Dear God,

I need to pray to you right now. I feel a whole lot of anxiety welling up inside me. My wife and I are not communicating about important stuff like finances. I am scheduled to work this Sunday, and so is Jennie. No one will be around to watch Keisha. Also, it's the only day I'm scheduled to work this week. I don't like that I was scheduled to work on the same day as church; I really enjoy the fellowship.

I feel like I've blown it again in my relationship with you. Last week I had a birthday moment, and I was feeling that things were going great. Yet I can tell that Satan is right in front of me, accusing me before you, showing you all of my wrongs. I am so tempted to be discouraged and overwhelmed as I see them, and to believe that there's no hope.

I don't like the lack of fruit in my life; other people becoming Christians. I hurt that my wife is not close to you like she once was. I hurt that my daughter is seeing this. I sometimes feel like it's so hard to be spiritual around the rest of my family. I honestly feel fearful and not confident.

I hurt in my heart because the weather's changing. The shorter days... I'm feeling depressed because of them. I feel sad because I feel like my life has no direction. I'm having a hard time seeing anything positive about the near future.

God, tears are welling up in my eyes as I consider how much we've lost these past couple years: job, car, house. My mom... I miss her so much.

I pray to you right now to rid my heart of the anxiety and pain, and so that I won't give in to the self-destructive tendencies I have been prone to. Lord, I want to be free from the need to cut myself.

Please refresh me through your word. Help me to see your wonderful promises; yes, let them lighten my heart and renew my spirit.

God, I miss not talking with and being around brothers and sisters. I hunger for deeper relationships, and I pray that others would reach out to me even as I reach out to them.

I know that my wife and I, that our marriage... I was just thinking that it's been so long since we've been on a date together. I feel that there is a bunch of stuff that Jennie has on her chest that's just going to come out sometime soon. Lord, please free me from the anxiety. Make me into a man that is wild at heart, passionate for you once more.

Thank you, Jesus, as we are approaching the time that the world celebrates your birth. I am so grateful for that time, and I pray to have joy, not cynicism, in my heart. I pray not to get caught up in the materialism of the season, but to really consider how I can give and love others. Help me to see the abundance in my life instead of all that I don't have.

Lord, I am glad that I can even pray to you right now. I'm feeling better already.

Love, you son,
Danny