My Prayer for the New Year

January 6, 2020


This year I have decided to really focus on making sure that I meet with Christ every single day. Two words have been on my mind lately. Abide and Eucharisteo.


Abundance was my word for last year, but I did not do much with it. The Lord put other things on my heart for me to focus on. He chose me to be the vessel to write two plays for Spiritual Twist Productions, a local Christian theater group. One play was about Corrie ten Boom and the other is about the Beatitudes. I spent much of the spring and summer digging dip into history and scripture to make sure that what I wrote on the pages was glorifying to God.


The first show closed the first week of December and I am still in awe at how God worked in that production. A Weaving of Grace went further and reached people in ways that I could never have imagined.  I don’t believe that God is done with that play but for now my focus has shifted to the next play, Anything But Normal. I am trying to wrap my head around what God wants me to do with the over 30 young people involved in that production. It deals with the topic of bullying and how living like God calls us to in the Beatitudes can change people.


I kept up with my scripture writing last year but felt like God was calling me to more this year. I am still committed to continuing that this year, but I am adding several things. I am praying through the Word this year focusing on several guided books that I have had on my shelf for years.


The first book is Prayers of An Excellent Wife by Andrew Case that focuses my prayers for my husband, Carl. I have been using this book off and on since 2010.


The second book is Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens by Jodie Berndt. A sweet friend introduced me to this book last year when William was going through a hard time. I am so thankful for her listening to the leading of Christ in her life to introduce me to this book.


The third book is a book that my mother bought me for Christmas one year. Nancy Guthrie has written an excellent companion to follow a Bible reading plan. Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids lets you read the Bible and then guide you through praying Scripture into the life of your children.


The last book I have been using off and on since 2009. It is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. It is entitled The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennett.


It has done my heart such good to fill me heart and mind with these prayers in the few days that we have had in 2020.


I am one of those people whose mind is constantly filled with things to do and creative ideas. When I sit and commit to pray, I always find my mind wandering. I have found that having guided prayers that focus my heart and mind works for me. I even go as far to write some of those prayer down in journals because it helps solidify those prayer in my mind. I am such a visual person that if I do not see it then it gets lost in the clutter of all the writing ideas in my head. This is what works for me. Everyone has a different way of how scripture sticks for them. Reading them and writing them and praying through them is what works for me.


This is what I have committed to so far this year. I don’t know if this will be what I stick with the entire year. Last year God shifted my focus to new, hard things but He did amazing things through where he had me. His glory was proclaimed on stage for hundreds to see. I don’t know what He will lead me to this year but for now this is where I am.


This morning I read a prayer in The Valley of Vision entitled The All-Good. I always have a pen handy so that I can write notes or underline things that jump out to me.

“Thou hast helped me to see, … that nothing is good but thee,

That I am near good when I am near thee,

That to be like thee is a glorious thing:

This is my magnet, my attraction.

Thou art all my good in times of peace,

My only support in days of trouble,

My one sufficiency when life shall end.

I give myself to thee out of love,

For all I have or own is thine,

My goods, family, church, self,

To do with as thou wilt,

To honour thyself by me, and by all mine.”

Oh, may this be my prayer always. I want my desire to be more like Christ to be a glorious thing that spreads to all those around me. I want people to stop and wonder at what they see in me. That Christ would shine so brightly that all those I encounter do not question who I belong to. That I am a daughter of the King of Kings.

Less of me, Dear Lord, and more of You! May my desires, gifts, and everything you have so graciously given to me be returned to you to be used for Your Glory alone. Show me the path to walk in. What you want me to do next to show the world Your Love! Lead me to those things in my life that do not bring you glory so I can get rid of them. Give me the strength to do this because I cannot do it on my own. Fill me with those things that You love. Give me such a desire to know You more that my life overflows with Your Holy Spirit. 

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.