Thank you for another day!  I ask that you please bless it and give me the direction and motivation I need to stay positive.  I also ask that you please heal my jaw so it is no longer so sore.  I don’t know what the deal with that is, but it certainly doesn’t feel too good.  And thank you for slowly healing me from this bronchitis and congestion.  I know it’s still there, but it is definitely on its way out.

Please be with Crystal and the boys today.  I know Crystal hasn’t been 100% over the last week or so, so keep her strong.  I especially ask for healing on her tailbone – I know she’s really struggling with that pain and inconvenience so I ask that you take some of that pain from her.  Please give both Crystal and myself some encouragement as it relates to Dominic’s lack of interest in being potty trained.  I know each child is different, but it sure is frustrating when one day he is totally good to go and then the next he is ready for diapers again!  Just be with us and keep us from being too frustrated with his lack of motivation.  And thank you for Ezra.  He is such a little joy.  I am thankful that you have given him to us and ask that you continue to bless him as he grows and now begins walking!  That’s pretty exciting – now if he’d only sleep through the night!  You know we need that (well, moreso Crystal than myself) but we’ll get there!

I ask that you please let me keep my cool and stay calm as I drive to work and to the store.  I just realized yesterday that I have been letting my anger take control of things – I ask that you forgive me for that attitude and give me the understanding to grow beyond it.

Actually, I need to simply repent of all my terrible sins!  There are so many that I don’t even want to think about them.  First off, my terribly selfish attitude and negativity with Crystal.  I need to honor her, not degrade and disrespect her!  I guess I really just need to ask for forgiveness for my overall attitude issues.  Please give me the opportunity to change and make it a permanent thing.  For some reason I feel like I am struggling with anger too – not just in the car either.  I just need peace and I know that it can only come from you.  So give me the ability and understanding to get closer to you so I might be able to be peaceful in life.  I just need some calmness!

Again, thank you for this day and please be with my family in whatever they do.

What is wrong with me lately?  I certainly feel way out of place.  Crystal says I shouldn’t be so down on life since I have a game plan and everything, but I still do.  I can’t seem to shake it – perhaps it’s the lousy weather we’ve had the last few days or maybe it’s something more.  Maybe it’s the feeling the overwhelming feeling that I have something to do, only to realize that my job will take precident.  It might also be that Crystal continues to remind me that all the work I do for Joe is in reality, simply for his success.  But what do I do about that?  Isn’t that what I am getting paid for?  I am just a glorified go-fer these days, so if Joe needs me to ghost write his next book, so be it, right?  I just don’t know.  I guess I just need to ask that you are with me and can give me peace and comfort during this frustrating time.

I also ask that you please be with Crystal and the boys each day that I am not home.  Just protect them in all they do.  I also ask that you please give Crystal more desire to be home with the family than out with horses.  I know that may be selfish, but I think it is necessary.

I am sorry for the amazing lack of correspondence as of late.  Since the beginning of the year I have felt the need to read through the bible.  This morning (although part of this reasoning was because I was up late) I wondered to myself what I was getting out of this daily reading.  Honestly, I couldn’t find many redeeming qualities.  So I think for the time being I am going to stop the daily readings and focus more on just talking with you – I think you’d prefer it that way anyway, right?  Of course I’ll still do some readings and work on various studies as applicable, but day to day forceful reading of stuff is out.

With that, I ask that you please be with me and encourage me as I walk with you.  Give me opportunities to be closer to you and to not be discouraged by the day to day life.  Thank you so much for the blessings you have given me!

Thank you for blessing me with another day here.  I ask that you would give me the opportunity to know your will for my life this day and that I am able to seek your heart in all that I do today.  Please also be with Crystal and the boys this morning, and expecially give Dominic a better attitude when it comes to being obedient.

I also would like to have your hand on my mind and heart as I continue to plan and prepare for the future.  I most certainly need your guidance as I prepare myself for this big move.  I ask for your knowledge and understanding to help it all come together and to make sense for me.

Thank you so much for Dominic’s heart.  I pray that it never will change.  When he is sweet, he is so very very sweet.  I am constantly thankful for the blessings you have provided me by giving me Dominic and Ezra.  They are BOTH amazing little boys and I am excited and encouraged by the opportunity to be their father.

I also ask that you please help me get past my dependency on ritalin.  I am simply not going to use it any more and I know that through you I can survive without it.  I am perfectly capable of staying focused on things without the help of drugs – especially since ritalin wasn’t really doing much for me.

I guess I just need to thank you for blessing me with all that I have and I ask that you continue to provide direction and guidance from day to day.

I am sorry for not corresponding with you lately.  I really have no excuse.  What makes matters worse is that I am kind of feeling like I am treating you like the big santa claus in the sky right now, because I really need you to help me out.  I am feeling depressed and down about something although I don’t know what.  It might just be an assortment of all the odds and ends bearing down on me right now.  Actually, it probably is.  I am feeling overwhelmed with just about everything and it is making me absolutely miserable.  I just need you to give me some insight about things.  I do appreciate the time I spent with Bill yesterday morning and I think I could get the hint there, but I still feel lost.  How do I get past that?

Just please give me the strength I need to get over these challenging times.  I want to maintain my status as a good father and husband too.  But I surely can’t do it without your help and involvement.  Thank you so much for dealing with me and over and over again coming back to me.

Good morning!  Thank you for giving me such energy this morning.  I feel like my mind is going 100 miles per hour.  Too bad when my brain is cranking like this I have a really tough time staying focused on any one thing.  However, I am thankful that you have kept me focused on my daily reading plan.  I am not officially fifteen days into the year and have read the bible each and every day!  Thank you for that.  Although I do have to say it is kind of annoying/frustrating that I am starting with the OT.  It seems that each time I attempt to get through the bible I begin there and often times I don’t make it through, therefore I never get to the majority of the NT.  I certainly hope that I am capable of getting through the entire thing this year, NT included!

Next, I need to ask you to please help me stay encouraged with the web development lessons I am watching.  Yesterday was not a good day for me and I was feeling pretty discouraged with it by the time I stopped.  I ask that you please give me the patience to wait it out all the way through before I start making judgment calls on whether I will ever be able to do anything with it or not.  I think my desire to have instant and immediate success is getting the best of me, especially since I really don’t have much else to do with myself these days.  So please just give me the patience to make it through the matieral before I make any hasty calls.

I also come to you with sincere praise for the things you are blessing Joe K. with.  From getting him caught up with his bills, to the potential job opportunity, I thank you for the things you are doing in his life.  I ask that you please give him the wisdom and strength to make the appropriate decisions he will need to be making.  I also ask that you give him peace so he can truly stay focused on how you are using his life for your glory.  I am thankful for the encouragement and example he is in my life as well.

Please bless my parents as well.  Continue to take care of my mom as she eats better and exercises more.  I thank you for her heart and her desire to serve you by taking better care of herself.  I ask that you continue to give her opportunities to grow closer to you and I thank you for the example she is to me.  Also be with my dad.  I know he needs to have a closer, more personal relationship with you but I also know how much he struggles with having any kind of intimate relationship with anyone.  So I ask that you just be there with him in whatever manner you see fit.  I know that YOU know far better than I what is best for him!

Please look after me today while at work and also this afternoon while I play.  Thank you for my wonderful wife and children.  I am blessed beyond what I deserve.

Thank you for the pleasant weekend, despite my lack of interest in the stock show stuff.  I am doing my best to remain patient with Crystal with things like that, but it is definitely tough when I feel like I am sacrificing my own interests for her and she makes absolutely no effort to return the favor.  I know I need to simply humble myself and love her for who she is and the things she does, but man, oh, man…  I surely do wish that sometimes she would be a little more accommodating to my needs.  So I ask that you please show me a way that I can continue to meet her needs and support her desires without feeling so burned out and taken advantage of?  I am not sure there is any way I can do that without making her feel bad that she isn’t meeting my needs, so please help me find a way to do something.

Next, I ask that you please heal Dominic.  There is obviously something making him feel sick, so I ask that you would please have your hand on him and heal his illness as soon as possible.  It is quite tough to see your little boy getting so very sick.  I do thank you for his happy spirit, which has made it a whole lot easier to help him.  He is such a good boy and I just need to thank you so much for him.  The same goes for Ezra.  He is an amazing little boy and I am so very excited to see how he grows up and what he becomes.  All I ask is that both of my boys (and any other children I am blessed with) grow to know you, love you, and serve you in whatever it is that they choose to do with their lives.  I want my life to be a blessing to them by showing them who you are!

Bless this day and please give me an inkling of my purpose for it!

Thank you for giving me another day here to seek you and to try and do your will for my life.  I am feeling quite fidgety this morning, so I don’t know if my thoughts will be discombobulated or not.  If they are, I apologize.

Thanks for giving me a few hours to try something new yesterday.  I am a little annoyed that it ended up costing me as much as it did, but it was nice to try something new.  Perhaps I will try to do some more of it.  It was certainly a little bit out of my range of style, being that I am so picky about the way things are laid out on paper.  But perhaps it’s something that I need to do in order to get more relaxed with things.

I continue to ask you to please show me your will for my life, and continue to help me grow and develop as a man of God and follower of Christ.  As much as I feel like I am not going anywhere or doing anything with life, now is a great time for me to draw closer to you.  Not that I should stop if I were to suddenly have something to do, but you know what I was saying.

I also ask you to please take care of my family, both immediate and extended.  For some reason I feel especially led to ask for prayers for my in-laws.  They certainly could use you in their lives, so I ask that you please do something to give them an opportunity to hear your voice.  Also be with Vance and whatever it is he is doing and thinking.  Please show him the error of his past decisions and allow him to see things in a different light.

Also, I am so thankful for the Leonards coming back to Colorado Springs.  I ask that you please make it that Brad and I can start getting together once again and that perhaps I could have the opportunity to finally have a close friend.  Regardless, I ask that you please provide me with someone who I can have a close friendship with – I still desperately need it!

Please watch over me throughout the day and show me your will.  Thank you for sending your son to die for my sins.  Please help me watch my tongue!

Thank you for another day!  I ask you today to please have your hand on me in all that I do.  I ask you to guide me and direct me in the things I should be doing and to give me the desire to fill my head and heart with your word.  I was definitely nudged yesterday in several ways, although the lesson last night was particularly good.  I thank you for that!

I hope that with your hand on me as I go through these particularly interesting times in my life that I would be led in a direction pleasing to you.  I want to serve you in whatever I do.  With that, please give Crystal peace of mind as we take steps to do whatever it is we do!

I also specifically pray for Joe K. in the recent development with a new job opportunity.  I ask that you bless the negotiations between him and the other guy and that the end result is not only beneficial to Joe, but a blessing to him and his family.  I know how much he would like to alleviate the stresses involved with his business and this would be an excellent opportunity.  So please be with him and the other individual as they get together to discuss options.

Please bless Crystal and the boys today while I am at work as well as taking some down time to learn a little watercoloring basics.  I ask that you keep Crystal safe if she goes out to ride horses and that you take good care of her and the boys throughout the day.

Thank you for giving me a solid night of sleep and even more so thank you for giving Crystal such a good night of sleep (so far!).  I ask that you continue to bless us with progress as it pertains to Ezra sleeping through the night.  I am very thankful that he went right back to sleep after nursing without any fight.

Because I am short on time this morning, I simply want to ask you to please be with me today and to guide me in all that I do.  I want to know you more today and I would love any opportunity to do that.  I thank you for what you have given me and I am thankful for each day you have provided me with.  I want to just be able to draw closer to you however that may be.  I also ask that you please guide me in what I should do about getting some additional education for work – should I teach myself or should I go to school?

Thank you so much for forgiving me, and I repent now of all the sins I have had.  I am so glad you wipe away these things!  I will continue to strive to be more like Jesus in what I do.