A child’s cooing praises you. A lion’s roaring praises you. An ocean rising and falling praises you. Rainbows and snow tops and diamonds in sparkling waters praise you. Everything I see, sound I hear, everything I touch are full of praises for you. You are everywhere and you, my God, are my soul.  With exhilaration, I worship you.

 Today I spent time with Christian friends gossiping about weak Christians. Help me reach out and encourage them to do something special to someone else for you. Forgive me when I criticize instead of lift up.

Ah, my Lord, how I long to see you as you are. Life here is too long. I know I must do my share in conquering Satan and making him weaker all the time. But, when my work is done, I get to be in your realm and exchange smiles with you. What a day it will be. A glorious day when I, your bride, will be united with you forever.

My heart with all its vulnerabilities reaches for you and  sings of the lover of my soul , the God of heaven and earth. The strings of my heart tremble and vibrate, then rise up in loving strains. From earth to heaven, from my heart to yours, my spirit to yours. Transcending worlds, my song spreads its laughter and sighs and rests in you. Be ever my song.

Lord, I went to some friends’ house and they had a beautiful new carpet. It was lush and deep and soft to walk on. I keep thinking about it and wondering how I could get such a carpet for myself. How selfish and greedy.  There are orphanages struggling to stay open. There are preachers who have trouble supporting their families. How can I think about carpet when their needs are so great? Forgive me.

Thank you, God, for making me move to an area where not as many people believe in you. I will no longer take your church for granted. I have struggled so much here trying to expand your kingdom. It’s been so hard. Now I understand their struggles. I thank you for your strength that keeps me on course in a wilderness. I thank you for your example of courage and concern. You went everywhere seeking and saving the lost. And thank you for the church around the world, both small and large. You made us your crown jewels.

I lift up my praises to you, the self-existent one.  Both Father of the Son and Son of the Father. The great wellspring, mind, and will of all things. The only life giver to all things. You are all life, all truth, and altogether love. You are so far above me and yet so near. You fill the universe, yet make your home in my heart. Even the stars bow to you in effervescence.

Lord, I told some friends about something another friend went through that I had no business repeating. Nothing good can come from it. Sure, I can say it is so they will pray for this person, but deep down I know I told it in order to sound more informed than them. Forgive me and block the memory of what I said from my friends.

Thank you, God almighty, for all you did to save me. So complicated. Yet you stayed on track. You gave mankind a chance to earn and deserve our salvation by giving us the Law of Moses which we just could not to keep perfectly. You let the rest of the world come up with their own god-laws. Nothing worked. We could not be perfect. Then Jesus came and did it for us, for me. You were perfect for me and for everyone. You see me as perfect as Jesus was. Oh, Lord, you are so wonderful and merciful. I do not deserve your presence, but you love me still and stand by me always.

Ah, my Lord, you are my light for the path I walk.  You are my path through the world I travel.  Your holiness soars through the cosmos and settles at last in my heart.  I can never feel alone when you are near. I can never feel rejected when you carry me. I can never feel deserted when you hold my heart in your arms and sing to me with your spirit.

Forgive me, Lord, when I am alone in my house and am afraid of what might be lurking in the darkness outside. Remind me that nothing will happen to me without your permission and for some greater good.

Thank you, God, for getting me through yesterday when I felt so down. I did not stay down. I saw a few friends and you lifted me up through them.  Thank you for your life on earth and your willingness to live it to the fullest ~ all the way to dying for being good. You seemed so defeated. How wrong everyone was. What you went through made your victory so much more dynamic. Thank you for materializing for me. Forever thank you. From my heart thank you.

I adore you, God. You are unfailing. You never give up on me and never desert me when I fail you.  You are strong, for love is strong. You are the great conqueror because love overcomes all things. You are all wise because you are truth. You are all life because you created all things ~ and me.  When I feel like a little ant lost in a great wide desert, you lean low and take me to green meadows where my heart can sing.

Lord, I don’t know how to have everyone’s favor as Jesus did when he was a child. Gradually, he revealed himself until those same people became his enemies. I am a coward around many people instead of standing up for truth and you. Forgive me and live in me more largely.

Thank you, God, for the rain today. It was so gentle and brought with it the promise of more flowers and sweet fragrances to tantalize my senses. What a beautiful world you have made. Even on a battlefield, a daffodil, a crocus, and tulip can spring up and remind the world you are still here. You love me so. You hold me in your great arms as long as I need and whenever I need. You are so good to me.

I adore you, glorious God. You are my Maker and Lover. You lift me up and honor me. Oh, my. You are the one who deserves all honor, all respect, all heavenly nobility. Everything you do is right. How can you keep us all sorted out? It is amazing. You are magnificent and wise beyond all my understanding. I stretch my mind to comprehend you. I sing softly a love song to you. It mingles with my tears and then I smile.

Lord, someone began a conversation yesterday about how you created everything. You never told anyone how; you just said you did. Your creation was your miracle. We cannot explain miracles. But I jumped in with some opinions I’d heard. How silly of me to keep a conversation going that cannot come to any conclusion. Forgive me.

Thank you, God, for your Bible so I do not have to guess what you are like and what your Plans are for mankind and the world. We are here for a purpose. I thank you for the confidence you have placed in me to do my part in proving Satan wrong and dangerous. Thank you for allowing me to fight with you and help fulfill your glorious purposes for the world.

I magnify your name, Jehovah, God of the universe. The only God. The God who is  just and yet merciful.  The God who loves the unloving. The God who is sinless but has patience with sinners.  Such love fills me with lofty gladness. You overlook what I do wrong and make it all good and right. You behold my puny efforts to make a difference in the world and make them multiply and expand and become beautiful. Such attention and love I cannot comprehend. So I worship you.

Help me talk to everyone I associate with and not spend so much time with those I get along with. I think the old saying, “To know them is to love them” is true. Forgive me when I neglect the neglected.

Ah, my Lord Jesus, thank you for leaving heaven for me and facing Satan in a human body on earth. He tried everything he could think of to make you sin just one time. That one time would have been all he needed to bring you down to his Sheol. But you were too strong for him, even in your human body’s weakest moments! You hovered over Satan and dared him. You brought Satan to his knees. You rose up powerful and magnificent and glorious. I was too weak to face down Satan. No one could. No one but you. So, you did. You did it for me. You took my place.  How can I thank you enough? I will spend eternity finding new ways to show my deep gratitude.

You are so great, but you lean low and take notice of the lowly in life and lift us high. You notice the oppressed and make them feel like princes. You notice orphans whose parents have left them in spirit or death and make them part of your glorious family. You notice the blind and other handicapped and make them feel like kings. Some day you will give everyone that kind of glorious body Jesus had. Then I will be able to praise you in ways I never imagined. You, who made me, are more amazing than words can say.

Lord, I was so foolish and thoughtless yesterday.  I bought a new pair of shoes I did not need when I know a family that needed help with their electric bill.  I think I will take the shoes back and send them the money in the mail anonymously.

Thank you for days when I feel your peace despite goings on around me.  When I look at the birds hopping around, looking for things out of which to make their nests, I smile. When I listen to the dove you sent me a few weeks ago, my heart stops racing and slows to an easy pace. When I notice the buds on them, they remind me how quietly they peek out from their branches and slip into my spring day with aromatic sweetness.  Thank you, God, for all that you make for my pleasure.

My Lord, you dissolve the boundaries of my resistance and make your home in my heart.  I laud you because with you my pulse beats with joy.  Through the shadows, you illuminate my life and lead me step by step up the mountain. Then I fly, soaring through the universe. There is nowhere that I can go that you are not there.  And so I worship you.

Help me, Lord, keep loving people and not notice their offensive words. If I could train myself to not notice, life would be better for both them and me.

I thank you, God, for doing so much for so long to save me and make it possible for me live forever with you. You love me beyond measure despite my sins. You forgive me though I keep repeating the same sins over and over.  You show me how to forgive others by your infinite example. Mercy in its supremacy can only come from you. Ah, my Lord, you are the epitome of love.  You surround me with your patience and peace. Your perfect peace.

I adore you, my Lord. You are life and light and love. You are the path, the road, the Way. You give direction to my life that would otherwise have no meaning. You guide me when I do not know what to do. I long to live with you where you are. How much longer must I wait? Even as I wait, I will proclaim you to people, nations, the world. You are the one and only God. You are the only light, life giver, and soul of the universe. And of my heart.

Lord, I continue to be selfish. I continue to spend time with friends instead of looking outward to others who are so lonely, but smile and pretend they are not.

Thank you, God, for loving me and giving life, for you are love and you are life.  You watch over me every day as a mother or father does for their little helpless child. Why do you love me so? I reject you with my sins, yet you love me still.  Thank you for materializing as Jesus so we could watch your example of living, and so we could see, hear and touch God. What an example. While on earth, you taught extreme love while your enemies taught extreme intolerance. You never backed down. For me, you never backed down. I worship you.