds with words and art.”
KWA Vision Lead
 

Sitting across from you, I see your gaze intently watching
You see right through me
My thoughts on display like a star filled night
Your love is evident
My husband, my friend, my child
Whoever is across from me
Desperately pursuing my attention
 
You speak, I see your lips moving
But I don’t hear you
For my cell phone keeps buzzing and beeping its own jingle
The adrenaline in my body responds
Addicted and joyful over the noises and sounds
Keeping me posted of another meaningless message coming through
 
Like a serpent striking its prey, I quickly snatch up my phone
My eye on you
And one on the prize
Speedily entering my manufactured data filled images of me
Emojis, Bitmojis, Memojis, GIFs, and photos galore
To share my life
 
So, I feel special, known, important, seen
In this world of knowledge
Communication
Information
Technical connection
Edited and filtered vulnerability
 
These idols of metal and plastic
Controlled by technology, satellites, and apps
I’m not even sure I believe the stories I tell  

You sit quietly, looking at me dramatize this imprisoned-by-the-cell-phone moment
As if it were life or death
While true conversations and connection quickly fade away
Leading me astray
from this intimate moment that will never be
 
Because I don’t see you
I don’t treasure you
The one so close, I can touch you
Hug you
Share a smile with you
Hold your hand
If I chose to
 
Sadly, I’m desperately missing you
Being missed by you too
 
Over a phone
Over social media creating the scarcity of real socialization
Pushing away relationship of flesh and blood
Encouraging further isolation
Alienation
Loneliness
By way of a distant heart
 
The witnesses around us
Pause to wonder what you’re feeling
As I continue interrupting our time together
To pick up another call
And send another text.
 
By Rikah Thomas © 2021
www.rikahthomas.com
rikahthomas@cox.net
 
Books by Rikah Thomas
Heavenly Ink (Poetry & Prose)
Be at War: Battle for Love (Fiction)
Loving & Hating This Thing Called Church: A Journey of Healing

What Does Your Heart Long For?
                                                                                                                                                                                     As I sat on the beach, I was reading the book of 1 Samuel and came across the story of Hannah. She longed for a child to the point of deep anguish and prayed to the Lord as she wept bitterly. She couldn’t let go of the desire. The longing. The want.
    I could resonate with her as I too was praying to God about a deep longing I had. Only what I wanted was regarding my writing and the hunger I lived with to write more books. Impact more people for Him. Inspire others through the written word and art. Amid life, work, family, and ministry, I wanted this deep yearning to become reality.
      I felt like Hannah pouring my heart out to God and letting Him know my anguish and need.
As creatives/dreamers—whether we are writing books, articles, blogs, screenplays or songs, we have this yearning inside to take what we sense God is giving us and produce all these creative babies to offer to the world. We long to share our stories to inspire and make a difference in someone’s life.
     We can’t help it. We dream of it. We pray for it.
   And sometimes we are in anguish because of it and can feel downcast at having to wait and wonder if publishing books, producing songs, or writing plays that people read, hear, or see will ever happen for us.
     The other thing I noticed in the story was Hannah’s husband, Elkanah.  I saw the way he wanted to love his wife in her pain and wanted to be enough for her.  He even asked her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
There was no doubt Elkanah loved his wife and was concerned for her, and that he wanted to cheer her up. But he couldn’t alleviate the burden she carried. He couldn’t. It was not a bad thing, God simply had something different for Hannah that was birthed from her relationship with God and His purpose for her life.
     I was reminded of the people we may come across in our lives that mean well but may not know the calling and longing we carry around to write. To create. They mean well when they say we shouldn’t worry or try so hard, or maybe they try to persuade us to stop writing because nothing has happened with it yet.
   Reading about Hannah encouraged me to keep praying, seeking God, and writing my heart out. Own my longing and what I desire. Don’t expect others to get me, get my passion, or understand my need to create and put something out there in the world. It’s not a bad thing. Let it be enough between me and God, that this is for me to do. This is my creative baby to pray for and what He has put in my heart to accomplish.
   Fellow dreamers, I want to encourage you today that wherever you are in the process of your dream, keep writing. Keep believing. Keep asking. Keep moving forward and continue praying for what you long for. (And when you hear your loving, concerned, Elkanah in your life—maybe a spouse, child, or friend—be gracious, and KEEP WRITING!  Good news, Hannah got her miracle and had a son, Samuel, whom she dedicated to the Lord. She also went on to have more children as God blessed her and Elkanah.)
     Your passion and desire to write and create is your gift from God. It is your Samuel to dedicate to the Lord when it is birthed. It is your joy to offer up.
      Happy creating and dreaming in 2021!
      Blessings and hugs,
      Rikah Thomas
      www.rikahthomas.com
 
 
                                                                                     

 

 

Don’t Miss Your Miracle This Christmas
Rikah Thomas 12/21/20
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What do the Samaritan woman, Jesus’ disciples, and the Jews at the pool of Bethesda have in common?

While reading John 4 and 5, something stood out to me through the interactions each person had with Jesus. I was aware, once again, of the earthly and the divine colliding, and the possibility of missing His love and presence in everyday life.

First story: The Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well:
“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)  “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”   “Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?  ……. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.  But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”   John 4:7-14

Observation: The Samaritan woman was being invited by Jesus to Himself. It didn’t matter that she was a woman, divorced, not a Jew, or that it wasn’t culturally acceptable to be talking to a Samaritan.  Yet, in that moment, she missed Him because she was focused on the fact that he didn’t have anything to draw water with.
He kept bringing her to Himself. She saw the well. It was deep. He didn’t have anything to draw with. Where would He get this living water?

Make it personal: What am I focused on this Christmas as Jesus sits with me at the well of my life? Amidst stress and uncertainty? COVID-19? Fear? Financial struggles? Loss? As He rests with me amidst worldly chaos, do I see Jesus, or do I see lack and how things appear to be? Do I hear the hope He is offering to me?

The second story: Enter the disciples:
“Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?”  (Great twist when you keep reading) Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So, the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?” Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.  Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.  John 4:27-34

Observation: The disciples walked close with Jesus. Unlike the Samaritan woman, they were living in His presence and heard His heart about heavenly truths. They were in His inner circle. They knew Him (or at least were trying to know Him). And they believed, even when often confused. 
Nonetheless, what they saw was His need to eat. They saw Him talking to the woman and questioned it. Jesus responded to their earthly inquiry with spiritual treasures, while they wondered if someone already fed Him. They missed it. God was there, inviting them to greater things.

Make it personal: What about us? If we have been with Jesus and believe we know Him, read the Bible, pray, and go to church, do we still have certain beliefs and cultural standards that don’t fit with what Jesus is inviting us to?  Do we know Jesus as He is, or are we missing Him—lost in culture, challenges, and our own confused opinions? Are we concerned with the cares of this life and missing the invitation to look up and see God, and rest in His perfect will for us?

The third story: Jews in Jerusalem and a healed man:
“Sometime later there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda. On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had spent a long time in this condition, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.” Then Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.”

Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day, so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”  “Who is this man who told you to pick it up and walk?” they asked. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while the crowd was there. John 5:1-15

Observation: A man is healed after thirty-eight years of being an invalid. The Jews, God’s chosen people who prided themselves in knowing God and the law were the very ones who missed Jesus in their midst. They were the religious ones determined to uphold the law. Determined to judge those appearing to oppose it. Religious. Zealous. Yet they missed the miracle of an invalid walking after thirty-eight years. Touched by Jesus. Healed. They missed love and grace.

Make it personal: What about us? Maybe God is moving toward those we love—moving in their lives, but we are missing it because we are stuck on the law. We think we know God’s plan for others, and we forget to reflect His heart of love and grace. We forget to bless others with compassion and mercy. We forget to introduce other’s to God.

God, who is Love.

Love beyond culture. Beyond sin. Beyond limited understanding. Beyond what our eyes see. Beyond gender. Beyond perceptions and judgments. Beyond religion. Beyond brokenness and confusion. Beyond best intentions and failures. Beyond religion. Beyond tragedy and what cannot be controlled. Beyond differences. Beyond.

Offering hope. Healing. Salvation. Living water. Eternal life. Relationship with God.
Three stories, each interaction with Jesus an invitation to Himself. His love. His ways. His truth.
Personal miracles.

This Christmas I am reminded to not miss Jesus in the midst. I don’t want to presume that I know how God will reveal Himself, then miss His presence moving. I don’t want to miss the miracles He is accomplishing in another’s life because I think it should be done a different way. I don’t want to believe that He cannot show up to all people everywhere in His tender mercies. I don’t want to suppose that He wouldn’t lovingly invite them into relationship with Himself as they receive His living water by faith. A tiny step of faith. I don’t want to miss Jesus moving this Christmas amid struggles, challenges, personal loss, pain, preconceived ideas, or false beliefs, or even the good circumstances we find ourselves in as the world navigates change. I don’t want to miss the miracles that are possible this Christmas and New Year. Because He is here, speaking, loving, caring, and inviting us to Himself.

I pray for us ears to hear and eyes to see for God is with us, and He is Love, Mercy, Grace, and Peace.
Merry Christmas Friends! Love and Hugs, Rikah Thomas
www.rikahthomas@cox.net
Books by Rikah Thomas available at Amazon.com
Heavenly Ink
Be at War: Battle for Love
Loving & Hating This Thing Called Church
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