t.h.u.r.s.d.a.y.

thursday, my love, my favorite day of the week

I have always loved a Thursday.  It really means the week is on the way to being over.  Tomorrow really is Friday, the weekend just a day after that.  And ever since I started college, it always meant the potential for a long weekend.  Just one more day of the week to get through before that blessed break we call the weekend.

My weekly schedule is currently opposite of the standard: my weekend is the middle of the week these days!  I am taking clinical courses about an hour from my apartment in the city, near where family and friends live, so I spend the middle of the week away from the city and with my family and friends.  It is strange, especially because I don't want to be spending my weekends studying all day, but at some point I have to study!

So, off we go, then.

My wonderful, Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for this week in clinical.  It has been a wonderful experience of watching babies come into the world.  I do wish I was able to do more, but I know those opportunities will come in time.  I am so happy to be helping babies be born.  I am so glad You brought me to this place.

I am praying for my church community again this morning.  St Timothy is such a wonderful place.  I love that we spent our 20-somethings group talking about how much we love shift and the people that make it up.  I could not be more blessed to have found such an amazing community of people to live life with.  It sure is going to be hard to stay connected to them, and feeling connected to them, while I live in New Orleans and they aren't here and I'm not there (isn't spontaneity the spice of friendships?), but I pray our friendships persevere.  I pray the closesness doesn't fade.  I also pray for each of these wonderful people, and I pray we continue to be friends for a very long time.

Thank you so much for STUMC and Shift, God.  Thank you for being so awesome as to bring these things into my life.  I know this summer would have been so much more awful without being a part of this group of people.  Thank you, God.

I love you so much.  Thank you for everything.

In Your name I pray, amen.


[xoxo]

so. behind. on. prayers.

oh my gosh y'all, this resolution is so much trickier to manage than I anticipated. This week in clinical was crazy, trying to figure out how to manage my schedule on the northshore with all my things in the city. What to bring, what to leave... Y'all. It made a total mess of my schedule. I can't exactly say I'm looking forward to living out of a suitcase for half a week, every week, for the next 4 weeks. But I am looking forward to every day in the labor & delivery unit and helping more women become mommas and taking care of the littlest babies I have ever seen... I love.

So... We're off!

monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday

world, united states, greater new orleans, church community

My beautiful and glorious Heavenly Father,

What a week it has been, God. It has been so wonderful being in a labor & delivery unit. I can't wait to see how the rest of this rotation goes and be even more involved in the most amazing, but most everyday, of miracles. I am so honored You brought me to this place and I ask for Your continued grace and an openness do mind and spirit as I learn how to be an L&D nurse. 

First and foremost, my God, I want to pray for the world. And not the world that I know, my short-reaching, nearsighted, few-hundred-thousand-populated-at-most tiny portion of the world, but the whole actual world. With all the heartbeats You're counting and all the breaths You're allowing. Blessings that we don't even know, God, too great are they for our minds to comprehend, but is all in a moment's work for Your heart. I pray for every soul on this Earth, God. I know You have placed all of us here for a reason and purpose, and I pray that these purposes are realized and the glory comes back to You. Your heart must break a million times a day for all the heartbreak You witness. I am so sorry for our imperfections. 

I want to pray for my country, God, the good ol USofA. God, I love my country. I love what was scribed into our foundation so many years ago. I feel incredibly blessed to live here. I am so thankful You allowed me to be born in and be a citizen of. I thank You, God. We live in a state of constant turmoil here God, and it can be hard. Legalities and repression and bullying and indecision and greed can oftentimes seem our rulers here. Please hold us and watch over us, God. We're a bit of a mess. And I know everything gets better when You're a part of it, so I pray that happens here. 

For New Orleans and the surrounding communities and suburbs, God, please take us into Your knowing and loving hands. I am blessed to live in an area where I can comfortably be myself, but I know many here are uncomfortable, and I know many others feel not just uncomfortable but repressed and struck down. I pray these feelings are lifted. I pray for more love to be abundant in this great city. I pray for those who are without warm coats, food, and homes to find those things, God. I pray for all of us to find the love in our hearts and share it among ourselves in the New Orleans cityscape. I remain unconvinced that there is anywhere more interesting, and rich with history, that one can live in the United States. Thank You for blessing me with the opportunity to live and learn and work and love in this great city. 

Lastly, my God, I return to You with prayers for my church community. It is far-reaching in this town and I love that so many people are a part of it. I know we have been blessed with amazing pastors and staff. It is really easy to see Your hand in the church, blessing it, allowing Your love to shine through it and working through it for the members of the community and New Orleans proper. I am so thankful for this community and what it means to me. I pray Your love never leaves it. I pray we always know Your presence and seek it. I am so thankful for STUMC, God. Thank You for it in my life. 

Thank You again for what this week has meant to me and what is yet to come in it, God. Keep me near You, drawing ever nearer into Your presence and grace. Oh, God, I love you. 

In Your most glorious name I pray, amen. 

[y'all have a wonderful Thursday now... more regular prayers are on their way.]

[xoxo]

it's thursday.

hey y'all!

Today's a Thursday: which means I'm gonna pray for my church community.  I actually became an official member this week!

I'd like to pray for the Shift community specifically today.  It's a small percentage of the church membership, but it's one that's passionately interested in community and what that means in today's world.  I don't know if I could love it more.


my Heavenly Father,

Thank you for giving me another day to pray to You.  Thank You for the opportunity to live in New Orleans and still attend the church that I love on the Northshore, St. Timothy.  I'm lifting up the Shift group there, God, small though it may be.  It's a passionate one, and I love to be a part of it and want to be a part of it more.  I lift up the hearts of everyone who attends both the service on Sunday mornings and the small groups during the week.  I pray for all of them and their wants and needs.  I pray that You are ever-present in this group, God.  I pray that You continue guiding and leading them, showing them how to be Your hands and feet in the greater New Orleans area.

God, I thank you so much for each and every attendee's passion to love others.  There are so many opportunities to serve through Shift and I know it's because we all just want to love other people.  It's all we crave.  Church isn't just a Sunday morning thing for us, God, and that is super cool.

For all these hearts and all of these people, I thank You.  Keep us safe, keep us loving You and others above all else, keep us coming back to You.  Year after year.  Day after day.  Hour after hour.

I, and I know the Shift community, love(s) you.

love you -
K

[xoxo]