A Prayer

Many times You'd spoken to me and I'd not listened. I'd turned a deaf ear and gone about my business in my own stubborn way. It was not so much that I didn't want to hear You, Lord. It was that I was not close enough to You to hear Your instruction. Like a willful child who runs from his loving and protective parent, I'd wandered from Your side to explore things on my own. When I was in trouble, or when I was scared, or hurt, or felt I was lost, I'd return to You looking for You to comfort and console me. You didn't greet me with anger, but opened Your arms and welcomed me back.

Those were the days of life as a young Christian, "when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child..but when I grew to a man, such ways put aside." (1Cor: 13) Those days are gone...thank God! These days I know that I need to stay as close to You as I can be, in order to hear You speak and to respond quickly. If I don't listen, I will find myself floundering in the winds of doctrine, lost on the path of Life. I've learned that it is safer, much more wonderful too, to walk beside You and to discover with You, rather than alone, all that You have in store for me.

There is no safer place than to be beneath Your sheltering wings. Nothing can harm me, because You are surrounding me. There is no fear, because You are there. Your Word, tells me that You go before me and that You are my rear-guard. I am protected.

I have no need to wander from You, for You provide all that I need. I have no desire to be without You, for You love me more than anyone I'll ever find, should I search. There is no temptation to follow after another, because You are my All in all.

Thank you, Lord, for the lessons I have learned from childhood until this moment. Thank you, for all those who taught me about You, and for those who prayed for me. Thank you for those who attempted to steer me on the right path, and Lord, more than anything else, thank You for

patiently correcting me when I made all those mistakes, and for loving me anyway. Thank you for being my ever-present God, who knows me, loves me and died for me while I was still lost in the filthy mire of sin.

Words are not enough, Lord, and so, I will do what You ask. I will follow. I will obey. I will serve. I will show You, as best I can in my human strength and with Your help, how much I appreciate You, until You take me Home to be with You eternally.