1.27.14

dear God,
thank you for the blue sky.  especially for the sun.  your works are so beautiful!  more beautiful that i could ever have done -- or anyone else.  thank you for your help.  thank you for giving us this world.  it's so beautiful, God.  If it's this gorgeous after the fall, i can't wait to see it when it's fully restored!  great is your name, oh Father; majesty and glory belong to you.  "Praise the Lord, all nations!  glorify Him, all peoples!  for His faithful love to us is great; the Lord's faithfulness endures forever.  Hallelujah!" (ps. 117).  your love endures forever.
Forgive me, God, for all of the times i've sinned against you.  i'm sorry for being so selfish all the time.  help me to think of others and your will before thoughts of myself even enter my head.  forgive me for my vanity.  and also for the times i call myself ugly.  i'm sorry for all of the things i have done that are against you and are wrong.
Lord Jesus, Son of God, you died for me on the cross and were then raised up on the third day.  How miraculous!  how marvelous!  that you, such a perfect, humble, kind Son of God would be killed in such a way as you were!  yet we just throw it around.  Jesus died on the cross -- His hands were pierced for our transgressions.  but you did more than just die, and your hands weren't just pierced!!  you were humiliated, spat on, hated, deserted, and tortured.  And, while i don't know this for sure, you may have even entered hell for us!  how?  how could you be willing to do this?  how were you so strong?  if my dad asked me to do that, then i would cry because he didn't love me enough and say no!  it just shows how much better than me you are, Jesus.  WAY better.  WAY more worthy of my life!  you died so that i wouldn't have to.  in my baptism, i dipped under the water, symbolizing the death of my sin, and came out into new life.  you were literally killed.  you supplied the death of my sin.  how can you be so good!?  oh Great God, Slaughtered Lamb of God, Lord of lords, King of kings, Jesus take my life.  you deserve it.
God, keep comforting Bryce's family.  what a hard time to go through.  keep them in the knowledge that she's much happier now.  help them to move on from this into a happier life, full of joy in the knowledge that they won't be separated from her for long.  God, help us all during finals this week.  help us to be well prepared and ready for the exam(s).  I pray specifically for Sarah Y.  help her to grow in a tight relationship with you and to thus stop caring what others think about her.  grow her self-confidence and help her to adjust smoothly into this next semester.  thank you, God, for giving her this chance with wellspring!  help her to make close friendships through that, and help her to catch on quickly and enjoy it.  Keep her safe and healthy as we end j-term and begin a new semester.  I also lift up Olivia.  Comfort her and her family in this recent passing of her grandpa.  help her to finish off the semester strong and get into a good routine for next semester.  keep her healthy and safe, oh Lord.
Oh Jesus, help me to get rid of this cold fast.  please keep in from getting worse.  give me energy, Holy Spirit, to work today for the glory of your name.  i don't know if it's this oncoming cold, lack of vitamin D/C, or what, but i've been so tired lately!  please help me to have energy today to have fun and do the work i need to.  equip me with humility, Lord.  i've found that this past week i've felt as though i'm better than other christians just because i know the bible really well from REL218.  it's terrible, i know!  forgive me, God, and help me with the Holy Spirit to know that i have no room to boast.  it's foolish, since one of the things i know a lot about now is that we are saved through faith in Jesus so that we CANNOT BOAST!  help!  i'm a sinner who can hardly keep her pride at bay, even with realizations such as these!  equip me, also, with tender love for others.  help me to see the gifts you've given others, and to enjoy them for those gifts rather than be annoyed by their downfalls.  as pastor bourke said once, we all have a couple of things we're good at, and we're terrible at everything else!  that's why you made us for community, isn't it?  so that we can fill and support the gaps.  finally, Jesus, equip me with the Holy Spirit.  fill me to the brim with your loving Power, and guide me throughout the day.  forgive me for the resistance that i know will come from me.  help me to knock down those sinful walls between You and me.  may your Spirit guide me throughout this upcoming semester.  help me to find good balance, Lord!  help me and Haley to form a wider study group that will help us all to excel in our chemistry and botany classes.  help me to help others, Lord.  if i understand something that others don't, give me the words to explain it to them, so that they may understand it to the degree or even better than i do.  help me in grasping concepts so that i can help others in this way.  it would be great practice for when i become a teacher.  :)  i cannot thank you enough for the help you gave me last semester. a 4.0!!  only YOU could have helped me accomplish that!!  i don't expect it to stay around -- and I know it won't without your help -- but i do pray for help this semester.  expand my (and Haley's) brain power for memorization and grasping concepts.  be with us during lab times, too.  i'm so worried for them.  but i shouldn't be.  you'll be right there with us.  i pray for your guidance and peace during those classes.  use this next semester to equip me for my future job -- whether it's teaching, something health related, or lab work, or anything else.  To you be the praise, glory, and honor forever and ever!!!!!

AMEN!