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    The Long Journey: Poems from One of God’S Struggling Servants
    The Long Journey: Poems from One of God’S Struggling Servants
    The Long Journey: Poems from One of God’S Struggling Servants
    Ebook200 pages1 hour

    The Long Journey: Poems from One of God’S Struggling Servants

    By Joan Kathryn Harrington

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    About this ebook

    Often in our life journeys we wrestle with intense struggles. Fears and frustrations sometimes wrestle with inner peace and joy. Each day we find ourselves endeavoring to put on masks that cover our inner pain. Many times we find that we are unable to express our feelings to significant others. Dr. Joan Harrington has spent many years in her personal life journey of ministry among those who have experienced deep sadness and intense struggles. She has used poetry as her own heart expression of these struggles. In her poems, Dr. Joan has expressed these emotional struggles in a way that the reader will identify with as his or her own struggles. This book of poems written over a span of 78 years will assist the reader in finding a way to his or her pain, happiness, faith, and other significant emotions in their own personal life journeys.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateOct 11, 2013
    ISBN9781491711255
    The Long Journey: Poems from One of God’S Struggling Servants
    Author

    Joan Kathryn Harrington

    Joan Kathryn Harrington has spent over 50 years serving as a pastor/teacher/counselor among disadvantaged people in Urban areas. Dr. Harrington holds five degrees and two earned diplomas from Moody Bible Institute. She is currently Minister at Central Baptist Church in Great Bend, Kansas. These poems are a glimpse into the personal struggles of Dr. Joan in hopes that others will be able to use them to express their own difficulties.

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      Book preview

      The Long Journey - Joan Kathryn Harrington

      Contents

      Deep Rivers

      Write

      Life’s River

      My Shepherd

      I Sought The Lord

      The Strength Is Thine

      Like As A Mother

      No Other Source

      Weep On

      It Matters Not

      Our God Omnipotent

      Only Lean The Harder

      A Prayer For Help

      Thou Art Mine

      I’ll Do What’s Best For Thee

      His Child

      A Satisfying Friendship

      My Heavenly Father Knows

      Wait For The Ravens

      His Grace

      His Love

      The Haven

      Meditation

      In City Pent

      Spring Fever In The City

      God Is Real

      A Garden Of Stars

      Reflections In The Autumn

      In Vermont

      Heaven Is Our Hope

      Yearning

      The Potter

      Rendezvous Of Childhood

      A Child Calls

      Youth Called

      Commencement Day

      I Shall Be Tilled

      In All I Do And Say

      His Will

      Jesus, Thy Love

      To Learn, To Love, To Lead

      My Choice

      The Call

      Christmas

      So Quietly In The Evening

      The Call Of Christmas

      My Christmas Dream

      Christmas Is For Everyone

      A New Years Prayer

      The Vision

      The Banquet

      Sitting Lightly On The Outer Edge

      Life’s Debate

      Frustrations

      Western Home

      Dreaming

      My Home

      I Will Not Stay

      Whatever

      Nighttime In The Country

      The Conflict

      The Counsel

      The Conclusion

      It Has To Be You, God

      Living Alone

      Inside, Outside Struggle

      I Am Afraid, Lord

      The Little Girl

      Two Lovers In The Springtime

      Halted I Stand

      Gone

      Spring Comes

      A Letter

      Faith And Freedom

      My School Master

      Let Us Run

      Just Today

      On The Weakening Of

      A Very Dear Friendship

      My Darling… .

      A Prayer

      Til Purged And Free I Stand

      Its Here Again, Lord

      One Autumn

      On The Death Of A Friend

      Digging Up The Past

      Fellowship Of His Sufferings

      I Can Begin Now

      Crying Out To God

      Avoidance

      The Need

      Lonely

      By The Lake

      The Lake

      Lake With Moods

      Prayer For Healing

      My Ministry Ship

      A Bridge Builder

      What Is Love?

      The Other Road

      To A Friend

      What Is A Friend?

      You Are My Friend

      I Want To Be Your Friend

      God And A Friend

      Bothered

      Why

      Neighbors

      How Do You Love

      My Inner Child And Her Parent

      Let Me Be A Child

      The Family There Grows Bigger

      A Friend Has Gone To Heaven

      Love

      What Is A Friend

      The Bridge

      Rest

      Settle Down, Lean Hard And Rest

      Old Letters

      Life Time Friends

      Political Parlay

      The Answer

      The Village Clown

      Life’s Ending

      God Bless You, Dear

      A Lonely, Single Day

      I Tasted Of Sweet Peace

      Contributions

      Throughout the years I have been challenged by many people to write a book. I thought about it. I even began a few books. I wrote a lot of poetry. But when I looked at my large library I thought Who needs another book. Unless I find something that no one else can write about I don’t have the discipline to write a book. That something was staring me in the face all the time but I did not see it. I went to college, earned seven diplomas and five degrees, excelled and even found my way into several Who’s Who Books, but I still could not find that illusive something" that was just out of my reach. When I was in my early twenties I wrote this poem:

      I Shall Not

      Inside this weary, sin-sick soul.

      Desire doth burn.

      Alas! I’ve failed to reach that goal

      For which I yearn!

      It’s just beyond my human grasp,

      I long to hold within my clasp,

      But cannot.

      Just as I reach to claim it mine,

      it higher leaps!

      I drink dread dregs of failure’s wine

      And courage weeps.

      For what I want, I cannot be,

      And what I’d do, it’s not for me,

      I am not.

      O Goal, unuttered, deep within,

      You haunt this life.

      I know perhaps I will not win

      This inner strife;

      But God will help through darkest night!

      Surrender now? And lose the fight?

      I shall not!

      My poetry expresses all the struggles and successes that I have had in my own life journey. These poems were written along the road of that journey. Perhaps you will be able to identify with the emotions expressed as you travel on your own journey. I have left many of these struggles behind me as I have grown steadily in the Lord and His love. The theme of loneliness will be seen quite often, and all of us need to be able to express our feelings when we feel alone and lonely. Perhaps my poems will help the reader to be able to express their own feelings.

      Deep Rivers

      Rivers of Emotion…

      Running deep!

      Currents of devotion,

      Soothing life’s commotion,

      Causing sleep.

      Factual information…

      Holding sway.

      Still the glad elation,

      Found in God’s creation,

      Every day.

      Come! Read some poem of feeling

      To my soul!

      God’s deep love revealing,

      The poet’s balm of healing,

      Making whole.

      Write

      My heart and soul, they both express

      The things I hold and cherish best.

      Sometimes it’s easier I find,

      To write in verse these thoughts of mind.

      The struggles, part of human life,

      Along with death and inner strife,

      Are just a bit of life’s long way

      Through which I see a brighter day.

      The joys, the hours of happiness

      Are mine, through every hovering mist.

      And all along the narrow road

      There is a peace to ease the load.

      So thinking oft of many a friend

      I want to write with ne’er an end,

      To tell to all, in every role,

      The thoughts that dwell within the soul.

      Life’s River

      A turbulent river,

      a storm casted sky,

      A heart’s aching quiver,

      A deep

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