By Tina Teng-Henson

Who knows whether the present storm

Is something the Lord will quiet with a whisper

Who knows whether He will quell the raging seas 

and the tumult within you both

He knows the stormy paths 

that brought your lives together

Abuse, neglect, 

harmful bent ways

The violent

The demonic

Lord have mercy

Lord have mercy

Lord show grace

Lord show favor

Here you are

Both on healing paths

Married

To each other

Do 12 years count for naught? 

You have spent hours and years

In this effort

To love and understand each other

Press on.  

Discern.  

I am praying with you.  

Let’s be still

And let God be God 

May the Lord speak to your souls

May He direct and guide 

Your every thought

Your every word

May He help you keep silence

And transform the unkindness,

Still these raging waters

There are three between you

Your offspring

Your progeny

The cherubic cheeks of your third

Ache to be squeezed.

Her sweetness, 

Our Maker’s gift to your family

Your second was stoic at first

But now he speaks

With clarity 

And conviction

Your first also speaks his mind

And so gets the ire of his Apba

You say

He says

He hates 

his father 

daily

Lord have mercy

Christ have mercy

Lord have mercy

Interpose your blood between

The marrow and the fat 

Of our lives

There is none like you

We are all sinners

We’ve all done wrong

There is no one righteous

No

Not one

Even when we’re trying to do right

We do wrong

Even at our best

We are all shams 

Lord Jesus, heal my friends’ hearts

Satisfy their souls with your unfailing love

Work a miracle story 

For them

Write a transformation story

For them

Undo all the ugliness

You died for all our sin

But you triumphed over Satan

You were victorious

You rose

From the dead

Changed

Your voice still recognizable

But you were different

We need to be different

In our dyings

Let us rise

You sit and you stand

Between Philip Larkin

And Pablo Neruda

And their words

To you, O Lord, 

I lift up my friends 

I release them utterly to your great care

Her loveliness has not been upheld

His true self has never been loved

Let these broken souls find healing and rest

In your embrace, Jesus.  

Come, Holy Spirit.  

Come breathe on all of us

Once again.  

Cleanse and deliver us. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Tina Teng-Henson is a wife and a mother, a minister and a friend. She is beginning spiritual direction training this fall and hopes to work on a DMin in a year’s time to process the last decade of church ministry in the Bay Area. She welcomes one-on-one conversations and opportunities to be in the word of God and to pray.