poetry Archives - Turning the Page on Suicide

Posts Categorized: poetry

Change my Lens of Depression

I need to change my lens of depression.

Depression is a poor lens
through which to filter existence.
Always bringing into focus
the wrong subject matter.
Macro sizing doubts and fears and blurring
hope and possibility.

God, you expand my black-and-white world,
revealing the vivid spectrum of colors.
Transforming possibility
through the lens of your love.

Depression is a poor lens
through which to filter relationships.
Always bringing into focus
the hidden thought behind motives.
Macro sizing negative opinions and
minimizing tangible truth.

God, you show me we are all sinners
desperately needing the development
of our negative image.

Depression is a poor lens
through which to zoom in on faults.
Constantly removing from focus
our value and expecting perfection.
Macro sizing disappointment
and downsizing grace.

God, you show me the ugliness of when I hurt others
and give me the opportunity for repentance
and retakes.

You change the lens of depression
and help me to see the bigger picture of
your love for mankind.

For Further Reading

Uncrushed by Beth Marshall

Freedom Starts With Hope

Shared Grief

Posted September 25, 2024 | Karisa Moore

Shared grief sometimes comes when you aren’t expecting it. I am passionate about poetry because it is a way of observing truth and looking at it from different angles. The psalms are some of the most used scriptures in the Bible. Why? Because we understand what it feels like to have our bones broken. Our hearts often cry out, “Where are you, God?” Poetry is a chance to be honest with our suffering, to speak truth over the pain, and to remember that God is not silent or distant.

Maxine and I met at a writer’s conference. We were strangers, yet grief bonded our hearts as we cried out to Jesus for the things we could not control or understand. You never know how your life will touch another. Share your story. Hope is needed, and your unique testimony may be just what someone else needs to keep turning their page through the darkness of deep sorrow.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV).

your grief, my grief

your tears, my dry eyes

death, near-death, despair

dirt crusted divine hands created

reached out to receive, retrieve His beloved

— Maxine Composto 10/25/23

Bio: Maxine Composto holds a Master’s Degree in Human Relations. She is a Certified Bereavement
Specialist and a retired Executive Assistant. Retirement has given her the freedom to pursue her
lifelong love of learning and passion for writing. She won first place for Flash Fiction in Word
Weavers’ 2024 Tapestry Writing Contest. When she is not writing she is crocheting baby beanies
for a Pregnancy Center in Central Florida.

For more resources on shared grief:

Broken Butterflies is an opportunity
to cry out in your pain like the psalmist.

God Gets Personal With Grief

Sanctuary of Understanding

Posted September 12, 2024 | Karisa Moore

Sanctuary of Understanding

I need a sanctuary of understanding,
A place I can’t hide or engrave my name on a particular pew
Let me savor a sermon that causes the sin in me to wither and writhe until it has no place
in this holy temple of truth.
Let me feel the ground-shaking worship
with my arms raised in testimony to Your goodness
and my eyes looking outward rather than
leaning back on self-involved introspection.
May the fragrance of your love, hope, faithfulness, and forgiveness
fill the nostrils of all I encounter. Leave your mark on me so that everyone can tell
I’ve been with Jesus.

You are my sanctuary, O Lord.
The place of refuge, security, and hope.
Let me display the fullness of communion with a God who is never distant.

Without Complaint

Posted July 9, 2024 | Karisa Moore

I cannot heal without complaint.
Teach me, O Lord, to lament well so that I
vulnerably lay grief open before Your sufficiency
and intimately know the labor pains of my reality.

Without complaint, I do not question my sinfulness or Your character.
An unboxed God is revealed through unwrapping my tangled emotions and confusion.
In ashes, You acquaint me with the wounds in Your wrists, Your feet, Your side.
Swollen with sorrow, I am rocked to sleep by the songs of your strong compassion.

Develop in me gut knowledge of the suffering of my neighbors.
May my fingers brush the cracked harshness of a world gone terribly wrong.
Help me to know the desperate texture of prison walls, and mourn for the prisoner.
Rip from me a flesh-crushing wail of loss.
Show others the burden they can lay at Your feet because I crumble before Your throne,
my face buried in the purple robes of Your sovereignty. I acknowledge I cannot

But You can.

Turning Your Page: What Does “Without Complaint” Mean?

Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

John 16:20 WEB

Complaint’s original meaning is “to lament.” Lament is a mind, body, and spirit grief. In ancient times, the griever would tear clothes, beat their chest, wear ashes, fast, and cry out. Does this picture make you uncomfortable? Lamenting well draws us out of despair and moves us toward the one who can comfort us and reshape our grief.

For Further Thought:

Release Tears

The Bible Project: Lamentations

Iron Out Despair

Posted March 21, 2024 | Karisa Moore

Iron Out Despair

Wrinkled, unkempt, weary.
Sometimes, the sluggishness of despair,
refuses to stumble out of bed, prepare, or
repair you.

Do the things that made you, you, make you, You,
and will make you YOU again.
Despite the distorted reflection blinking
blankly back, you are still sculpted by a master artist.
Love. Be loved.
Live a plump life, hoping in what you do not yet see.

Once again, run barefoot with giggling wonder.
Know nothing can deplete joy of secure identity.

Splash cool water over wethered soul.
Comb out compassion, understanding, and faithfulness.
Iron out despair again and again,
until dis-repair gets the clue that
you have formed a habit of knowing
who and whose you are.

Resource:

Your Hope-Filled Perspective Podcast

A weekly podcast by Neuro-Psychologist Dr. Michelle Bengtson
I have read three of her books, listened to her podcast, and am a regular listener. Today, Dr. Bengtson suggested that those wanting to help people dealing with chronic illness to actively reach out because, often, a chronic sufferer will not ask for help. Example: “I’m headed to the grocery store. What can I pick up for you?”

Trying to make a change in your self-care? Read: Deflate the Bed and Give Me Life

Furnace of God’s Presence

Posted January 2, 2024 | Karisa Moore

I am in the furnace of God’s presence
Where all I’ve learned from scripture
of your character becomes tangible, concrete,
and battle-tested by false belief.

Pushed into the furnace of God’s presence
Shame will not singe me.
The flames of intended destruction
laugh and lick around my delicate flesh with delight. Possessed.
The truth of Your love—a breath prayer.
I am nothing more than a suppressed slave to the world’s whim.
What power do I have against mighty nations?

But I’ve witnessed your sovereign will
You destroy idols and humble mankind.
I’m here in these flames of trust, you are here in your faithfulness.
On tiptoes of hope, I stretch out my arms to heaven
and submit to my Sovereign King, Redeemer, Rescuer, and Abba, come what may.
Head tilted towards heaven in defiant praise, I shout,
“Glory is Yours alone. There is no
other!”
.
I surrender to Your holy presence.
The only fire that consumes me.
I trust You in the even if…

(This poem was inspired by Daniel 3 when King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw three young Hebrew men into the furnace if they did not bow down to the image made in his likeness.)

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up’ ” (Daniel 3:16-18ESV).

For further reading: A God I Did Not Form

Finding Hope In Winter (Haiku)

Posted December 7, 2023 | Karisa Moore

Winter, cool and blue,

seeps into the naked earth,

hope warms. Fall’s last breath.

Marriage By Design

Posted November 21, 2023 | Karisa Moore

Tender tenacious kiss of one
who embraces hope when all seems lost.
One who traces hot tears of misunderstanding back
to their source and chooses forgiveness. One
who adventures to, discovers, and treasures your identity.
One who walks with you,
fingers entwined in quiet. One who
stands fast to protect when your soul
is battered by attack. One designed
by The Creator to love you.

Surrendered to His Glory

Posted November 7, 2023 | Karisa Moore

Surrounded by celebration
Under the illuminating lights of
Ressurection power, I
Recognize every blaring blemish
Endured on the cruel cross for me.
Naked truth. Stripped of
Distraction. Believe in Him. Abide in Him.
Enter into love so tangible death is
Rendered speechless. My ego submits
Eternally from self-indulgent glory to
Dance with deliberate delight before the one true king.

Rooted Tree, Grow in Christ

Posted October 19, 2023 | Karisa Moore

Tree.
What are you afraid of?
You are rooted.
Storms strengthen.
Drought triggers thirst for Him.
Sacrifice multiplies seeds of hope.
Nothing is wasted.
Not even death.
Grow with sun-kissed joy!

Posts Categorized: poetry

Change the Lens of Depression

Change my Lens of Depression

For Further Reading

Shared Grief

Sanctuary of Understanding

Sanctuary of Understanding

Without Complaint

Turning Your Page: What Does “Without Complaint” Mean?

Iron Out Despair

Iron Out Despair

Furnace of God’s Presence

Finding Hope In Winter (Haiku)

Marriage By Design

Surrendered to His Glory

Rooted Tree, Grow in Christ

National Suicide Hotline