Catholic Healing Network.Conversion

A powerful account of conversion told in Poetry

What Jesus did for me (1985)

I want to tell you simply what the Saviour did for me,

He beckoned to me long ago but I just couldn't see

And ignored Him when He said, 'Come child of mine,

I will set you free'

I longed for worldly pleasures and didn't make a stand

And instead of The Lord Jesus, I took hold of Satan's hand;

But despite my disobedience He still watched over me,

Still saying, 'This is a child of mine and I will set her free.'

The Lord then showed me Satan's face and I was terrified with fear,

But in my black, deep darkness I knew The Lord was near.

My prayer was 'Lord I need an escape, please Father show me how.

And He whispered to me 'Child of mine, will you listen to me now?

Then He loosed my hand from Satan's and by His love and grace,

Allowed me for a second, to look upon His face.

He then said, 'Satan enoughs enough, this child belongs to me!

You give her back, I claim her, I'm going to set her free!'

He lifted me from darkness, my fears and doubts were gone.

He filled me with His love and peace,

And I said 'Lord Thy will be done'.

My Jesus then made promises that still hold good and true,

He said 'You did not choose me child, but I have chosen you (Jn 15 v 16)

Remember that I love you and should you begin to stray,

That those I've chosen for my own cannot be snatched away' (Jn 10 v28)

He placed me with good people to guide and show me more,

But the devil came a whispering, and I became unsure.

He said 'What these folk have is not of God, and I will tell you this,

You must escape, and what they say, it's best that you dismiss.'

But my Lord prevailed and said again, 'You will not be snatched away,

Remember that whatever else, my promises will stay,

You are my child you won't be tempted more that you can bear, (1 Cor 10 v.13)

I placed you here and still I have you in my loving care.

If you will trust and take from me all that I have to give,

I'll show you new dimensions and for me you'll work and live,

If you'll trust me with a childlike faith, I'll give you even more,

But you must knock and ask, and then you must walk through the door (Luke 11v.9)

So I knocked and asked and walked right in, The Saviour held my hand,

And He gave me a new language that I didn't understand.

His Holy Spirit flooded me with joy too much for words,

And I worshiped with a thankful heart; The Glory was The Lord's.

But Satan was there waiting and the doubts began to flow,

'This isn't real, but of the flesh, you should forget all this you know.'

But Satan, I resist you, you're so wrong in what you say,

For what The Lord has given, He will never take away.

This is what I want to tell you, how my Jesus died for me,

In brutal, painful agony, but He rose in victory.

And the reason that He did it, is so very plain to see,

So that He could say 'O child of mine, now I have set you free!'

He paid the price, Hallelujah, Praise The Lord, and Glory be,

For I am His, and He is mine for all eternity.

(Born again June 25th 1985)

(And From 'They Speak with Other Tongues' by John and Elizabeth Sherrill )

Eucharist (2007)

Recieved into the Catholic Church. Easter 2007

A journey started long ago, revealed in the presence of the Christ.

You called and I responded, knowing that You paid the price

Knowing You, and loving You, The Holy Spirit like a flood.

But one thing never recognized, The Body and the Blood.

Back further though in infancy, new life You yet impart

In childhood's dreamy innocence, You touched my childlike heart.

In crocus's and moments where my guardian Angel stood

Unrecognized, You touched a tender spirit with Your Blood.

Despise then not the small things, those who bring their babes in faith

Are entrusting them to Jesus, for it is He who waits.

The sprinkling and the ritual may not be fully understood

But He is faithful and in time reveals The Body and the Blood

The battle over heart and mind and things that are so deep

The things that seem impossible for faith to take the leap

The agonizing loneliness, pain of things not understood,

These are the things that keep me from The Body and The Blood

Real Presence in the Eucharist, You captivated me!

Not enough to just observe, to watch, and look, and see.

Longing, needing, yearning to be, where saints and sinners stood

Holding out both heart and hands, for the Body and The Blood.

To honour those who go before, how strange a doctrine this!

To allow the one who mothered You to touch me with her kiss?

How do I cross the boundary, tell me even if I should.

Is this the way I need to come, to receive The Body and the Blood?

Yet she received You, flesh, blood, God, as babe inside her womb

And she received You from the cross and from the stone cold tomb.

And You received her as Your own, and honored as we should

How dare I refuse the Mother, of The Body and The Blood.

The journey is so difficult, the fear, the tears, the pride

But are these not the very things for which my Jesus died?

Lord you know where I would be, if I only thought I could.

What is this that keeps me from the Body and the Blood?

How can I keep resisting? Why do I have this pain?

You draw me to the Eucharist, I kneel here once again,

And even though I can't partake, I know Lord that you would

Feed me as the pelican, with the Body and The Blood.

This is the place that I must kneel, where demons fear and flee.

The place that ends my searching is where I began with Thee

I kneel Lord where You saved me, known, but little understood

Now seeing Lord with different eyes, Jesus Body, and the Blood

This is the only place of peace, to kneel Lord in Your sight.

This is the only place of peace, where I give up my fight.

This is the only place of peace where I receive real food.

I come, I kneel, receive my Lord, The Body and The blood.