~~but please, Lord, teach me tenderly.
Inform my faith the way swelling days enlarge the meadow where expectant does graze,
~~not like the upward struggle of a burdened mountain burro.
Yet, if You choose to try me Job-like,
~~then set my life aside from deathly illness as sad as childless silence, from doubt sounding like a well-intentioned wife, and from defense surrounding like a force of friends:
~~then set my life inside the center of my soul, and cast Your will around me as You please.