Thankfulness {Day 5} Other Writers

I love to read.

I love my beloved Bible.

I love other books.

I love magazines.

I love blogs.

I am so very thankful for other men and women who take time out of their days to contemplate and do the research to write wonderful, heart-touching blogs. I can easily lose many hours just reading everything out there about Christian living, crafting, sewing, loving your husband, loving your children, and healthy lifestyles. I love the bond that seems to form between other bloggers. Soul Sisters (and brothers, although I don't seem to read many written by men).

So a big thank you to all the people who are writing diligently each day.

I am so thankful to have such great wisdom on my little black laptop in my own warm comfy living room (that's another thing - just think about how readily available "information" is these days. I'm so spoiled!).

A few of my favorites are:

A Holy Experience
Raising4Princesses
A Martha Heart
Three Thinking  Mothers
Unplug Your Family
Women Living Well
Time Warp Wife
Clarke Family Fun

I love it when someone takes time to comment on my blog so that I can visit theirs (if they have one). It is such a special treat for me to "meet" someone new. I get to read about their walk with the Lord and see how He has gifted them an a wonderfully, unique way to bless the (global) church.

This morning (as I visited a new friend from a comment) I was touched by a poem on Catherine's blog, Simplicity of the Soul. She posted this prayer from the Valley of the Vision, a Collection of Puritan Prayers (which has been on my wishlist on Amazon for about forever).

The fifth line of this prayer was like a kick in the gut. So powerful! I pray that you are touched as well (it is listed below).

Penitence

"O LORD of Grace,

I have been hasty and short in private prayer,

O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,

to bewail this ingratitude;

My first sin of the day leads into others,

and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw thy presence

from one who waited carelessly on thee.

Keep me at all times from robbing thee,

and from depriving my soul of thy due worship;

Let me never forget

that I have an eternal duty to love,
honour and obey thee,

that thou art infinitely worthy of such;

that if I fail to glorify thee

I am guilty of infinite evil that merits infinite punishment,

for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.

O forgive me if I have dishonoured thee,

melt my heart,

heal my backslidings, and

open an intercourse of love.

When the fire of thy compassion warms my inward man,

and the outpourings of thy Spirit fill my soul,

then I feelingly wonder at my own depravity,

and deeply abhor myself;

then thy grace is a powerful incentive to repentance,

and an irresistible motive to inward holiness.

May I never forget that thou hast my heart in thy hands.

Apply to it the merits of Christ's atoning blood whenever I sin.

Let thy mercies draw me to thyself.

Wean me from all evil, mortify me to the world,

and make me ready for my departure hence,

animated by the humiliations of penitential love.

My soul is often a chariot without wheels,

clogged and hindered in sin's miry clay;

Mount it on eagle's wings and cause it to soar upward to thyself."