A Prayer for the Blog

So this blog was conceived at the celebration ceremony for my Bible Study group last week (beautiful ladies pictured right!). As we were saying good-bye, I just knew I couldn't really say good-bye. I wanted and needed these women to keep walking beside me, even if we weren't going to be meeting every week.

One of the ladies, Theresa (2nd from the left), had already inspired me with her blog devoted to her family (4 gorgeous and well mannered kids!). So I thought "Okay, I'm going to keep these women in my life. I will start a blog devoted to my faith walk."

I had also been recently challenged by God to make my mornings about Him. To rise and spend my first morning coffee in the Word. It was about day two , when I realized that my sad, pre-coffee brain was not going to be able to effectively connect with God without some structure. So I decided to pick out a Bible study for the summer.

If you know me well, you know that my favorite Bible Study teacher is Beth Moore... so I immediately go to lifeway.com and start poking around. After an afternoon of looking through potential videos I decide on Beth's 12 week study of the book of Daniel (pictured left). Turns out Daniel did a lot more than survive the lion's den - he survived Babylon, an empire not unlike our current American culture. Specifically, in the first session Beth identifies Bablyon's cultural motto as "I am; and there is none besides me." translated "It's all about me."

It struck me as non-accidental that God would both prompt me to start a blog and remind me that it is not all about me in the same week! These blogs can become so self-indulgent and narcissistic. So I think it's appropriate to start this whole thing out with a prayer:

Adonai,

Please be with me as I begin composing this blog. You are my King and I am Your servant. Keep my heart humbled and honored by these Truths: that You are The Vine and I am a branch (apart from you I will wither and die); that every good and perfect gift comes from You (not me); and that You are faithful to complete the good work you started in me (and often don't need my help to do it).

Make this place about sharing my authentic faith walk (failures, doubts, and triumphs). May your Spirit guard my heart, challenging me to be honest and humbling me if I should become prideful. In short, this blog is about You not about me - and so long as it stays that way it will be Good.

I love you, too.

Amen.