What a perfect, wonderful, amazing, miraculous God You are, Lord. I am SO SORRY for so many things. Especially the harsh words I said to my mom yesterday. I'm so clueless sometimes, but I can't fake innocence because I do realize that my attitude is still not love or respect towards her. Oh God, PLEASE change my heart towards my mom. I know for sure that I can't make myself love and respect her. I don't have the power. But YOU do. You have more than enough. I know it might take a lot of work on my part and a lot of time on Yours (mostly because I'm stubborn), but I want it SO bad. I know I'm not ultimately responsible for her salvation, but I also don't want to be even PART of the reason she dislikes the idea of being a follower of Jesus. Nurture a supernatural love in me, an unselfish, overabundant love that can't help but splash onto her like fire to singe her soul and waves of soothing balm to wash over her troubled heart. She is so lost, Father. So lost. My heart grieves for her! I wish I could pick her up and carry her to your open arms, whispering Your sweet promises in her ear all the way. Then watch with tears streaming down my cheeks as she hangs limp like a rag doll in Your powerful grip, soaking up the warmth of Your Radiant Presence, finally able to give up her struggle with you and surrender... Oh that she would surrender, Lord!

I know I have much left to surrender as well, Abba. It seems the more I give to you, the more I discover I have been holding onto! GOOD! Keep it coming until the work is COMPLETED. Everything belongs to You. What a delight to my soul to know that! I want to sing about it! My children, my health, my husband, my things, my ambitions, my ability to walk and see, my very life - it's ALL Yours. And I'm so thankful, because I would just squander it all. I already do in my failed attempts to be a steward. But You are so gracious to forgive me and set me back on the right path. You even wait for me to be ready to make the change, one step at a time, so that You can make the most out of every learning opportunity.

Divine revelations are indescribably awesome, Lord! Knowing that it's not for MY glory, but Yours that You have been working in and through me as You have. You don't give wisdom for ME ALONE, but for Your people and Your plans and purposes! How many times have I been in a situation where I was able to immediately apply a recent revelation? How many times have you spoken to me in Themes as You lead me to a place that new wisdom could help? You are SO faithful and so good to me. I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO don't deserve it. But yet You continue to lavish it on me again and again.

What a blessing each of my heavenly jewels are! You have made each of these souls with such exquisite detail, beauty, dimension, and sparkle. And oh, the satisfaction that comes to MY soul as I treasure them! Jay with his Rock-steady faith during a crisis with his preemie son. Sherri with her humble devotion to You, her family, and the preschool kids of our church. Bria as she openly shares her struggles. Freya, Becky, Cassandra, Cynthia, Michael, my 3 beautiful children, Kristin, Shelley, Beth, Angie... The list goes on an on. As I think of each of these people, words can't truly express all the emotions and thoughts they inspire within me. No words would do them justice. Of course, maybe YOUR WORDS would! Your voice spoke the whole of creation into existence, Your breath breathes life into everything living, and Your words are both a sulfuric fire to the wicked and ever-flowing cool water to the beloved. I have a feeling that in Heaven, our resurrection bodies will speak and understand resurrection language that will be perfectly sufficient for communicating everything we could ever want to express!

But until then, we're stuck with fallen world communication. Thankfully, we can borrow from scripture, though! I am working on incorporating it more into my speech and writing. The draft of our Kenya trip support letter is evidence of that. I pray that You allow it to say exactly what You want it to say to each pair of eyes, minds, and hearts that read it. I want more than anything else for our friends and family to pray so that they can share in the blessings of Your Work! I'm also praying shamelessly that You quicken the Spirit within them to know how crucial Missions is to Your Ultimate Plan. Everything You do up until the Day Jesus comes again is to fulfill Your stated purpose - to bring salvation to EVERY tongue, tribe, and nation so that Your glory may be MAGNIFIED in Heaven and on Earth! May the angels shout a loud HALLELUIAH and AMEN!!!!