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!

1/23/14

Good morning, God!
You are so good, Lord!  holy holy to the lord God Almighty!  thank you for beings so merciful and full of grace.  we don't deserve it at all, but you offer us forgiveness!  what an awesome God you are.  blessed be the name of God forever and ever. 
oh Lord, forgive me for all the times I've fallen short.  i'm sorry for my selfish thoughts and desires.  they're always surrounding me, and I struggle battling against them.  but I should just trust in you.  instead of battling by myself, I need to learn to trust you more.  you will lead me in the path of righteousness, and you are the one who can help me to stop sinning.  not I, but You Lord.  I can't do it by myself.  Lord, forgive the times I've been snappy at people, or the times I've gossiped.  thank you for giving me a group of friends in which we don't like to gossip about each other, but it's still hard not to about other people.  please help us.
thank you for everything, Lord!  you have blessed me beyond compare!!  my family is so great, I want for nothing, I have food for my stomach, I have an education and am getting even more, I am clothed and housed and have friends.  oh God, how undeserving I am of these things!  yet you have so blessed me and my family!!  the only way I know how to repay you is to live for you.  you are deserving of all my praise.  you are deserving of all my LIFE.  "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever.  for wisdom and might are His!  and He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding.  He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells in Him.  I thank you and praise you, o God of my fathers; you have given me wisdom and might, and now made known to me what I asked of you, for you have made  known" to me your voice!  (Dan 2:20-23).  What a perfect, awe-inspiring God you are!!  to YOU be the glory and honor and might forever and ever!  Amen!!
\Oh Jesus, help poor Bryce.  If these are her last weeks, be with her and comfort her.  encourage her to open your word and get to know you more before she joins you.  please, God, be with her family.  what a hardship to overcome!  thank you, THANK YOU, for giving them warning of this.  o God, help Bryce to leave this earth quietly and without excess pain, with love and joy of soon entering your presence surrounding her.  strengthen her family.  help them to handle these last weeks stupendously and with strength.  help them to show Bryce how much they love her, and urge Bryce to show them how much she loves them before she leaves.  help kaylin to not do anything she will regret.  help her to break down her bitterness -- if only for these last weeks! -- and get to know her sister and love her more before it's too late.  o Jesus, be with them!!  encourage her parents; may they know that she's in a better, happier, pain-free place!  help them to love you even more after this -- even if it takes a little while for them to get there.
Lord, I also pray for the daily needs of Haley, Kelly, connor, hunter, Katrina, dad, and mom.  help them to stay healthy and help mom to feel better today.  please help my mom to feel better!  she's been so sick. even if I still don't get to go home this weekend, help her to feel better.  help haley and Kelly in their classes and with homework/boredom.  help all of the lonely people on campus to remember that you are with them.  help Courtney today.  may I encourage her and bring her some joy.  Jesus, be with connor and hunter.  help them to do amazingly in their classes and to have a good day.  help Katrina with her classes and give her the strength to make it through today.  help her to make more friends where she is.  help her to feel fellowship at her church, and show her when and when not to talk.  finally, be with my dad today.  help him to recognize you in the things done around him.  bring him back to you, Lord.  show him how great you are.  help him to start loving you more than he loves me or my mom or my siblings.  may his new job go really well, and help him to work well with his coworkers.
and Lord, be with me today.  help me in my class to do stupendously on the quizzes and to help others do well, too.  help me to learn a lot and to take good notes during lecture.  help me to be an instrument for your use today, Jesus!  may I be your ambassador on earth.  help me to memorize the important truths I've learned from chuck white.  especially for preparing me to be a teacher.  Lord, dr. newhouse advised me to let doors open and close so that I may do your will, and I ask for your strength.  if you don't want me to go into teaching, but rather you're leading me into a different profession involving science, please direct me.  I still feel as though the best way for me is teaching, but you are infinitely wise, and you know where I can do the best work for your kingdom.  lead me there, Jesus.  help me through this upcoming semester.  it's gonna be rough, but I pray that I make it through with really good grades.  the only way I can do that is with you, my Lord.  open my mind to the truths and concepts.  help me to learn them quickly and memorize them easily.  help me to appreciate the truths as Your truths, knowing that this is how you've made the world.  thank you for giving me this chance at spring arbor.  give me the strength to make it through this semester.  i'll need it!  haha, you are God, Lord, Majestic King, and you can help me.  without it, I will fail.  with it, I can succeed beyond my own hopes and dreams.  you are God, King of kings, Lord of lords.  may your will be done.
equip me, today, Lord, with joy.  with the joy of your presence.  stay with me Holy Spirit.  keep me company when i'm lonely; give me your wisdom when dealing with people and situations; give me your love when spending time with others.  may I remain your humble slave, Jesus.  you are so great.  so soso great.  please help me to remain humble.  I know that's kind of a risky thing to ask, cause who knows what you'll do to keep me humble!  but I pray for it all the same.  equip me with your love, Jesus.  may I love people as much as you do -- even half as much would suffice!  Lord, I know that as soon as I end this prayer and time with you, temptations are going to hit me hard.  hard hard.  i'm going to walk over to Kelly's room and suddenly feel, not love, but annoyance against her, so horrible am I.  and today i will probably struggle expressing your love to others.  God, I pray for help.  you say that there's nothing we are so tempted to do that there's no way out.  you say you'll provide help against satan.  Lord, I pray for that help.  I cannot live for you under my own supervision.  i need you.  without you, i'll be one of those cranky, annoying Christians.  no, i need you.  be with me, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit. 
 to you be the glory, honor, and praise forever!  your will be done!!
Amen!