Nothing Inside of Me is Afraid

a poem (w/ audio)

All of my bones are ready for it
And nothing inside of me is afraid.
Both these eyes are unlatched and waiting for the surprise
Of seeing my Maker for the first time.

First? Yes.

Beyond words I am blessed and shedding distress,
Like a skin that is dead and useless
The First and the Last; indeed He is,
Despite lips that defied Him and fingers that crucified Him
To the beams engraved with my own name.
(What outlandish grace!) I am not the same;
Every curse, every blame made null and void
Because Death He destroyed, and the powers He deposed, humiliated.

New life surges, as my fresh lungs take in more — the breath He gives.
Melodies sound while the Spirit inflates
With a whisper and a flame.
I am forever changed:
Known, purified, regenerated
To be the me I was meant to be before there was even an earth or sea.

My soul is transliterated from darkness to light,
Like words inscribed in amber gold
In a book He holds until the Last Day.
Celestial trumpets cast of blazing, bronze glory
Will erupt in cosmic chorus presenting
The One Whose love is unrelenting.
Exalted above eternally vibrant, glowing skies,
With the clouds as his chariot and fire kindled deep within His eyes.
Regret melts away and weakness dies as I’m airborne and begin to hear
The Sound
Of Heaven’s ever-running River of Life —
Bubbling, flowing, singing in harmony with the saints, the elders, and the angels
The Name of the One all life trickles from.
'The old has gone; the new has come.'

This mortality in a twinkle has been exchanged for perfection;
Shackles explode in utter resurrection.
I step towards the Throne — the Presence;
And I feel... And I smell... Him...
And I see... And I am seen...
And I am finally, FINALLY real... And He smiles...
And nothing inside of me is afraid.

— The Beginning