The Pit

Lord,

When I am faced with choices that would cause me to fall into the pit, help me to choose You instead.

And if I do choose other things, other attentions, or other beings over You, please help me not to be crushed by the weight of sin but rather to turn back to You, calling out your name for safe delivery home. 

I know, Lord Jesus, that you heal my soul when I return to You.  My mind and my body sometimes are left broken.  Help me to use that brokenness for further healing, learning, and to turn them inward so that I realize that it is in my hurts that I am most fortunate to be able to cling to You. 

Amen

Wash Me

Lord,

Wash me in Your mercy.

Wash me in Your love.

Wash me in Your peace.

Let me always remember Your life giving water,

Your cleansing water, for I am always in need of Your mercy.

Amen

Seeing What's Hiding

Lord,

Help me to see the good that sometimes hides.  Give me eyes to see it, for it is so much easier to sink into sadness than to always look for the good in others and the good you have placed within me.  Help me to turn the leaves over to see it and be willing to stir up my mind to never settle for sadness when You mean for me to see something else.

Help me to remember that I am a sinner and never better than anyone else.

Help me to learn how to reach out, even when it hurts.  Help me to also respect other people's space.

Lord,

Purge from me all those things that keep me from clinging to You, trusting You, and seeing You in others.  Purge from me all those things that keep me from treating everyone as if they were You.

Help me to see that no one is a waste of time because everyone was created by You, and You seek everyone to choose to be near You.

Amen

Goodbye

Lord,

Help me to say goodbye to a friend who is leaving my life.  Help me to let go when people tell me they need space.

Help me to listen to people and not just act and react the way I think they need help but rather to listen to what they are telling me regarding what they want or need.

Help me to discern what You are calling me to do.

Thank You for your forgiveness and healing.  I need it often for I fall often.

Help me to stand against darkness and put it behind me.

But if and when I fail, for I am a flawed person, help me to continually come back to You for healing.  Help me to come back to You as soon as I can, to seek You and to call out to You when You are near.

Help me to see You and to look for You everywhere, especially in other people around me.

Amen

Forgiveness

Lord,

When the natural order of things sometimes makes me feel battered and bruised

help me to remember that there are cycles of hurt and healing.  I will carry the memories with me but learn to incorporate them into my life in a way that adds meaning rather than despair.

Help me to remember, Lord, that when I need solace that I can turn to You no matter the time, the place, or the experience.

You will reach for me and let me know that You are near. I know that You don't usually take my hurts away because feeling them is good for my soul.  Life is full of disappointments, and sometimes feeling them makes us stronger.

Help me to surrender to You and to give you my pains so that we can share them.

Help me to remember that the grand scheme of things is bigger than my individual hurts.  I can always keep looking onward and upward and inward to find you because You whisper your presence into my ear in the little things.

Help the sun set on my hurts so that I can begin a new day today without letting them ruin new relationships, new experiences, and any new work you have for me to do.

Amen

Forgiveness

Lord,

Heal me.  When sin tears a hole in my heart as it so often does, whisper in my ear to remind me that I all need to do is seek your forgiveness.

Make me whole again so that I can shine vibrantly for You to others.

The stain of sin still marks me as I walk this earth but your forgiveness makes me whole in the way possible while still here.  Help me to remember to continually seek forgiveness and to realize that I am so many times at fault.  But, through your mercy, I can get up again to sing your praises. 

I see your breath everywhere. 

For it surrounds me. 

When You move my heart I cannot help but see you in every glance.

Your whisper is so subtle yet so pronounced that I must always listen for it. 

Speak to my heart, oh my Lord and God, for You are marvelous indeed. 

Reach down and touch me with your forgiveness. 

And help me to take that forgiveness and extend it to those around me who hurt me.

Help me Lord Jesus to always see that you are near, even in my day to day endeavors.

Amen

Good Things

Lord,

Help me to see You in all good things.

Help me to see that green is not to remind me always of envy or money, but of your creation.

Lord,

Help me to remember that white is not only the color of purity, but of your blossoms.

Purple is not only the color of Kings but of your fragrance.

Lord,

Help me to remember that the setting and rising of the sun and moon are for many reasons, but also to remind me of your presence.

Lord,

Help me to see you in even the smallest of things, in the things others overlook.

Lord,

Keep my mind on how you provide for me, on the clothes of the lilies of the field.  Take my anxiety away on things like what tomorrow will hold, clothing, food, shelter, my JOB.

For not even Solomon, in all of his splendor was dressed as one of these...

Or these...

Or these...

Lord,

Point me to your forgiveness.

And to your mercy.

Keep me upright in your eyes.

Lord,

Thank you for showing me your colors today.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to capture some of them with my camera (cell phone).  Thank you for giving me a steady hand as I snapped pictures.  Thank you for not allowing my muscle spasms to interfere with my pictures.

Thank you again, my Lord, for a steady hand during these moments of my day.

Thank you, my God, for steady hands for most of the day while I worked at my job.

Thank you, Lord, for guiding my mind to seek You and to want to know You.  Give me the will to do so all the days of my life.

Lord, teach me your ways.  Guide me as I practice, and practice, and practice.

Amen.