SHATTERED DREAMS

Broken, crushed and torn apart
Phantom dreams and empty heart
Feeling cursed and full of shame
Life seems like a losing game.

Pressures mount on every side
Looking for some place to hide
Work and family torn apart
Hardly knowing where to start.

Corporate ladder to success
Seeking fame and happiness
Finding nothing at the crest
Just an empty heart at best.

There's one thing I long to find
For a deeply troubled mind
Can God take a shattered past
Fill a purpose that will last?

Jesus Christ is what we need
He will guide and He will lead
Bringing burdens to the Cross
Will replace all of our loss.
B. Pent

FEELING BETRAYED

I’m torn apart, so full of pain
Its arrows shatter all my dreams
My heart is filled with bitter shame
I feel betrayed while given blame!
 
The anger that disturbs my rest
Has made all trust a distant friend
And like a ship that’s lost at sea
Its waves are crashing down on me.

Why did this jagged cross appear
Inflicting so much pain and tears?
Is this the price that I must pay
For following Jesus every day?

Tis then I hear the Shepherd’s voice
While clinging to His nail-scarred hands
"It is My cross you’re called to bear
It is My love you’re asked to share!"

So from the ashes of my grief
The Potter forms a vessel rare
And yielding to His will I trust
All will result in what is just.
B. Pent

THE PAIN OF REJECTION

A cheerful look may sometimes mask a troubled heart
A friend may even fail to see you're torn apart! The pain that brought those tears that no one knows
Are chains that bind the mind where struggle grows.

A child unwanted and passed on from home to home
And like a waif is left to fend alone 
Will wrestle all their life to ease rejection's pain
And sometimes think that he alone bears all the blame!

Each life is marked by scars we try in vain to hide
We spend our days rebuilding broken dreams inside.
Is there a Hand to guide us through this maze of night
To shun excuses and take hold of freedom's light?

There is a place where hearts can shed their heavy load
It's at the blood-stained cross we call the Calvary Road
Christ was rejected and He knows the pain
And only He can turn our loss to gain.
Ben Pent

FEELING LOST?

There are times life has no meaning

Like a ship that’s tempest tossed

Without sail or sturdy rudder

In the darkness can be lost.

What seemed once a sunny future

With a vision bright and clear

Quickly turns to disappointment

From a sudden wave of fear.

Broken dreams can break the spirit

When all hope seems torn away

And the soul cries out in anguish

For some light along the way.

Then a voice speaks through the darkness

As the Captain calms the storm

Bringing back the broken vessel

Till she lands safe on the shore

Now I find when trouble threatens

To destroy my trust in Him

I just call out to my Captain

To control my life within.

--B. Pent

THE PHANTOM OF VALENTINE

I saw you walk away one day
It seemed so subtle at the start
But I could see that in your eyes
A phantom-dream tugged at your heart.

While spring was young and innocent
We danced together in the rain
Time had so little meaning then
Did not that phantom call in vain?

But love built castles in the sand
No wave could wipe its memory clean
Except that through the setting sun
The phantom's shadow could be seen.

The winter's breeze began to blow
Its blazing embers once so bright
Refused the warmth of its embrace
And chose the phantom's foolish flight.

But dreams are never true to life
And phantoms only follow dreams
So lets wake up to life's new day
And drink from Love's eternal springs.
--B. Pent

FEELING PAIN

The scent of roses filled the air
It bid me come its fragrance smell
Yet there were thorns that spoke of pain
While taking hold its jagged main.

Twas then I thought of my distress
Of broken dreams and loneliness
The heavy cross I had to bear
With little hope someone would care.

I didn't know why this crushing blow
Became my special guest below
This cup of grief I did not ask
As God's appointment for my task.

But then, a crown of thorns appeared
With visions of His pain to show
That by the crushing on His cross
His stripes and wounds would heal the lost.

So then I bowed in grateful praise
That through my crucible of pain
The sweet aroma from above
Can help those hurting find God's love.
--B. Pent