be kind

While my prayers for my good friend are private, the beginning of each prayer can be shared because it speaks to the things that I am thankful for! Actually it was at her request that I compiled this list because she wanted to see all the things I am thankful for. And as I told her:

 “Thank you for the challenge to put together a full list of all the thankfulness that I begin my prayers with. I have never done this before (since it is not simple). But you asked (and maybe it was God prompting you to ask)… and then God asked ME to accept your challenge.”

It is really something to see these, one after another after another after another. I think that as you read them you will realize how much God loves you (whoever is reading this with me now). I made it to #31 before tears were in my eyes (yeah, they are happy tears). So, get ready, then start reading:

1. Thank you for the many godly people you have placed in my path over the past few decades. Thank you for allowing me to know this friend who once told me that she got baptized three times JUST TO BE SURE! As for me, I am sure that I couldn’t ask for a better friend than her. 
2. Thank you for this wonderful, this beautiful, this magnificent world that you created just for us. And each morning you pull us up next to you so that we can begin the day ANEW. Anew with You.
3. Thank you for all your provisions and all your protection. You know my needs and are so faithful. You watch over me day and night. And I come now and say “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
4. Thank you for the small things like the small birds at our bird feeder. Thank you for the large things, like the majestic sunrise and sunset. Thank you for the beauty you have placed around us if we take time to look for it.
5. Thank you for flowers. Thank you for plants. Thank you for bushes. Thank you for trees. Thank you that all of these are right here in my yard… a beautiful piece of your creation right here in my yard!
6. Thank you for coffee. Thank you for hot coffee. Thank you for the many varieties of coffee. Thank you for how a cup of coffee can wake up a sleepy soul and warm a chilled body. Thank you Lord. And thank you for letting this friend’s journey in life intersect with mine so many years ago. Thank you for rekindling that friendship again now

7. Thank You Lord for being so faithful. Yes, thank You Lord!
8. We are exhausted and stressed. But we still look around and see Your glory, Your wonders, Your beauty that You designed into this world. These are Your gifts to us … all around us every day! And You have even more gifts for Your daughter, because You enjoy and delight in her so much.
9. Thank you for music. Thank you for the many kinds of music. Thank you that I can hear all the instruments and singing at the same time, yet I am able to differentiate between the instruments and the voices. Thank you that music so often can bring us joy. Sometimes it is even called a “joyous noise” :)
10. Thank you for our homes, our families, the food we need and even the clothes for each day. God of Heaven come down! Lord let us feel Your presence all around us this day! This new day! As we begin anew with You!
11. Thank you for color. Thank you for the many colors. Thank you for the many shades of those many colors. Thank you for my eyes that tell the difference between all those shades of colors.
12. Thank you for another day. Another glorious day. Another day looking at the splendor you placed all around us. Thank you for the beauty that you arranged in the world, from the small to the huge. Thank you for letting me begin this day anew with you each morning as you meet with me from the very start of the day, aiming me toward the scripture for my background prayer for your beloved daughter. He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30) Thank you Lord, for everything you have done for Your Daughter.
13. What a wonderful world you created for us. What intricate detail in your design. What marvelous design! And how wonderful that you meet with us … and that you arrange for the right people to be in our paths at the right time. And so, here I am Lord … I am once again praying for the friend you placed in my path… TWICE … because I so enjoy these prayers!
14. Thank you for restoring me! I feel like myself again! Please find a way to let those who are praying for me know that prayer works! And now I am ready for today’s prayer for my skillful friend. Yes! For we know where her skill comes from!
15. I am so astonished, amazed and in awe of Your wonders that you scatter all around us. Yes, thinking about them is so wonderful. Your glory is there for me to see. Help me to see it more fully!
16. Wow … thank You for often bringing to mind instantly as I awake in the morning that Your glory fills the earth!  Today I sing Your praise … Let Your glory fill the earth!  Let us SEE that glory on this day!  Pop it before our eyes! 
17. Thank you for the day. Thank you for our lives. Thank you for watching over us day and night. Thank you for being faithful in your love for us.
18. Thank You for this wonderful world that you created just for us. What wonder … what beauty … What an intricate design! Yes.
19. Thank you for the people you place in our paths. Thank you for the friends that you provide to us. Help us to recognize those friends. Help us to BE those friends, Lord. We can with your help.
20. How I love You! How I am in awe of this wonderful world you created for us. Such intricate detail in design. You went way overboard for us. It just takes my breath away.
21. Thank you for the good friends you have provided me. Thank you for friendship that can also bring along a renewed hope. Thank you for reminding me that hope is looking forward to something not yet achieved (we don’t hope for something we already have). And thank you for letting my journey cross with my good friend again.
22. WOW. Time after time I see new evidence of Your Glory around me. And so often it is in Your wonderful design. Help me to get lost in the Wonder of You Lord! Help me to rest (I’m still getting that exhausted feeling).
23. What a joy it is knowing You. What a joy. And today I ask that You hear my prayers for Your Daughter, Your daughter who You love so much.
24. Once again I pause to consider the extreme wonder of this world, of this universe. Each year more and more is discovered about this universe, about its ingenious design! What glory! And now You are connecting this with the verse You provided for my prayer for Your Daughter this day. It is about words! Not many many words. Just a few. A few is all that was needed as You created the universe for us! Just a very few
25. Thank you for our eyes. Thank you for eyes that see. Thank you for all the colors that our eyes can see (see => an interesting article about all the colors). Thank you for what we call “depth perception” that lets us determine what is nearby or far away. Thank you for what we call “peripheral vision” that lets us see off to the side while looking straight ahead. Thank you, thank you! And thank you for the people you have placed in my path, especially for Your Daughter, who is such a special person that it’s hard to put into words.
26. Thank you for being our always God. Always there. Always faithful. Always loving. Always good. And thank you for all the Scriptures that you gave me for my prayer for my friend who just happens to be the daughter of the King of the Universe… Your Daughter … beginning with a Scripture that ties in with yesterday’s prayer. Yes … even when bad things happen (as Jesus said they do), we know that God can and will work them towards the GOOD
27. Thank you for letting me know what it means for me to be “normal”. Thank you for providing me many opportunities to return to “normal” whenever I get distracted or otherwise lose sight of what’s really important. Thank you for being my joy and strength as well as my protector and defender.  And thank you for your Scripture that reminds us that for You Lord, all things are possible, and that we can put our trust in you.
28. I need You this day. I thank You for Your provisions, for Your grace, for Your mercy, for Your love, for Your faithfulness! You even gave me a gift of seeing huge snowflakes falling one winter day (not just tiny ones like those so far this year) – millions of them everywhere falling slowly to the ground. What glory before my eyes!
29. Thank You for clearing my mind. Thank You for rescuing me from the depths! What an awesome God we have. An awesome God. A God who can pull off a rescue like this!
30. Yes, what a GOOD morning this is. Bright and shining or hid behind the clouds, we know the sun is there, shining whether we see it or not! Your Son is shining too! And we know he is there even though we can’t “see” Him! Yes, Jesus is in us, in me and in Your Daughter, and is shining through us this day. Yes, Jesus is shining through us this day. What glory! All praise goes to You this day Lord.
31. When I wake up in the morning, will it be another sunny day as I look out my window? (see what popped into my head posted at the end of this prayer) Regardless … it WILL be a glorious day!
32. What a wonderful world this is. And to think that You created it just for us. And not just a world that would be good enough. No. Not just enough for Your children to live. Not all. Good enough was not good enough. You went way over the top, beyond excellent in creating a world for us. Not just a couple types of plants, but many. Not just a couple kinds of animals, but many. And even further, not just one dog, but hundreds. And further yet, not just one Golden Retriever, but a variety of colors, heights, weights, and eyes. I praise You this day for all the glory that You placed around me. What glory!
33.  Thank you for how our country has declared this day as a day of thanksgiving! I join in with MANY others in celebrating all the things I am thankful for. And what comes to mind now, is that I am thankful for our home (a place to live), our food (something to eat) and family and friends.
34. What a wonder creation is. Nature sings praise to you! Yes. Your daughter heard your creation singing! Your glory was everywhere she looked!
35. Come quickly! The daughter You love so dearly is needing Your touch right now. Your loving daughter is hurting and needs You next to her. So, I praise You for this wonderful world … I praise You for the beauty all around me. But I call to You to come quickly. Lord, come quickly!
36. Thank you for helping me to maintain a thankful heart! Thank you for healing my knees twenty years ago and how I have been able to remember that one miracle every day since! [yes, this is true. And I use stairs to help me remember this! Each time I go up some stairs or down some stairs I try to remember to repeat to myself, “Thank you for healing my knees” over and over as I go up or down the stairs. You can read my story on my personal website]. Thank you Lord for this simple way of maintaining a thankful heart.
37. What a glorious world I see before me. Thank you for caring so much for us to put Your glory everywhere I look.
38. Thank you for music. Thank you for the joy that can be part of music even without words! Thank you for finding ways to incorporate music into prayers! Thank you for connecting this song with Your daughter’s prayer request to clear the fogginess in her head.
39. What a wonderful world You have created for us. What a glorious world You created just for us. I recall listening to a choir singing of your glories in beautiful harmony. You inspire such wonderful music Lord!
40. Thank you for the bare trees that I see outside. They remind me that though they look bare now, in just a few months they will spring back to life and be back to their best again. Thank you for this excellent example that we have right before our eyes to remind us that even when we are injured or not well, that we can spring back to life at our best again. Thank you for this reminder.
41. Thank you for the beauty that is all around us if we take time to look. Thank you for revealing your glory in all of creation if we take time to see. And thank you for the joy that comes with being with friends who want to be with us. Thank you for my good friend, who remembered to send me a message when she got out of the Trauma Center. And thank you my friend, for remembering me!
42. Thank you for the varying temperatures. Thank you for hot and for cold, for cool and for warm. Thank you for the feel of warmth from the sun on a bright sunny day. Thank you for the cold of ice cream melting in our mouths. Thank you for the cool breeze on a summer day that can be so relaxing. And thank you for hot coffee (but not too hot that it burns my mouth). Thank you for how these temperatures are constantly there for us each day. And thank you for placing Your Daughter in my path yet again!
43. Thank you for healing my knees twenty years ago. Thank you that they have remained healed during each and every one of those past 20 years. Thank you for that miracle healing twenty years ago. And now, thank you that I may pray for the same kind of miracle for my friend, that you would clear her head of the fog!
44. Thank you for taste. The taste of chocolate. The taste of pecan pie. The taste of a nice orange. I wonder how many different tastes there are!? I think we often overlook this wonderful part of how you designed our exquisite bodies! So … Thank You! And thank you for giving us your word.
45. Thank you for the friends you have surrounded me with over the past few decades. Thank you for the friends who have stuck with me for many years, putting up with my sometimes annoying idiosyncrasies and extreme focus. Thank you for finding just the right people to place in my path. Thank you for my good friend.
46. Thank you for reminding me that the Scripture for your daughter’s prayer today was the focal point of an article that I wrote over a year ago. Thank you for repeating that same request in more than one place in Scriptures. You repeated it because it is important. Thank you for this repetition and reminder.
47. Thank you for sending your Spirit to guide us, to excite us, to fill us with zeal and enthusiasm. Thank you for helping us walk with you Lord. Thank you for the good role models you have placed around both of us.
48. Thank you for the Christmas season which is filled with hope and joy. Thank you for the beauty of the Christmas decorations. Thank you for the small but bright lights everywhere we look this month. Thank you for trees decorated with angels. Thank you for the Nativity scenes under the trees and prominently displayed in living rooms and bedrooms. Thank you for sending your Son to save us.
49. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for the many people and stories in your Word. Thank you for the story about Abigail as I start looking at women in scriptures from A to Z. Her story is actually quite interesting (she would be a wonderful role model, just like your daughter is).
50. Thank you for the new day. Thank you that each day we can start anew. Thank you for my breath, my life, my health.
51. Thank you for the stars we can see in the night sky. Thank you for creating them, not just a few hundred or even a few thousand, but millions and billions of stars. Thank you for revealing to us how you are an extravagant God. Thank you for extending your extravagance to each of us and our needs.
52. Thank you for the bright sunshine even in Winter mornings. Thank you for letting your sunrise catch Your Daughter’s attention day after day (are you an early bird early waker?). Thank you for waking me this morning. Thank you for the godly people you surrounded me with in the morning.
53. Thank you for the squirrels playing tag in our back yard all Spring, Summer and Fall (and even sometimes in the Winter). Thank you for the birds perched in our trees, and the small finches who come to our bird feeder right outside our kitchen window. Thank you for all your wonderful creation.
54. I welcome another day. Another day with you. A day anew … anew with you! Thank you for sleep which lets my mind and body relax and rest. Thank you for waking me in the morning and presenting me with another day filled with your glory and beauty.
55. Thank you for all the many “God co-incidences” that you have let me be part of! Thank you for the many miracles I have seen and the many still to come!
56. Thank you for letting me taste things. Taste is fantastic, yet so often we just take it for granted. But today, I thank you for taste!
57. Thank you for the new day. Thank you for the wisps of clouds in the sky. Thank you for your wonderful creation that you made just for us. And thank you that it is just a few more days ’till Christmas when we can CELEBRATE the birthday of Jesus.
58. Thank you for the beautiful flowers on the trees each Spring, which only last a few days. Thank you that this always happens so that we can anticipate and expect it while in the midst of winter. Thank you for creating such beauty even when it will last such a short time. And thank you that you created that beauty for us to see. Thank you for the way you display your glory all around us.
59. Thank you for the night sky. Thank you for the heavens at night. Thank you for the moon which gradually changes its appearance over the course of a month. Thank you for the stars in the sky and for the constellations that can be made from them. Thank you for beauty in the heavens as well as in the land.
60. I welcome this day with you. I welcome this for it is a day you have made. The sun rises as you ask it to. The sunrise itself is majestic and full of your glory as your daughter knows. What artist could devise a more majestic start for the day? Thank you for the bits of your glory that you place all around us.
61. Thank you for smells. Yes, outside the Christmas Eve morning has the smells of a drizzly misty morning dawning on us. Inside there are the smells of coffee and pecan Kringle. Outside it can get quite windy while inside it is always calm. Thank you for all that is inside and out!
62. Thank you for the changing weather. Thank you for the warnings that are part of your creation … warning about a change in weather. We say “it feels like it is going to rain” or “it looks like rain”. Thank you for the weather indicators. 
63. I welcome another day with you.  I welcome another day with yet more amazing things in your creation before my very eyes. Thank you for letting your beauty and glory be evident to all who look upon your creation.
64. As I reflect back a day, I recall your generosity through the day. I recall that you were always there with me… always. I remember how you promised to never leave me as I try each day to walk with you (just like I wrote in my article 20 Years With The Presence Of God). Thank you Lord.
65. Thank you for another beautiful day. Thank you for the clean white snow in front of our house. Thank you for the example of Spring and the hope it gives us during the Winter (KNOWING that it will come!)
66. I welcome this day with you. All of your creation sings joyfully your praise. The snow glistens. Thank you for being with me the past few days Lord. Thank you for being with both my good friend and I in the coffee shop yesterday (where I gave her a Special Delivery of the prayer revolving around Priscilla, Paul’s buddy).
67. Thank you for the godly people you have surrounded me with. Thank you for these good role models I have around me.
68. Thank you for cinnamon. Thank you for the wide variety of spices. Thank you that we can think of them so that we can have the saying “spice of life“.
69. Thank you for the beautiful trees, just as beautiful in the Winter as in the Summer. Perhaps even more beautiful when the bare branches are coated with snow and ice! Thank you for all that you set in front of our eyes!
70. Thank you for healing my knees over twenty years ago. Thank you that they still are just as healed now as then.
71. Thank you for hot and for cold and the ability to feel the difference.
    Thank you for night and for day and the ability to see the difference.
    Thank you for loud and for soft and the ability to hear the difference.
    Thank you for rough and for smooth and the ability to feel the difference.
    Thank you for sweet and for sour and the ability to taste the difference.
    Thank you for right and for wrong and the ability to tell the difference.
    Thank you for differences!
72. Thank you for the crisp (well, actually quite cold) early morning air and the brisk breeze. Thank you for the joy seen in your creation, in the flowers and in the birds. Thank you that this joy continues on into the Winter and is not reserved only for Spring, Summer and Fall.
73. Thank you for the snow… though it is cold it is beautiful, sparkling in the sunlight. Thank you for your sunlight that is so necessary for all life here.
74. Thank you for my lungs which are designed so well to take the oxygen I breathe and provide it to all my body. Thank you for such a well designed body! It is amazing!
75. Thank you for so clearly speaking to me (and to your daughter). Thank you for letting me sense your presence all around me throughout the day. Thank you for telling me that I should live my life as a prayer (in this way I can pray unceasingly). Thank you for giving us your Word as our guide and as our firm foundation!
76. Thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for redeeming us. Thank you for caring for and loving us so very very much. Help us not to take this for granted, Lord. Help us to remember this each day. And thank you for giving us your Word which tells us about YOU!
77. And what a good day it is. There is joy sprinkled around me everywhere. There is joy filling my head now instead of fear. There is a huge smile on my face and I am sure my eyes are bright with Jesus in them. Thank you for this wonderful transformation from the deep pit that I was in decades ago.
78. What a joy. What an absolute joy. What a joy it brings to my heart knowing that I can depend on you. You won’t forget. You don’t get distracted. You don’t oversleep (well, actually you never sleep nor slumber). You can handle helping someone else in a crisis at the same time as you are helping me. You won’t hit your credit limit or have financial barriers. You won’t be surprised by something unforeseen. You’re totally dependable.
79. Thank you for the little things. Thank you for the many little things that together add up to a wonderful day. My friend, count just three little things with me now … (yours will be different than mine) … are you thinking of your three things you are thankful for? Ready?  One … two … three … GO …  a bowl of cereal for a midnight snack, a mocha at the coffee shop near you (I like to call it YOUR Coffee Shop:), and feet (yes, my two feet can get me pretty much anywhere I want to go – and funny how at the coffee shop yesterday you talked about actually walking to your coffee shop when the weather is nicer).
80. Thank you for FUN. Thank you for GAMES. Thank you for the saying “fun and games”. Thank you Lord, for telling me to go play games! With others! So of course, I went all in on this. Thank you for how fun and games seem to bring people together more … giving a connection between people! Thank you for the small group who come to play games with us at our house.
81. Thank you for the changing seasons. Thank you for the Winter so I can look forward to the Spring! Thank you for the Spring that I can look forward to the Summer… then to the Fall and then, again to look forward to Winter! Thank you for the snowflakes, each unique (which is in itself fantastically amazing … I love mentioning and referring to Your exquisite snowflakes even in the summer). Thank you for the frost on the grass that sparkles in the Spring and Fall… for the dew in the grass that looks amazing as the sun comes up and Scripturally reminds me that each day I can begin ANEW (as with the DEW). Thank you for the sunlight which is necessary for our life and is “just right” no matter what season! Thank you Lord. Your creation is so good.
82. It was a bit nippy but not bad for a mid-January day and better than a week ago. It reminds me how you are near regardless of the weather, regardless of the circumstances. Thank you for being near… right here in our midst. Thank you for the many people who also are walking close with you this day. Thank you for my friend, who walks with you each day, just as I do, and for this Scripture that we can pray together as we say Hallelujah, our God Heals!
83. Thank you for friends. Yes, you are the focal point of the day and of my life, but your wonderful design includes people. And people need each other as well as they need you Lord. Thank you for always placing just the right people around me. Thank you for the friends that you had cross my path and share our journeys together. Thank you for finding such an ideal friend for me both decades ago and again now.
84. Thank you for another day with you. Another day ANEW with you (and Lord, I continue asking that you grant my friend this promise of yours … make every morning of hers ANEW with you). Thank you for always being with me… always. Thank you for your presence all around me. Thank you for keeping me normal!
85. Thank you for The River Food Pantry. Thank you for how it provides not only food, but dignity and honor to those passing through with curbside bags and boxes of groceries plus a take out family meal for right then. And thank you for the Scriptures that tell us about your kindness, your mercy, your compassion and love.
86. Thank you for loving us, Lord. And thank you for the hundreds of Scriptures about love!
87. Thank you for our clothes. You know that we need them and tell us to not worry about them, that you will take of everything for us, including our clothing! Thank you!
88. Thank you for your many promises. Thank you for being faithful to your promises. Thank you for being good, so we know that your promises are good!
89. Thank you for giving us your Word. Thank you for how Spirit inspired writers of the New Testament validated your Word over and over again by QUOTING (or referring to) passages in the Old Testament. Even Jesus quoted and referred to the Old Testament.
90. Thank you for my breath and for my life. Thank you for lungs that can process the air that I breathe. Thank you for the blood circulating in me. Thank you for sustaining me and holding me together! And thank you for the Scripture to use for today’s prayer for the daughter you love, for Your Daughter (this time from The Voice translation)
91. Thank you for such interesting weather. We may speak of a bright sunny day (which indeed is wonderful), a misty day (which has it’s subtle beauty), a snow filled day (with snow glistening and sparkling in the sunlight) or a day where it is raining for the entire day (where the street almost becomes a river)! Each is intriguing in its own way! How do you do it Lord? How do you get the mist to just float in the air so peacefully, so calmly, so still? How do you get so much water (as seen and measured during storms) to just sit up in the sky waiting for the right moment to come pouring down? Maybe it is to be a sign to us today my friend. It CAN indeed be misty, it can indeed by raining… yet we can find peace within the mist and within the storm.
92. Thank you for communication! Thank you for language! Thank you that we can use language to communicate with each other… and in so many ways! Sitting at a table with someone we can speak with each other. Or we could speak with someone via a telephone call. Or via a video meeting. Or we can record a message and others can play back that message to hear what we said. Or we could write a message on a piece of paper that others could read. Or we could type the message. Or use a word processor to create a message. We can communicate with words or even with songs. Music has its own way of communicating a message. Thank you for our minds that can grasp how to send and to receive messages in any of these ways.
93. Thank you for keeping us safe. Thank you for letting us know that we need not live in fear. Thank you for being our protector and provider as well as our guide during the day. And thank you speaking with us throughout the day as Scriptures promise us! First is one of the Scriptures God gave me for today’s prayer that I think is amazing.  I knew that God speaks to us AND I know that he sometimes tells me things that I ordinarily wouldn’t know (yeah, I even ask him to:) … but now I see how he even tells us that he WILL do this!
94. Thank you for helping me maintain a thankful heart. Thank you for healing my knees over two decades ago which helps me be thankful every time I go up or down a stairway.
95. I welcome another day with you. Another new day with you. A day ANEW with you! A day where I can start fresh. Thank you for your truth that each day is anew with you, that we can always start the day fresh. Thank you for always being with us from the time we wake up to when we go to sleep (and even watching over us while we are sleeping).
96. Thank you for speaking to my friend. Thank you for letting her recognize your voice so that she can say “I know what to do!”
97. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for your promise to draw near to us if we draw near to you. Thank you for reminding us to not just be unafraid, but also to not panic!
98. Thank you for your wonderful creation. Thank you for how awesome the night sky can be. Thank you for the magnificent sunrise and sunset. And thank you for holding it all together. Thank you for sustaining all things.
99. Thank you for pruning us. Thank you for loving us so much that you prune us to keep us growing with you. And thank you for the Scripture for today’s prayer for your daughter who loves you so very much:
100. What a wonderful day, for today I use the letter Z for my daily prayer for your daughter … and it is the end of the 26 days of prayers for her about just who her God is! Thank you for providing Scriptures for me to use each of those 26 days. Thank you for giving me words for the prayers. Thank you for helping me each day as I come before you to lift up your daughter you love so much.  And thank you for the Scriptures for letter number 26 (which is prayer #100)