pray more

I’ve been saying short, little prayers lately. I have a small group for one of my religion classes, it’s 3 guys, and we pray together. Last week I actually led! And in class a few days ago, I offered to pray when te prof asked who was willing. I’m submitting myself more to the Lord and He is delivering by adding courage to pray in front of people to the leading of who and what I need to pray for. YAY God!

today in church, my pastor asked us to pray for the person sitting next to us for the next week for strength (relying on God for strength), depth in their relationship with God, and understanding of how great His love for them really is.

Dear Lord,
I thank you for all You’ve given to me. A loving mother and stepfater, my extended family. My sister and her baby. Thank you for all the blessings you’ve given to me, for letting me know how loved I am. Thank you for loving me and letting me know it. Thank you for my mother teaching me about You and her love for you, without it, I would not be who I am today. I pray your blessings on those around me, God. It breaks my heart to see all the hurting going on around me. You know the circumstances. I am so glad you love us, Lord. Please be with the people in my community who are hurting and seeking answers. Lead them to You, Lord, please. Let them know your immense love and forgiveness for all their sins and mistakes. Let them know that You are there.
God, pour your loving spirit on us, let us live your love in our lives and be beacons to the rest of the world. Let us love those who are making mistakes and help them through. Thank you, Father.
Amen

I don’t normally pray unless I need something, and when I need something, I am very reluctant to ask for help… which leads to me not praying very often. Not near often enough anyways. I want to be close to God… in theory at least… but it’s hard to 1-get rid of the habit of relying on myself for anything, 2-ask for help (which goes along with #1), and 3-understand that He really wants to be a part of my daily life.

Please add the youth pastor at my church and his family to your prayer lists. His little girl, who turned 9 in December, has just gotten a tumor removed from her belly last Monday. She’s not reacting well to the surgery and some of the treatments they’ve been trying- she’s still in ICU after nearly a week. Her left lung collapsed a few days ago, and she’s been running a fever and all sorts of no-good stuff has been going on in her little body, and I’d like to ask you all to pray for her, for her to start fighting, and for God to return strength to her little body, and give her parents the strength to get through this and keep leaning on God for support. Thanks a lot.

I’m posting this on several different goals, because it fits so it’s going there. I’m going to go on an internet fast, starting tomorrow. I spend way too much time on here, and if I spent even half as much time working on getting closer to God, it would be well worth it. After a meeting in church tonight, I’ll update my blog and then not get on for a week or two. I’m going to spend most of my time in my Bible, praying, reading (other than my Bible), and exercising. This will add up to a much better me. I’m excited. I know it’ll be hard though, so I’m going to ask for your prayers and support, because I am definitely an internet junkie. I figure, if my youth pastor (who had Mountain Dew flowing through his veins) can give up caffeine, I can give up spending so much time on the internet.

I have been praying every day, for a LOT of time, I can’t even think how much lately. My sister’s having problems with her pregnancy and has a chance of losing the baby if she’s not careful and a little girl I babysit whom I consider a little sister, they just found a cancerous tumor by her kidney. When I said I wanted to pray more, I wasn’t envisioning pleading for the people most important in life. Though it has got me talking to God a lot more, and about a lot of areas of my life, so that is a good thing.