Heavenly Father I praise You for pain, for it makes me realize I am alive and that life has a price for every decision I make. I praise You for building my faith, even though it is usually a humbling experience because it usually takes me multiple times to learn lessons on how to trust, believe, and have faith for You to handle my situations. It also requires courage, which I don’t always have. I also need to understand You will walk with me through the hard times and not save me from them. You deserve all praise and glory and I attempt in my small way to acknowledge that each day.
Holy Spirit help me today as my body is still sore and my knee wants to gripe some as I walk. Help me to realize that I am still able to walk even if it is slower and sometimes painful, I still can see, though breathe and I need glasses, I can still hear, feel, taste, and breathe. As I walked into my work today from my car, I felt the cold rain and was pretty soaked by the time I made it to my building. I am reminded I have a job; I have the ability to move and You love, forgive, and regarding the desire to have a relationship with me. I need to be thankful for what I do have and not fret about what I don’t have. You inspired Paul in a moment of reflection to write: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, a child of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like a star in the universe. Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayer, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My God will meet all my needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. [1Corinthians 15:58; 1Corinthians 16:13; Philippians 2:14&15; Philippians 4:6&7 (The Message); Philippians 4:11-13; Philippians 4:19]
I ask that You remember my grandson as he is taking tests today and needs to show improvement. He has worked hard with his mom, grandmother, and many of the rest of us to try to be ready for his testing. Pray he can focus and do the best he can from the work he has put into it. Thank you Jesus for being our savior, the Holy Spirit for being our constant companion, and for God who created us and gave us a purpose for and how we are to live. In Jesus’ name, Amen.