The Love of God

The love of God enfolds me 
The love of God surrounds me 
The love of God saturates me 
The love of God upholds me 
The love of God strengthens me 
The love of God comforts me 
The love of God cheers me 
The love of God restores me 
The love of God calms me 
The love of God consoles me 
The love of God guides me 
The love of God protects me 
The love of God cleanses me 
The love of God frees me 
The love of God fulfills me 
The love of God heals me 
The love of God uplifts me 
The love of God embraces me 
The love of God envelopes me 
The love of God fills me 
The love of God shines in me 
and eternally sustains me 
—Magdolene Mogyorosi, “The Love of God” 

An Act of Abandonment

O my God, I thank you and I praise
you for accomplishing your holy 
and all-lovable will without any regard for mine. 
With my whole heart, 
in spite of my heart, 
do I receive this cross I feared so much! 

It is the cross of Your choice, 
the cross of Your love. 
I venerate it; 
nor for anything in the world 
would I wish that it had not come, 
since You willed it. 

I keep it with gratitude and with joy, 
as I do everything that comes from Your hand;
and I shall strive to carry it without letting it drag, 
with all the respect 
and all the affection which Your works deserve. 

Amen.

By Saint Francis De Sales

Help Me

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
Mark 9:24

Wedding Day

Wedding Day

Everyone has times when they feel unloved or un-loveable, unworthy, ashamed. Yet for those who belong to Christ, the truth is that we have been made righteous in the sight of God. We are beautiful. We are loved.

If you are experiencing a time of darkness, you are encouraged to read slowly the words below. Let them sink in. Let God show you how he sees you. Be encouraged. You are the bride, and the bridegroom has come for you. Even more, he wants to spend eternity loving you.

VERSE 1 There's a stirring in the throne room And all creation holds its breath. Waiting now to see the bridge groom; Wondering how the bride will dress. And she wears white. And she knows that she's undeserving, She bears the shame of history. This worn and weary maiden Is not the bride that he sees. And she wears white head to toe But only he can make it so.

CHORUS: When someone dries your tears; When someone wins your heart and says your beautiful; When you don't know you are And all you long to see Is written on his face Love has come and finally set you free, On that wedding day.

VERSE 2 She has danced in golden castles And she has crawled through beggar's dust. But today she stands before him And she wears his righteousness. And she will be who he adores And this is what he made her for.

CHORUS: When someone dries your tears; When someone wins your heart and says your beautiful; When you don't know you are And all you long to see Is written on his face Love has come and finally set you free, On that wedding day

Written by Bernie Herms, Mark Hall & Nichole Nordeman. Birdboy Songs, My Refuge Music, Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, Word Music LLC, Birdwing Music. Performed by Casting Crowns

God with us

You are a God who never promised joy without pain, or sun without rain, or roses without thorns. But you promised to be with us in our struggles, to give light in times of darkness. Oh, how we thank you!

Charity

I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience? ~ Mother Teresa

Prayer of Generosity

Notice the desire to be generous which stirs in you when you read the following prayer.

Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not ask for reward, save that of knowing that I am doing Your will.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

No Rival for God in Our Hearts?

Times have changed, yet the struggles in our hearts remain the same. Here is a prayer written by A.W. Tozer and published in The Pursuit of God originally in 1948.

"Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.

In Jesus' name,

Amen."

The (Original) Serenity Prayer

"God, give us grace to accept with serenity


the things that cannot be changed,


Courage to change the things


which should be changed,


and the Wisdom to distinguish


the one from the other. 


Living one day at a time,


Enjoying one moment at a time,


Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,


Taking, as Jesus did,


This sinful world as it is,


Not as I would have it, 


Trusting that You will make all things right,


If I surrender to Your will, 


So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,


And supremely happy with You forever in the next.


Amen." (Reinhold Neibuhr, 1940ish).

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy Church, that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the martyrs' crown of light,
For Thy prophets' eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors' might,
For the lips of infancy.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy virgins' robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.

For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.

     Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
     This our hymn of grateful praise.