Facets of beauty...

My prayer:

It is almost your birthday Jesus. I honestly wouldn't have wanted to live one day of this life if you had not been born and died for me. If I had to live life without you in it, without your grace and forgiveness, without your love, that is a life that is not worth living.

Thank you Father for giving your son for us, for me. 

What God Said Tonight:

This time of year when I bring you snow and ice, I want you to see it differently than you have before. Snow and ice and crystals. They are filled with facets that reflect light and allow you to see beauty where before there was nothing. 

I will give you beauty for ashes. Part of how I give that to you is by giving you new ways to see what you could not see before. I will bring you the insight to see the facets before you and the beauty will be apparent. 

I love you. I am with you now and forever. We will see the beauty of life together.

Playing a losing game...

My prayer:

I need help and perspective God. I am letting the little things bother me and I am numb to the big things that really should bother me. And, even worse, I am having a hard time distinguishing between what are the little things and what are the big things. 

I need a reset. I need to disconnect and restart. Clean out the history and reboot. 

I ask for your help.

What God Said Tonight:

Less worry and more trust. You have fallen back into the trap of trying to reason and understand the circumstances in your life. They are not reasonable. They are not logical. Trying to find the reason and logic in them is a losing game. 

There are forces in the spiritual realm that are battling and the results in your physical world will never make sense outside of the understanding of the battle. 

Stop trying to make it fit into what you know and instead, trust me, talk to me, ask me, and I will help you through it. Don't try to find the logic and do not try to control it. Those two things will leave you frustrated and awake in the middle of the night, every time. 

I love you and I have got you in this and all things. 

Challenges and blessings...

My prayer:

Today was pretty crazy God. Thank you for giving me the peace to survive it. Thank you for giving me the peace to respond instead of react. Thank you Holy Spirit for living in me, making me more than naturally capable of dealing with the impossible.

What God Said Tonight:

Each day, there are new challenges and blessings. Don't be too sure to jump to the conclusion that you know which is which. 

I love you I am with you. I will never leave you. Those things you can be sure of. 

The journey...

My prayer:

I really enjoyed today God. Thank you for every minute. 

I am pretty excited about the potential opportunity you opened up tonight. Could that be the next season? It is kind of scary but pretty wonderful too. At the end of the day, if it is what you want, I am 100% in. If it is not, shut it down. Without you, it could be a nightmare.

I love you like crazy God and will follow you anywhere.

What God Said Tonight:

A journey may have a destination but that does not mean you know every stop along the way. My ultimate destination for you is set in stone and written before the dawn of time. But the journey, the stops along the way, that is where the adventure comes in. That is where you can pick what pulls at your heart and I will bless you in it. 

I am with you in this and all things. I will see you succeed wherever you go. Your path to your destination is your choice and my joy. 

I love you.

Brain break...

My prayer:

Not sure what to say or ask tonight God. I have lots of questions but they have all been asked before. You have told me to hang in and trust you through this season and I am truly doing my best. I am looking for the joy, and sometimes finding it. And, I am exhausted by it all. 

I guess the on thing I do ask tonight, help me truly rest. I could really use that. Thank you for getting me through.

What God Said Tonight:

Give your brain a break. Take a minute and picture putting it and all the thoughts, the worries, the strategies, on a shelf for the night. 

It will all be there tomorrow. Waiting for more to feed it. It will take all that you give it. You cannot fill it up. You have to decide when to stop feeding it. It will never stop on its own. Tonight, stop feeding it Stop giving it your thoughts and your attention. 

You will find greater rest in that one choice than you will in 12 hours of sleep. 

I love you. 

Not perfect...

My prayer:

Today was rotten. I really did not enjoy it. All day, every time I turned around, somebody was doing something to make something harder, less efficient, and generally making bad decisions which made me work harder. I am exhausted and frustrated. 

I pray God that you renew my soul.

What God Said Tonight:

I leave you tonight with one thought. Waiting on perfection will always leave you frustrated. No one can sustain it. No one can live up to it. 

Back down, take a breath, and give grace. 

Joy...

What God Said Tonight:

Enjoy your life. Find those moments of joy and dwell on them, expand them, keep after them. 

I love seeing my children enjoying life. I know there are struggles and I know there is pain. We will keep working through those together. But, in the mean time, find some joy and sit on it. Don't let it get away. Keep it near, wrap your arms around it, and bury your face down in it. 

Joy is my gift for you. Joy will get you through.