In times of hardship, turning to inspirational poems helps us find strength to continue. The following poem, Footprints in the Sand, is an inspirational poem written by a young girl to find strength to survive a difficult childhood.
Footprints in the Sand
Footprints in the Sand is one of many inspirational poems that has given comfort to many people throughout the years.
There is a sad, yet interesting story behind this inspirational poem. The poem below is just one of several versions published by others claiming to be the author since the original was written by Mary Stevenson in 1936. As a young girl, she called upon the Lord through her poems for strength during a troublesome childhood. When she met others who needed inspiration, she gave them a copy of her poem. Not knowing about copyrights, nor able to afford the process if she did, she never thought about protecting her rights. Luckily, one of Mary Stevenson’s handwritten copies was found and, through forensic testing, was proven to be the original version of Footprints in the Sand…but, her story doesn’t end there.
Mary Stevenson’s sad story, her original poem, and more recent developments of her family’s struggle to claim rights to the inspirational poem on her behalf can be found at WowZone and the official Footprints in the Sand website.
One version of Footprints in the Sand can be found here…
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was
walking along the beach with the LORD.
Scenes from his life flashed across the sky
and he noticed two sets of footprints
in the sand. One belonging
to Him and the other to the LORD.
When the last scene of His life flashed
before Him, he recalled that at the lowest and
saddest moments of His life there was only
one set of footprints. Dismayed, he asked,
“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you’d walk with me all the way.
I don’t understand why when I needed you most,
you would leave me.”
The LORD replied, “My precious child, I Love you
and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering
when you saw only one set of footprints…
that was when I carried you.”
Inspirational Poems to Inspire
Sometimes when we believe we are alone, when nothing seems to be going right, and hardships continue to block our path to finding relief of our troubles…we finally are able to say, “Someone must have been looking out for me,” or “I believe I have an angel,” because that could have been only way I survived that. I do believe we are carried when we need it the most. We can’t always see it at first, but when we realize things happen for a reason it’s because we have been “carried.”
A few of the Inspirational Poems that can be found on NanasCorner.com are:
Visit the Inspirational Poems and Quotes category for more inspirational poems.
Thanks to forensic science, it was proven that she was the author of the original poem. Others have claimed they wrote it, but years later. They only reworded it such as the example here.
Wow! What a story. I didn’t know and I’ve read that poem before. She had a great heart to touch so many lives. The truth will always surface even after our deaths. The truth stands.
I love literary mysteries! But I’m not certain we’ll ever know for sure the origins of this poem. Whoever the author is, he or she has certainly brought comfort to many people.