delayed prayers

Goodness gracious, y'all, I am terrible at this, apparently.

friday | saturday | sunday | monday
school | family & friends | me | world

my Heavenly Father,

Thank You for another day, I am so grateful for it.  It is so beautiful outside and I get to spend the day with my mom and see my dad, sister, T, and close friends (S, and hopefully J, L and A) all within today.  And tomorrow I work the labor & delivery rotation in the new family unit.... Oh goodness, God, what glory!  I can't wait to be a part of Your magic, and hopefully help these new families feel Your love throughout the painful process of fulfilling Your promise to Eve.  :-|  but I know You will be with me and with us in every new creation, since You're in the creating business, and I know You will help make the transition very smooth.

My God, I lift up my LSUHSC community to You again today, hoping and praying that the lives of everyone associated are blessed by You.  That You bring to us all Your glory and hope and love and grace, so that we can pass it on to everyone we care for and help care for in the New Orleans area.  There is a great power and responsibility in knowing how to take care of someone, and I pray for all of us who are being blessed with that... May we all be wise, conscientious, and never run short on grace.

I want to pray for my family and friends, too, God.  I am so grateful for them.  J did such a wonderful job at the Shift service yesterday, I just love her heart so much.  What a blessing it is to know her and to witness Your love through her.  I also want to pray for M, who is making big plans for her future.  I worry about her a lot, even though she sometimes annoys me, and just want her to be happy.  I hope she doesn't forget how much You love her.  Lastly, God, thank you for those (T especially) who love me for me and push me towards my dreams without a second glance.  This environment of love I've found myself in is unreal.  I am so blessed by it, God, and I know You orchestrated it.  Please help me make sure I give as much love back out into the world.

I also want to pray for my schedule, my commitment to my classes, and my commitment to becoming an RN.  I know this is the path You want me on, God... I know it the way you know about a good melon.  ;-)  I love being in the hospital setting, God, but I am acting too much like I am taking a class and not enough like I am a nurse.  I must be more like a nurse when I'm in clinical, God.  If I don't, I fear I will come off as lazy or lackadaisical to my clinical teachers, who may or may not see the promise of a great nurse in me.  I know it's there, and I know You know it's there... I just want to make sure it comes out so I can have a promise of a great future ahead in nursing, Ya know?  I worry a lot about the future, God, but what's most important is now.  I am trusting You with what's coming, I'm giving that up right now, even if I pick it back up in a little while I pray You remind me that You've got this and that I don't need to carry it.  Ah, what a blessing that is... I can breathe a sigh of relief at the thought.

Lastly, I'm praying for that big blue world out there, God.  It is big, blue, scary and intimidating, but most of all it is Yours.  I pray that Your will is done out here, my Lord of all.  I can't imagine my life without You and many people are out in the world doing exactly that.  They are brave, God, and I boldly pray You are able to get them back and close to Your heart.  I boldly pray for my fellow Christians who are out seeking to get those close to Your heart... may they stay near to You as they are out being Your hands & feet.  And just like J said in shift yesterday, the Christian life is the atypical.  I know so many people whose lives are typical, but the atypical always catches the attention of someone else.  It is how You love.  I pray for that in my own life, God, and I pray for my fellow Christians (especially my friends and family, with whom we walk this path) to be atypical.  Let us be daring, bold, and genuine, God.  Let us move about the earth with boldness & a genuine spirit.  Let us be Yours in this world, God.  Let us be only Yours.

What glory is this, my Lord.
love, K

[xoxo]

saturday loves & sunday selfie

hello friendship.

Today has already been an eventful day and it's only 0840. I was borderline sick for a couple of days but I think it really settled in overnight. Sore throat, stuffy nose, whole nine yards. Boo. 

Well anyway, enough about me. More about my family and friends, for whom I'll be praying today. (FYI, in prayers like today's, I'm only going to use the first initial of his or her first name.) 

My glorious Heavenly Father,

Thank you for giving me a new day to wake up to this morning. Thanks for the glory I find in everyday little things, that remind me just how perfectly you created our world. I also love that You placed the people in my life that You did. I know everyone is here for a reason, and it am very thankful. I am so humbled by Your forethought that we would need companionship and that You have fulfilled this need in my life in various ways, but consistently, from day 1. Lord, You are gracious and glorious and amazing. Thank You so much, God. 

I'm praying for the hearts of those closest to me this morning. I am so happy You decided to bring them into my life.

On Sunday...

I apologize for the delay, I was working on praying for my family and friends, and I couldn't figure out what to say.  Though I pray for them frequently, I found hesitation when I was trying to figure out what to say when they might read it.  Felt a little awkward.  I'm just going to power through it, though.  I will also add today's prayer at the bottom of the continuation of yesterday's.


Anyway...

God, I'm sorry for interrupting yesterday's prayer.  I'm going to finish it now.

Thank you for my friends and family who are closest to me, and everyone who is in my life, for that matter.  You know what is on their hearts and minds today.  You know what is worrying them, what is a celebration to them.  I pray You are with them, all of them, in those joys and concerns that are on their heart.  I am just so thankful for them, God.  I am so thankful for them.  And I hope they know this.

I'd also like to lift up the concerns that are on my heart this Sunday... I am stressing about school, about gas money for driving to and from clinical, about how and when I will get all my schoolwork done, and about making the right choices.  You know what's on my heart, my God.  You know all my stresses, and best of all, You know how they're going to turn out.  I am so grateful for that, God.  I'm so grateful that You're here with me now and with me in the future.

I would also like to say a special request: please help me to completely let go of the past and let it stay there.  God, I'm grateful for my past and for what it's meant to me in my present.  It has brought me exactly to this point of my life, but boy am I grateful it's in the past.  I pray it stays there.  I pray I leave it there.  Nothing matters more to me than my present (since that's the only time I truly have), and I want to invest in my present.  I can't invest in my past, because it's passed.  I just want to live and love in today.  Please direct my focus to that, God.  Please help me leave it where it belongs.

Lord, I love you forever, I am so thankful for You in my life.  Thank you for what prayer is and what it means to me.

love, K

[xoxo]