some things I aim for

I thought I would share with you some things that I pray about daily and ask God to help me with.

I am a work in progress, and I am being changed and stretched and molded every single day of my life by my Creator God.  In part of my quiet time spent in prayer each morning, one thing I always ask the Lord is that He will convict me when I sin.  I don't want to sin easily, and without regret.  I want to feel an instant check in my heart when I do something or think something or say something I shouldn't.  Sometimes it's not an instant thing, but it will occur to me days later.  Just yesterday I had to apologize to a friend about something I had said to her about someone.  I didn't mean to be gossipy when we were talking, but all of a sudden, it took that path.

See?  I'm just keeping it real here.

I am striving towards my life verse daily, sometimes, minute by minute.  What is my life, verse, you wonder?

I love this verse for so many reasons.  It reminds me to not talk coarsely with someone.  Our words should build up, not tear down.  Our words also need to be graceful and grace-giving.  Nobody in this world is perfect, and I need to be reminded often to give grace.  Our choir director challenged us with this when he first came to our church in January.  He admitted before us that he was a flawed person, and he asked us to give him grace when he messed up.  It was so humble of him to say that in front of us, and I want to be like that!

And speaking of that, I want to be humble.  I think we all have tendencies to be a little boastful.  Whether we boast about performing, or our lives, or all that we do or have, the Bible warns us about being too prideful (boastful).

James 4:6 says this:

"But He gives greater grace.  Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Some translations use the word "opposes" where you see "resists" above.

I pray and ask Him daily to instill a humble heart within me.

I pray everyday that God will give me opportunities to serve my husband and my boys.  This is such a little thing, in the grand scheme of life, but it keeps me humble before them, which goes along with what I said above.  One little tiny thing I do for my husband each morning is making his coffee to go.  He takes two travel mugs of coffee with him each morning and just a couple of weeks ago, he started taking a container with ice water in it.  I fix these for him, because he doesn't delay when he gets up.  He wakes up, gets dressed, comes down and puts on his boots, goes out to start his truck, comes in to drink a protein drink and then leaves.  Me doing this little mundane task for him is one less thing he has to do before he leaves, and though he has never said this, I think it makes him feel loved and cared for.

Those are just little things than anyone can do.

I aim to be the kind of friend that I want to have.  I love my friends so much, and I need them to be there for me.  I need them to pray for me, I need them to sometimes just let me cry on them, and I need them to be faithful in friendship.  Therefore, I try to be all of that for them.  Just this morning, I got a text from someone I would love to get to know more.  She texted me and told me that God put me on her mind this weekend and then asked how she could pray for me.

The fact that I don't know this sweet lady that well and the fact that this was so random, means the WORLD to me.  God did that, and she obeyed Him.  There is something I told her that I could use prayer for, and she promised me to pray daily for that, until after a certain date, when it would all be over.

I love this image that I saw on the internet not too long ago.

I aim to be this for my friends.

I also want my words and my life to point to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I want to be the kind of person that does exactly what this verse below says.

Last summer during Street Reach, our annual inner city mission trip, one of the youth pastors, AJ, used this verse as an example of how we should be.  In the translation he read from, it used the word "provoke" where you see the word "stir".  When we hear of provoking someone, usually it's in a negative connotation.  He challenged us to provoke one another to love and good works, though, and had us go around the room and call out things that we saw in people on that trip that were positive.  It was such a beautiful and meaningful moment to do this, and I was the recipient of some of it.  A college girl that was there as a counselor challenged me with her words, and from that moment forward, my eyes were opened to how I could love more fully like Jesus did when He walked on this earth.

None of these things I've written about are rocket science, y'all.  But they are just little things that we can do each day that might make the difference in someone's life.  I always pray and ask God to use me, and I know He does.  He is faithful and He knows my heart.  If you're interested in hearing anymore of this type stuff, please reach out to me.  I am stopping for now with this post, but I have lots more to say on this subject.  You can reach out to me on here in the comments, or on social media or you can email me at allboys@gmail.com.

I love to talk about Jesus and His power at work within me.  Thanks for reading my blog!  Love to all.