Feeling Preachy (not peachy) Today

For all you Church of Christ ladies, here's what you need to do. You simply need to create a blog so you can preach too! If you aren't C of C, you may not get the joke, but I can assure you that it was funny. Okay, so my topic today is prayer. Yes, most of the time I blog about funny stuff and/or my stupidity, but there are days I just need to share my heart and this is one of those days... Why is it that no matter how many times we see the "power in prayer" and all the blessings that come from prayer, we still manage to neglect that part of our relationship with God. There have been days when I'm laying bed at night and realize that I did not pray one single time and that makes me feel ashamed, imagine how God feels about it. The last few months I've really been trying to create a stronger, more stable prayer life for myself. It's amazing the level of peace it can bring even in hard times. Some of the most lonely nights, prayer has brought me such a sense of being surrounded & protected. I can't imagine being single, 31 and not a Christian. Without God, I imagine it would be unbearable at times. But God continually shows me all the blessings that surround me and the loved ones in my life. I know I sound like life is all roses, it certainly is not. In fact, this week has been a REALLY hard week for me. I won't go into details for the sake of others, but between myself struggling w/ something, friends losing loved ones, daughters having to care for their mothers who can't care for themselves anymore, babies being born just over 1 lb, and "talking a friend down from the ledge (so to speak...)", I've seen so much pain in these past 5 days. It saddens & affects me in ways I could never clearly express. My heart breaks for them. It shames me that I can sometimes let MY life consume me and not focus on the needs of others.

My prayer is this:
*To have the same passion for God that I do for life
*To ALWAYS put other's needs in front of mine
*To be a light in this world of darkness
*To spend more time in prayer w/ the Father above
*To show the love of Christ as others have shown me
*To remember that even though sometimes I feel like I might break, God will not stretch me beyond what I can handle. And that through these "stretching" times, I will continue to grow in Him.
*To have patience w/ God when He puts me on a different or new path not knowing where it will lead

Okay, my preaching is done for today. May God bless you in unimaginable ways and may you never forget to thank Him for each and every one.