Dark and Lovely

Tempted, tried, and sometimes lost,
Yet you’ve gathered your bits and pieces and marched to Calvary again,
Faced delays and setbacks, generously served,
Yet you’ve kept your head up and want to try something again,
Lost a relationship and friendship,
Yet you’ve started panel-beating yourself into shape before you get to the next,
Beaten and roughed up at the fort,
Yet still trimming the lower lights to guide some poor, fainting, struggling seaman,
Character whipped and assassinated,
Yet you still treat with a fair stance the ‘delapidaters’ of your reputation,
You have failed again,
Yet you’ve maintained the refrain of Champions, “I will arise and go to Jesus,”
…
So you’ve gone through all these and much more,
And you’ve refused to give up,
I don’t want to lie to you,
You are dark,
Dark with trials and temptations,
Dark with delays and setbacks,
Dark with troubled relationships,
Dark with storms at the fort,
Dark with failure and loss,
Howbeit, I have one thing you need to hush all cacophony of voices and hear,
You are dark and lovely! You are dark and lovely because you have refused to give up.