Day 1 Self-Portrait

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7

The story of a Mom, Her Husband, Their three Boys and The Dog


There is a time and a place for silent prayer ___ in a library, on a bus, in school, and in many other settings where talking out loud to God might not be appropriate. But praying aloud should be part of your daily routine if at all possible. Speech helps to clarify and solidify your thoughts. A great time and place to pray aloud is when you’re home, in your own room alone. But, since cell phones with Bluetooth devices have become popular, it’s common to see people walking down the sidewalk in an animated conversation with someone that isn’t physically present with them. You can pray aloud in public, and most people will assume you’re on the phone.
Praying aloud is a great way to experience God more completely. Vocalizing your prayers also gives you practice for those situations where you might be called upon to pray for someone else. If you’ve never prayed with your voice before, the hardest part is getting started. Go ahead, give it a try! You’ll do just fine.
Heavenly Father, when I pray aloud I pray aloud to You, I feel…
I feel like I can be heard I feel like our relationship is real.


Blind faith has never been a requirement for following God. The so-called  leap of faith is really only a small hop, like stepping across a little mud puddle, not a suicide jump across a canyon of impossibility. God allows us to verify his existence by looking into the heavens and seeing their scope and wonder, by exploring the intricate design of life and marveling at the Creator. The Bible invites us to taste and see that God is good. God wants to be experienced by you.
In a way, this journey is like courtship. As you place into God’s hands more and more of the pieces of your life, you discover who God really is and how He really feels about you. You learn what He means when He says, ” I love you.” In you prayers, share your doubts and fears with God. Ask Him how you can discover who He really is in those areas. Let Him reveal Himself to you in a way that you can experience.
Lord God, my idea of experiencing You is…
My idea of experiencing you is by sharing with you what I can’t share with anyone else, or nowhere else.
Good and GreatÂ
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.Â
Psalm 111:2 NRSV
Little children sometimes learn the dinner prayer, ” God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food.” This simple prayer contains profound truth. God is good. He brings only good into our lives. He is never the author of any evil thing that happens to you or anyone else. But God is also great. His redemptive fingerprints are all over everything that happens to His children, so that we may emerge from tragedy and loss as victors instead of victims.
All of this becomes very personal when it comes time to trust God with the people and things you value most. As you place in God’s hands what is most precious to you, you demonstrate your belief that God is good and He is great. He is good enough to want the best for you and yours, and great enough to turn every difficulty into triumph. By transferring ownership to God, you give Him an opportunity to demonstrate His faithfulness to you. You become free to be His child, resting under His care.
Heavenly Father, I have seen Your goodness when…
I have seen your goodness in so many ways, in so  many different occasions. The times when I couldn’t fight for myself and you fought for me. I put all my trust in you then, and those times when I had given up on myself you still held on to me, and the times I thought my life was over because I had no more hope to keep going, nothing else had no meaning. You still saw your goodness in me and held me up. Thank you for all you have done.
Suppose you had the opportunity to sit down with Jesus Christ in the flesh and talk with Him about anything you wanted to talk about. You could ask Him any questions, discuss any topic, share any stories, consider any plans, laugh at any jokes for as long as you wanted. What kind of time limit would you want to have imposed on that meeting?
Being free to take time to celebrate God’s presence is a wonderful privilege. Some people can afford to spend an hour or longer in prayer each day. Some cannot. But praying a longer rather than short time doesn’t make God love you anymore. God is more interested in you than He is in the clock.
He likes being with you, going to work or school with you, and joining you as you carry out your daily activities__ whether that is mopping floors, planning budgets, or reading stories to children. In the sense that God is always present, we can always be praying, whether our lips are moving or not.
Lord God, this is how I feel about spending time with you…
For the past 8 days, I’ve been doing this challenge ” Come away with me.” I’ve been feeling like I’m so close to God. When I wake up in the morning I wake with the urge to start my devoting, and I can hardly wait for night time to come so I can get started, because that’s the time when I set aside for my daily devotion. So How do I feel? Exited, great. Although physically I feel like crap emotionally and spiritually I feel great.

Calories: 490 per serving
Category: Chicken
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 6
Preparation time: Quick (30 minutes)
Type: Main course
ingredients
· 6 chicken breast fillets
· Salt and pepper to taste
Filling
· 6 slices bacon
· 6 green beans
· 1 carrot cut into sticks
· 2 tablespoons olive oil
· 1 tablespoon of corn starch
· 1/2 liter of vegetable broth
· 6 potatoes cut in four
· Chopped parsley to taste
Method of preparation
Season the fillets with salt and pepper. On each fillet, distribute a slice of bacon, the beans and carrots. Roll as Swiss roll and secure with toothpicks. In a saucepan, heat the oil and brown the steaks. Add the cornstarch dissolved in the vegetable broth and cook potatoes until tender. Place the steaks on a platter, drizzle with the sauce and serve with the potatoes sprinkled with parsley.
A Time for Prayer
Prayer is a wonderful way to start your day. For a morning person what could be better? Making prayer part of your morning routine sets the tone for your entire day. But morning isn’t the only opportunity available to you. God is always available, and you can pray anytime you want.
For example, you can pray several times a day at important transitions in your schedule, divisions punctuate your day. You may wish to conclude your day in prayer__sharing the experiences of the last twenty-four hours with Him.

Any of these options and more are available, you can decide which best fits your personality, your lifestyle, and your season in life. By setting a time and making a plan, you move from a great idea__prayer__to a great reality__a life of prayer. Your time alone with God becomes something that you look forward to and protect. By consistently connecting with God, you soul finds the nourishment it needs and the results is a richer, fuller life.
God, for me, the best time to pray is…
The best time for me to pray is usually at night when I’m alone and everyone is already sleeping. I sit on my bed start journaling, thoughts and words just start to flow out. This is my best moment when I lay it all out onto his hands.

Dear Lord,Â
It’s not always easy for me to know what to pray for, especially when I pray for a person or cause or situation that I do not know a lot about. Though answers may not seem apparent or issues resolved, please help me to keep my heart and mind connected to You. Guide me with Your counsel and open new doors of possibility. When life does not present easy answers or options, You always work on the situation brought before Your throne. I believe You know what is needed and I ask that You stay close and keep me strongÂ
Amen.
” Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
A Place for Prayer
The great thing about meeting with God is that you can meet Him anywhere. He can be found on the factory floor just as readily as He can be experienced in a cathedral. If you could find a way to travel to the most distant galaxy, you would find that God is already there.
But just as a couple much in love will seek out a quiet place to be alone together, so you may also wish to find a place all your own to meet with God. You might find a place in your home where you can be free to focus on God. Or you might enjoy connecting with God outdoors along a nature trail or in a park.
Maybe you would prefer to meet privately with God in a church building or mix it up so you don’t get bogged down by too much routine.
As you move forward in your journey, you’ll identify the atmosphere that works best for you. A place for prayer helps you grow in your friendship with God.
God, the place that works best for me to communicate with You is…
The Best place for me to communicate with God is where ever I communicate period. I think the important thing is to separate the time and communicate, and by doing it is what really matters. Of course we all have our little secret special place like our closet, for me, it’s the laundry room or the shower hahaha.
I always have long dialogs at those special times. 🙂
He said, ” My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 NASB
Dear Lord,Â
You have the power to do more than I ask, more than I can imagine!
When I come to you in prayer then, let me do so knowing what great power You hold over any situation in my life.
I cannot measure Your power or truly even conceive of it in its fullness, but I know that the One who designed the universe by simply speaking it into being has the power to design my life.
I believe You can remold and reshape me and any circumstance in which I may find myself.Â
God, I praise and thank You for my life and all that You are doing even now to help me.
Lord, I thank You for Your powerful and loving Spirit and for shaping me in ways that only serve to make me stronger.Â
Amen.Â
