THE MORNING PRAYER THAT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Isn't it amazing how the start of your day seems to dictate how the rest of the day goes? You wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and sometimes it feels like it's hard to recover from that rough start.

But it goes the other way, too. The way your day starts has a lot to do with how the rest of the day will go. This is more than just having a quiet time (which of course I totally recommend); It's saying something to God in those very first moments of the day that sets us on a peaceful course for the rest of the day.

My awesome friend Jackie recommended this to me when I was in a season of stressing over how my days were unfolding. She said I should acknowledge God as Lord of that day before I even set foot out of bed, and that when she began to do that, she viewed her days differently.

And so this has become my morning prayer that I say before I even get out of bed:

LORD,
Before I set even one foot on the floor to begin this day,
I am acknowledging YOU.
I am saying that You are the Author of this day,
You order my steps in it,
and You will unfold it by Your grace.
What you have in this day for me,
I'll receive with thanks.
But I will not lament
what you do not have for me in this day.
This day is Yours and for Your glory.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

You see, this prayer made all the difference because I was going through a time where clients would have to cancel, and it would cause a lot of anxiety about the rearrangement of my schedule and the loss of income. When I started praying this prayer in the morning, things shifted in my heart to where there wasn't anxiety if things didn't go according to plan; I saw it as just the ordering of my steps for the day. And what I may have previously seen as the loss of one thing, I began to see as the gain of another: Often, the gain of time with my kids. Once I prayed for my schedule to rest in the able hands of God, there was peace--no matter what that day ended up looking like by the time my head hit the pillow at night.

Almighty God, You PRE-KNOW our days. You have written every one of them out before one of them came to be. Nothing in the unfolding of our days is a surprise to You. You're never caught off guard, never inconvenienced. So no matter what this day does or does not hold, there is tremendous peace, because You go before us in it. We love You.