Lord, why do You bless me with such a wonderful husband? I was a little short with him this morning and then as I was confessing random personal stuff to You, I looked up and saw that though he had gotten out of bed early, he had made sure I stayed warm without him by covering me with another blanket :). Isn't that just the way You are, too? Even though I'm the one who's slipping out from Your presence, You come and warm me with Your love and blessing.

Father, I am so unworthy. You are so magnificent. You are the only object in the earth that is worthy to be praised. And You WILL be praised! Sanctify me so that my life will bring You not a little, not even MUCH, but MAXIMUM glory. You designed my person and my life course to bring You a certain amount of glory, and I don't want to skimp You one iota of it!

Lord, thank You for showing me some awesome truths in Your Word, through the Perspectives reading I'm doing. Thank You for the opportunity to get back into at least some kind of bible study, even if it isn't Beth's :). I want to squeeze this class for all it's worth, so please open my eyes and ears to everything I can glean from it.

I thank You for the little things, Lord. Like the ability to do laundry and unload and load the dishwasher yesterday. Like the quiet time in the afternoon to read, because of the nap I was able to take (with Edward and Genevieve's cooperation) yesterday morning. Like plenty of food in the house to keep my belly satisfied. Like new yummy tea. Like movies and cookies and snuggle time with the kids.

Father, I ask for Your divine intervention in my brain. I have memorized all the verses thus far, but my review has been lacking. I feel dumb asking Michael to help (or maybe prideful?). I want to learn these and KEEP them in my heart. But I will need some miraculous assistance, and more motivation than I currently feel I have right now. So if I work on the motivation, would You work on the memory part of my brain (that I feel has always been very weak). More glory for You if together we can make it happen! :) I want to be able to say to skeptical friends: "my memory was HORRIBLE, but God's strength was made perfect in my weakness!" I also want to be able to say: "I used to hate waking up early in the morning, but since God started working on me, now I can't WAIT to jump out of bed and spend precious time with Him!"

I want to be able to truthfully say that the best part of my day is the time I spend completely focused on You. I want to not just feel icky when I miss, but CRAVE it! Rekindle that passion I had for You that somehow keeps getting mired and squelched in MY STUFF. I need to stop feeling so stupid about getting off the path with You, and just GET BACK ON - if it takes 100 times a day to do it!

Lord, I finally feel like I have so much good practical theology and so many spiritual tools in my toolbox that I forget to use half of it. I feel like I need to do some spring cleaning (in the middle of winter?) and cull whatever I can find that isn't good, organizing whatever is so it's more accessible. Does that make ANY sense? How would one even go about DOING that?

"The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ." My Utmost For His Highest

Prayer
John 15:7 "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you." John 15:7

Christ the Center
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live for the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Obedience to Christ
Romans 1:12 "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" Romans 1:12
John 14:12 "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." John 14:12

The Word
2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16
Joshua 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Joshua 1:8

Quicken my spirit, Lord, so that I have as much zeal and joy for Your Word as You do! Your Word is living water, life, breath, nourishment, anchored truth, gracious and graceful, bold and gentle. I want to love what You love and hate what You hate. Work in me, Lord, mold me and make me into the woman You want me to be. I love You.