let me enlighten you...this is the way i pray

You are big. You are good. You are complete. You are joy. You are justice and You are mercy. You are grace. You are real. You change me while you are constant and consistent. You listen. You respond. You keep your promises. You are considerate. You are...

To whom much is given, much is required, and i think You for your gifts and your blessings in my life. i confess my stubbornness. i confess that i don't remember that you become greater when i become less. i confide in you that i place my trust in untrustworthy things...i confess my fear for "the new" though i know that You are in control. i confess that i look for worth and acceptance and love and like and laughter in people before you, not after you...

i thank you for countless things that i canoot even put into words. i thank You that your presence demands and commands glory, and i thank You that i am able to revere You for who You are, not only what You do...i thank You, today, specifically, for a man who came into my life in january, and who has, for the past four months, reminded me of you. i thank you that you have revealed yourself to him and i thank you that you saved him. i thank you that i can be vulnerable (or something) enough to praise you for allowing him to be a part of my life. i thank you for his honesty and his passion and his faithfulness. i thank you that he takes time out of him weeks to consider me. i thank you that out of thoughts manifested in words, i am constantly encouraged to consider You and to consider others above myself. he makes me smile and he makes me laugh out loud. i thank you that as i learn more about him, i learn more about You because he is yours. i thank you that he calls you Father and you call him child.

i pray that You keep touching his life in ways that he knows it is you. i pray that he keeps your glory in mind as he makes his hourly, his daily decisions. i pray that i may be of even the most subtle of encouragement, paling in comparison to how he has touched my life. i pray for his family, who has also touched my life, and i repeat your words back to you:

To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: "What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help." You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

i pray for his trust, that it remains unfailing. i pray for his drive, that he is driven to pursue You and to pursue yours. i pray you keep him and his safe, wrapped in your protection. i pray that You continue to bless him and i pray that he continues to bless people--selfishly, i pray that he continues to bless me, because when i remember him, i remember You because You are his second nature...

i pray these words for him:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.