My constant companions were fears, not God. I convinced myself he was simply on vacation, out carrying someone else on that beach with all the footprints. My heart had shriveled, and my soul was as wrinkled

Please, God, she prayed. Help me to hear him and let him just say what he needs to say. Help me not be afraid.

You struggle. You fight and you claw inside that head of yours. You wrestle with God, with the idea that he actually cares for you, with the place your children have brought you, and a thousand other things. There's something about your struggle others need to know. That they'll benefit from." "I don't understand.

God offers us hope when we surrender. When we give it over to him. He can take the sin, the struggles, all the pain we have and bring healing to our hearts. To your heart.

God, I wrote, I don't know if you care about my heart or my life, but if you do, I desperately need you. Or maybe you're already doing something and I'm oblivious. I don't know how this works. I'm at the end. Break through. I don't want to hurt my kids. I don't want to hurt my husband. I don't want to hurt the church. And I don't want to hurt you. Please help me.

You would enable him to make good choices. Help him turn to You. Don't let the enemy win a victory in his heart. Lord, do whatever You need to do in order to bring him to his senses." There were no guarantees in prayer.

She was putting it in God's hands. If Tony came to mind, she'd pray. Otherwise, she needed to keep moving forward. Do the things she was assigned to do.

Sleep is a luxury to anxious minds.

I don't want to monitor my audience too closely, as that can really drive you crazy.

Gimme hate, Lord," he whimpered. "I'll take hate any day. But don't give me love. I can't take no more love, Lord. I can't carry it...It's too heavy. Jesus, you know, you know all about it. Ain't it heavy? Jesus? Ain't love heavy?

Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes. Fervently, for a year she had prayed. Although somewhat discouraged, she was not without hope. To have something as wonderful as that would take a long, long time.

Much handled things are always soft(27).