For my favorite soldier...

Dear God:

You are all. Big and small. Beautiful. And wonderful to trust in grace through faith. But I am asking to taste—Lord I need to hear from you. Be near, oh God, for your nearness is to me my good. Your fullness is mine. Let me be full with your embrace. Whom have I but you?

God I pray in the power of the blood of your holy Son, Jesus Christ, the perfect servant to all. God give me a garment of praise for my heaviness. You are worthy of all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. You saved me, raised me, filled me with the Holy Ghost, and healed me. Father your blood will always be enough: make me evermore satisfied in your love. Let me glory in the presence of you, my King. Take this heart of stone and make it yours. God I trade all that I have for all that is better. You are the great taste, The Richest of Fare.

God it’s hard to think of what might be better than what you have already blessed me with: my precious family and most especially my brother, Daniel. God, by the matchless blood of the Lamb that covers me, I present Daniel before you now, blameless, without blemish. God, you call him your own—your child, your servant. Through Daniel I have seen a picture of your face, a measure of your grace, love of you relived. God release me of all selfishness.

Give us the hearts of servants. By your hand we move. You are God: our only source of true hope. God I’ve tried to use more of me and always come up dry. I’ve traded you for things that go away. God my happiness is found in less of me and more of you. The answer to all things is to love you and be loved by you. Let us not be satisfied with knowing you in part, and not to be with you where you are. You give me mercy, You give me grace. You beckon me to be holy as you are.

Glorious and mighty are your ways in all the earth. And may your worth arrayed in glory render hearts that only worship you. My thoughts of Daniel fill me with joy, oh the love of a sister. Never would I conceive that my love would result in such ache or such gladness. God, you ache for me in my sin—when I am far from you. I cannot compare my feelings of love for my brother to Your love for me, but Lord that leads you to understand my situation.

Smile on us, Dear God. Made in your perfect image. Made to intimately commune with you alone. Draw us to that place of pure fellowship. Revel your beauty in every creation.