Our friends are passing one by one
Through heaven’s open door,
When all their earthly work is done
They reach that golden shore.

We miss them here as on we go
To run our earthly race,
But as we run we’re helped to know
Their witness of God’s grace.

Just think how sweet the day will be
When we can meet once more
Each smiling face again to see
Where gold paves all the floor!

Or think what it would be to meet
With Jesus in the clouds,
To share communion long and sweet
With all the happy crowds!

For as our friends pass on before,
We know our turn will come
When we will enter through the Door
And find sweet heaven’s home.

So run with faith and joy today
Because it won’t be long
Until we meet and hear them say,
Did you stay true and strong?

Christina Joy Hommes

How can I ask the Lord to guide
And tell Him I will follow well
If I complain I do not like
The things He wants to show and tell?

How can I say I love His ways
If I still murmur at some task?
He knows my thoughts and motives well;
He’s not deceived by what I ask.

Lord, here I stand, ashamed to see
How faithless I have been with You.
Forgive, I pray, for my complaints
Against the things You’d have me do.

I’ll do with joy each task You give –
Not only when I understand.
You do not waste my life (I do),
And so I’ll trust Your guiding hand.

And now I ask that You would guide
My every moment, word, and deed –
My hands and feet, my words and thoughts –
And I will follow as You lead.

Christina Joy Hommes

Unmovable
(1 Corinthians 15:58)

My brothers, be unmovable
And steadfast in the Lord –
Abounding in His work each day
And grounded in His Word.

Through all the winds and storms of life
Don’t shift with every tide,
But take your stand with Jesus Christ
And in His Word abide.

The world will change, the church may drift,
But Jesus is the same –
He will reward your work of love
To glorify His Name.

For soon He’ll come, the trump will sound,
Then all in Christ shall rise
To dwell in immortality
And gain the lasting prize.

So take your stand unmovable
Till Jesus shall appear
Abounding in His work with joy
Because you know He’s near.

Christina Joy Hommes

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

God’s Mercy Will Extend this Year

I do not have to wait and hope
God’s mercy will extend this year,
I do not have to fear the day
His faithfulness will disappear;
They both endure while time shall last
And then extend when earth is past.

I do not have to wait and see
What changes He will undergo;
He doesn’t change, He cannot fail
He’s still the same and so I know
That I can trust Him year by year
Until the day He will appear.

I do not have to wait and fear
The things that I will face this year;
With God to guide my steps each day
I know that He is always near.
Whatever comes He’s with me still
To bless me as I do His will.

I do not have to wait to know
The fullness of God’s love for me –
Each day some more He’ll gladly show
If I will set myself to see;
If I will look for what He’s done
I’ll see His blessings one by one.

Christina Joy Hommes

2021

I’m looking on to what’s ahead,
I’m resting on what God has said,
I’m reaching for the prize before,
I’m striving for that happy shore.
I praise the Lord for what has been –
I thank Him for past help again,
I sing in hope of what He’ll do,
I find each day great joy anew.

I live today like it’s my last,
I seek to learn from what is past,
I plan the year like decades lie
Between today and home on high.
I fight the fight with all my strength,
I search love’s depth and height and length,
I die to self and live in Christ
To whom my all is sacrificed.

O Lord my God, I’ll go with you
Across the mighty ocean blue
Or stay at home if You are there –
To be with You is all my prayer.
So, call me forth or bid me stay,
But set my course from day to day
That I might know what I should do
And know that I am pleasing You.

Christina Joy Hommes

As 2020 Closes

As twenty twenty closes
Like other years before,
We stop to see the blessings
Which lined its corridor.

Yes, there were many troubles,
Surprises bad and good,
And many things that happened
We’ve still not understood.

But through it all God drew us
To deeper trust in Him;
He guided and He kept us
When all ahead seemed dim.

He answered prayers and showed us
That when the whole world shakes
He’s still our strength and refuge
And does things for our sakes.

We say goodbye to one year
And gladly greet the next
With hopes it will be brighter
And maybe less complex.

Yet we are still more certain
Whatever comes next year
God goes before to bless us
And Jesus may appear.

Christina Joy Hommes