This Was in God's Plan: Psalms of Today

By John Branson

This is a collection of the poems the Lord gave John B. Branson. When the Lord called John to move from Green River, Wyoming, to Seattle, he went in obedience. As he drove through the Yakima Valley, he found himself pulling off the road again and again to add more to the first poem God was giving him. John recognizes these poems are an entire result of the gift the Lord gave him, and so it is with great joy he gives all the glory to God, hoping these poems will give encouragement and faith to those who read them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781681978185

Book preview

My Move To Washington

The hills are alive with gold today

As I drive through Washington, where I’m going to stay.

The trees of the field are red, yellow, amber, and green,

So I behold the beauty that my eyes have seen.

The weeping willow sheds her gold

As if just hearing a sad story told.

Her arms touch the ground as if there’s no hope within.

She cries to the wind of the cold coming in.

She sees no hope as this season ends,

For she’s losing her foliage near the river’s bend.

She weeps and she weeps as her life is torn.

She begins to be naked from the clothes she once wore.

Her head is bowed reverently in sorrow.

She thinks that there can be no tomorrow.

But wait a minute! The aspen nearby

Calls to her that hope is nigh.

For he tells her to lift her head.

Don’t be downcast, don’t you dread,

For this season is all greatly planned

By the Master Creator which He holds in His hand.

Though we’re losing all that we have and hold dearly,

He will give it all back and multiply it yearly.

So lift up your arms, oh tree of gold,

And look to Him and see. Behold!

For this season of death is not the finish.

It’s just the beginning, so don’t diminish

From going on and looking to

The new season of hope that He will bring us through.

For you know from death, He brings forth life.

For this God of love, He doesn’t bring strife.

So don’t be sad, oh weeping willow.

Don’t you cry, don’t you billow,

For in Him alone is life evermore.

He will never let you down, and that’s for sure.

So don’t despair, oh sad little tree.

Just look to your Maker—and He will set you free.

November 6, 1983

A Man For All Seasons: Chris Lodewyk

Chris Lodewyk, the ambassador of the Lord.

In his heart is the Gospel with a two-edged sword.

A bridge for the nations to lead to the Cross,

For there they shall find life, both the weak and the lost.

A man for all seasons is this man, Chris.

Though many receive him, there are those who shall hiss.

But his chin is set like a flint toward the flame,

And he is drenched in the anointing of His Precious Name.

Even now, though, his own life he ponders and muses.

But Jesus shall come and light faith, those fuses.

For the fire that burns within his heart,

The engine of fulfillment, Jesus shall start.

Though now for a season his faith is on trial,

Yet from the wilderness comes one with no guile.

A season of loneliness, a season of grace,

For from the wilderness you shall go before His Face.

Bringing hope to the hopeless, for your gift is great.

Shoulder to shoulder with your precious mate.

Through thick and through thin, you have grown weary.

Together, you shall prosper with your wife, Mary.

Wherefore, gird up the loins of your redemptive mind,

For in Jesus alone your soul shall find

The baskets of fruit, the harvest of wheat,

Your enemies shall recant, bringing sheaves to your feet.

Don’t look to the left; don’t look to the right.

For in your right arm there is power and might.

For your season of strength is here, even now.

You’re set for the Gospel—go ahead and plow.

Like a bird from the cage, you are set forth free

To go to the nations to represent Me.

You’re a man for all seasons, as I’ve said so before.

So, yes, get ready. God is here at the door.

September 27, 1998

A Tribute to Roger and Lorraine

on Their Fiftieth

Wedding Anniversary

In today’s modern society and of the world’s great domain

They would not ever make a mention of Roger and Lorraine.

But the Lord doesn’t see us as through the eyes of man,

For He sees our great potential in His ultimate plan.

Roger graduated high school at Springville in 1953,

Not knowing which way to go for his eye could not see.

Lorraine, a little younger, graduated in 1956,

A humble little woman with her life among the sticks.

They were married without much ceremony in 1957,

Not knowing that their road was set and a plan was made in heaven.

Like Abraham and Sarah, this Roger and Lorraine

Were set upon a journey, God’s goodness to proclaim.

They were hidden in the deserts of Utah, a place they call EskDale,

A barren land, a community to work and not to fail.

They started to raise a family; Sharon the first to be born

In this commune where tasks were made, sometimes life a little forlorn.

But children were a blessing. Between them they made a full quiver.

For sixteen years working these fields and ditches toward the river.

Then along came Deborah and Cecil, a few more fields to till.

Then Robert and Jay came later, and finally there was Phil.

Lorraine in charge of the kitchens, cooking for every head,

Canning a thousand jars of fruit, and baking all the bread.

Organizing all the cleaning, the children had to help,

To work from dawn to dusk without a murmur or a whelp.

Roger worked the fields where he started with nothing but the dust.

Many hours working the land leveler on the tractor and a little rust.

Roger was the first to plant a lawn and flowers for the commune.

From sagebrush in that barren land the crops began to bloom.

Their first house was two chicken coops that Roger put together.

Later he added a full bathroom, so they need not go outside in the weather.

Roger and Lorraine got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.

Sharon remembers her Dad was shining, filled with God’s utmost.

Miracles started happening as they waited on the Lord.

Staying up late in the evenings singing and reading from God’s Word.

Transported over a ninety-mile span, the trip should have taken hours.

A visitation of the Lord in that desert, revealing His mighty powers.

So they had to move from the commune—a trip to Salt Lake City

With twenty dollars in Roger’s pocket, not feeling any pity.

By faith they moved to this new place, not knowing really where.

But the Lord had prepared a vessel named Pat, who loved them with God’s care.

With Pastor Patricia and Brother George Nay, times to be remembered.

The meetings that they had right there from April through September.

Roger played the organ as music filled their nights.

The love of God was moving, removing the fear and frights.

The musical talents that we now see were birthed within that room.

The sax, the trombone, the French horn, the trumpet to bring a tune.

The piano and the guitar, the strings of the violin.

The beginning of an orchestra, likes sounds of a mandolin.

Then later a move to Kalispell on the border of Montana.

And a final push to Seattle where the Lord would raise the banner.

The Bread of Life, as it was known, where the Lord would feed His flock,

And finally to this building today. We are known as Christ the Rock.

There are lots more