Help in My Time of Need: 4 poems by Emily Trester

image by 愚木混株 Cdd20, on Pixabay, modified

The Lord’s Help in My Time of Need    

I’ve traveled down slopes,

Deep, dark tunnels,

Searching, feeling unfulfilled,

Depression looming heavily, pain-filled,

Sticking like thorns on a rose bush,

Refusing to go away.

I’ve gotten down on my knees every night,

Pleading for the Lord to heal my pain,

Then one night

While I was still struggling,

Tears spilling over, like many times before,

Jesus spoke to my aching heart, saying,                         

“I am going to make it better.”

My mind was far down a dark path at the time,

The lantern burnt out, no light to make it back,

But I knew right as Jesus spoke these words into being

That he had heard my prayers,

Along with the prayers of my loved ones, for my healing,

For this was the food my soul needed,

The ultimate nourishment my heart hungered and yearned for,

God’s almighty hand, in my time of need,

His never-ending love

Filling me with joy

And changing my eternity. 

                  *

Melody of Hope

My heart is like an unsung song,                           

Longing to echo fearlessly across the valley

And every mountain top,

My heart is like a sandcastle,

Longing to stand tall forever

And never crumble,

No matter the wind or ocean waves,

My heart longs for there to be

No more evil

Threatening the peace and joy of so many, including myself,

My heart longs to inspire and comfort others,

And help them find the beauty

Of living in this world despite all that’s happening,

I long to bring about joy in this world                        

And stand strong, helping others to do the same,

To sing a melody of hope.

                      *

Hero Essay Assignment

Recently I thought about an assignment from high school,

An essay about who our heroes were,

When I simply didn’t know what to write,

But honestly, now, if I could reverse time

And go back to that assignment,

I know what I could’ve written:

Jesus,

Because He’s the one who saved me

From the depths of the ocean, that deep hole,

Plummeting, impossible to make it out on my own,

He changed that for me,

He saved me, changed the words of my story from

Hopeless to victory,

If I could revisit that essay assignment,

How I wish I could,                                             

I’d write my testimony, all the ways He’s saved me,

And proudly proclaim it

For the class to hear,

I’d tell everyone in that class that He’s not only my hero,

He’s theirs too,                                                                           

Because, after all, He’s by far the greatest hero there ever will be, 

Because He came to save you and me.

                          *                                                                                                                   

God Is Our Greatest Light

Interesting how in the darkness, there’s always some sort of light,

Lanterns we can hold up high

To light the way, illuminating that long path before us,

That light is God, the greatest lantern out there,

For when we feel trapped in darkness, like a cage,

And it feels impossible to escape, to find our way once again,

Our Heavenly Father is our light, our greatest light,

Leading us through this tunnel of life to something greater,

Far greater than we can ever imagine.

Emily Trester is a poet, book reviewer, and short story writer based in Idaho. She enjoys expressing her fondness for God’s creation through photography and poetry and is currently co-authoring a poetry collection with her aunt. She developed a passion for literature at a very young age. Her writings have been published through various contests and publications, including The Idaho Coalition, American High School Poets Just Poetry / Live Poets Society of NJ: Of Faith and Inspiration, Blue Mountain Arts, The Agape Review, PowerPoetry.org, and OnlineBookClub.org.

June 2025 issue