Sometimes when I am listening to a sermon or lesson it is not a whole lesson that helps me in the midst of the battle but it is a statement from it that creates the quick mind change I need to keep moving forward. Following are excerpts from some of the prayers I read from the box as I worked on this project that helped me in the moment I read them. Can’t exactly remember the day I wrote this keepsake. I so wish I could so I could remember what was going on in my life at the time. One thing I know is I need these reminders at this time as currently I am watching someone I love go through hard times from choices they have made.

To God be the glory! 

1- “My heart is thinking, I feel like crying but I can’t because my emotions are battling with my thinking.”

Reading the excerpt above from my prayers was so refreshing. It’s nice to remember that, when I feel like crying because I am overwhelmed, It’s OKAY to do so. I don’t need to fix myself. I can give myself permission to recognize that I need to make space to sit with myself so I can cast all that’s on my mind before God! 

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV.

2- “I want to make a decision that I will love people the way the Bible teaches in Corinthians; I know lately I have not done that and I need to repent. I must persevere for people to have a relationship with you (God)” May 7, 2000.

What a nice reminder that the decision to love others is one I make over and over again because Jesus loved me. It won't always be natural.

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 NIV

3- “God, even though I pray for people I don’t feel like I cry out for them” Feb 11, 1998.

This was powerful. Crying out for others is to love them like Jesus. Crying out for others isn’t always a flow of tears coming from my eyes, it’s a deep emotion that is produced in my soul as I think of how much that person needs healing. 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Luke 13:34 NVI

To God be the glory!