Monday, November 29, 2010

Day 1 - Be Near oh God

Be near to me, oh God, for Your nearness is my good. Hide not Your face from me but let the light of Your countenance shine upon me. When my enemy rises up against me, to accuse and destroy me, protect me from his hand according to Your loving kindness, according to Your saving faithfulness. Lead me to Your presence, hide my face in You, that I might gaze upon Your beauty, so that I may not look upon the enemy with fear and trembling. For You alone are my rock and my redeemer. You alone can save me.


Remind me, oh Lord, that I am weak. Remind me that my days are fleeting, a passing breath upon the wind, and teach me to number my days. Teach me to make the best use of the time that You’ve given me that I might honor You with my whole life, so that all I am brings glory to Your name. For You are my only good. As a flower looks to the sun for food, to the rain for strength to grow, to the earth for support, may I look to You, Father, for my life and energy. May I look to You, Spirit, for refreshment and strength. May I look only to You, Jesus Christ Love of my Soul, as the rock upon which I stand, as my foundation and my support. Be my all in all, O Savior of all.

Now to Recover from My Vacation

It is the end of Thanksgiving break…11:45 on Sunday night to be exact…and I’m on the road, headed back to school after time in Michigan spent with my relatives. It was a wonderful time of catching up and reconnecting, but it was one of those breaks that you need a break to recover from.

Now that it’s over and I’ve had hours on the road to think and reflect, I’ve realized a few things. On entering into this break, I had started to get a little (probably a lot) prideful in myself, in what I could do, in how well I could hear God. I lost sight of couple things. Namely that none of these things were because of me or what I did. Who I am is 100%, absolutely, completely because of God’s grace. Also I realized that, as a Christian, I cannot coast on previous time spent with Jesus. Like in a marriage, just because you have a wonderful date, or even a week straight of dates, with your husband or wife, does not mean that you cannot now rely on that time spent together and not spend any time together for the next two weeks. You need time spent together regularly.

Who am I to even be talking though? What do I know of life, of living and persevering in the Christian life, of depth with God? I have only been following God for a little over a year now. I’m only 19. I have no knowledge, nothing worth listening to, no words of power or worth. Guide me, Father, in the ways of truth and grace. Teach me to listen , to know Your voice as You whisper to my soul, as You sing over me in the night.

I am going to try an experiment. For the next two weeks, instead of being egocentrical, I am going to quit writing about me, my life, my thoughts, my plans. Instead I am simply going to post a prayer to God each day of what is on my heart that morning after my quiet times with my Beloved and the Lover of my soul. You can follow me or not, as you choose. Maybe God will use them to help and encourage you, but it no longer matters. I have realized that God does not have to use me and sometimes He will have me do things simply for the sake of pulling me to Himself and for no other reason then because He is so jealous to have all of me. My thoughts, my emotions, my plans, my life.

Tomorrow let's start a new journey, shall we? And we'll see where it leads. Shalom.