This article was submitted by a Goer as part of the 2024 Writing Contest.  It won the Open Category for Poetry, Fiction and other short stories.  To see the winners of other categories and all the entries click here.

Jesus,
My heart, lonely, longs for you.
My soul, saddened, cries for you.
My mind, anxious, runs to you.
My strength, feeble, fights that you
Would come.

Come Lord Jesus, come.

I am no saint in the land;
I am a worm in the earth.
Some days I feel like the snake.
I hate my sin but God, still, it wins.

What a world of suffering,
Of deep darkness and of pain.
I am poor, I am needy,
I am desperately thirsty for you.

Everything is as nothing.
Reality’s facades fall.
My idols are stripped away.
All of my life is changing-
But you.

Comfort my heart with your love;
Quiet my soul with your voice;
Renew my mind with your truth;
Fill up my strength with your joy-
The Lord’s.

Let me die so you can live;
Purify me, refine me.
To the praise of your glory,
Let me walk by your Spirit, always.

May the Son of suffering,
The one acquainted with grief,
Be my light, heal my pain, and,
Give me water to not thirst again.

When the world overwhelms me,
O God, lead me to the rock
That is higher than I am,
My refuge that does not change-
Jesus.

I dream of the wedding feast,
When everything lost finds rest.
Help me to come to you now,
For you are sufficient for today.

Come Lord Jesus, come.