POWER FOR VICTORY by Nettie E. Graves

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 18, 1900

POWER FOR VICTORY.

By Nettie E. Graves

MRS. NETTIE E. GRAVES.

(Springfield, Ohio.)

Waiting for Him in the darkness, Watching for him in the light; Listening to hear his orders Right in the midst of the fight; Seeing his slightest signal, Across the heads of the throng; Hearing his faintest whisper Above earth’s loudest song; Dwelling beneath his shadow In the burden and heat of the day; Looking for his appearing, As the hours wear fast away; Shining to give him glory; Working to praise his name; Bearing with him the suffering, Bearing for him the shame!

Art thou afraid to trust him, Seeming so far away? Wherefore, then, not keep closer,— Close, as he says we may? Why, then, not walk beside him, Holding his blessed hand, Patiently walking onward All through the weary land? Passing safe through the mazes, The tangle of grief and care; And safe through the blossoming garden Where all looks bright and fair; Crossing with him the chasm, Upheld by a single thread; Fording with him the river— So safely, tenderly led!

Then up the heights of glory, Unfollowed by death or sin, Swift through the pearl-white portal The feet may enter in— Into the realm of music, Where not a note will jar; Into the clime of sweetness, Which not a breath will mar. There sighs are all out of hearing, And tears are all out of sight, And the shadows of earth are forgotten In the land that has no night. There loss yields its long-stored int’rest; And bitter, its long-hid sweet; And we’ll sing, “Unto him that loved us!” And lay our crowns at his feet.