Mercies and Exhortations

Poetry expresses the deepest of emotions. It reveals the passionate core of what the writer is feeling and thus is able to carry the reader to feel those same emotions. With both the words spoken and the unspoken words, it allows the reader to transcend and unite in those emotions. Just like a song can touch your heart and cause you to connect with it in such a way to say, "Wow, that is what I am feeling"; poetry also touches our hearts in that same way. This collection of poems has been written over a period of many years. As a collection it expresses one major theme-that God is faithful, full of mercy and grace even when the obstacles of life may have created pain, sorrow, or doubt. It displays the frailties of a human spirit that can be overcome when united with an all-powerful God of Love. In this, the poetry becomes a song of praise to a faithful God who truly knows the best plan for your life and mine. Effie Darlene Barba was born in Poplar Bluff, MO; and raised on a small farm just outside of Dexter, MO. The journeys of life have taken her to live in many states in the United States as well as Mexico. She was widowed in 1994 with two of her three children still in junior high school and at that time returned to Dexter. Commuting to Vanderbilt University, she completed her Master's in Nursing while battling breast cancer. Plagued with multiple health and financial problems that followed, she has learned that God's grace is sufficient. Currently, she is a Cardiology Nurse Practioner with Florida Cardiology, PA in Orlando, FL. She feels that her incredible children are the true reflection of God's faithfulness to keep His promises.