"Surrender is the tipping point. When we make that choice, God can use us to do great things for Him." Our Daily Bread—Joe Stowell

Take My Life And Let It Be
Frances Ridley Havergal, 1874
Henri A. Cesar Malan, 1827

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love,
At the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King,
Always only, for my King.

Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee;
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my love, my God, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

I was looking back at some earlier entries and noticed a profound difference between the language and tone of those and these. There is such a sweetness and beauty in my prayers when I am more wholly submitted to You, Lord. I am getting comfortable here and I think my comfort is allowing me to be less dependant on You. Oh, but Lord, I have to applaud You for what You're doing in my son right now! What a sweet beauty in his innocent requests to read his Cubbies workbook from AWANA twice now since he got home last night before bed! What a profound blessing to hear him excited about memorizing Bible verses! He wanted to know if we could go to church again tonight! I do LOVE church and look forward to it all week. But I do not have the enthusiasm to learn Your Word like I should. Sure, I crave bible study video sessions, but I do not anticipate with joy actually doing the lessons each day, or memorizing scripture. That's going to have to change so that I can be a good example for Edward. Sure, I'll be learning toddler versions of 50+ verses this year while practicing with him for AWANA, but what about the real, long, complicated versions that I love, but can't seem to remember? Some of them area already so familiar that it wouldn't take much to take the next step, but I'm so intimidated - it seems like it would take too much work and too much mental strain. I have a horrible memory. I know that's not a good excuse because scripture is important enough to enlist the help of the Holy Spirit (who obviously knows all of the Word without looking - especially since He inspired the writers to write it!). I also know I have memorized a million TV and radio jingles, secular rock songs, and useless factoids. So I have no excuse. My excuse is that I just don't want it bad enough. Lord, MAKE ME WANT TO KNOW YOUR WORD! If I have to award myself with patches, merit ribbons, candy, or something else - motivate me to KNOW YOUR WORD! Father, I renounce the lies that it's too hard or that my brain is not good enough. Nothing is impossible for You, Lord!