February 11, 2021
You, Jesus, are my most valuable possession! Money loses value, jewels lose their shine, days lose their glory, time passes away, but You only grow more and more valuable to me. Your words never lose their luster. Your love never lessens its flow. Your comfort never ebbs low. Your wisdom never dims. You are consistently beautiful, eternally lovable, and undeniably my most priceless treasure! I love You, Jesus!
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When I think of You enduring life on earth to redeem my soul for eternity, I’m filled with incredible gratitude. I feel indebted to You. What an incredible gift of love! You gave Your life willingly and freely so that I might have a chance to live with You for eternity in heaven.
Jesus, I want You to know that I am so very thankful for this gift You have given me—the gift of Your life. I am touched beyond words by Your sacrifice for me. I want to give You my love and the full capacity of my heart, so that You might always know just how much I love You for what You have done for me.
Thank You for giving Your life on earth so that I might be forever Yours.
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What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.1
This song is so beautiful because the lyrics are not just about us being able to confide in You and trust You with everything that is on our hearts, but even more about Your ability to be everything to us. It is about You taking our burdens, grief, and pain on Your shoulders so that we don’t have to carry them anymore. There is no other friend like this in the world. Sure, there are friends we can confide in; there are friends who care. But there is no friend who can carry all our burdens for us, no friend who can offer solutions to solve our problems, no friend who can replace our stress and fear with perfect peace.
What a friend I have in You, Jesus. What a truly wonderful and incomparable friend You are.
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Jesus, You’re the secret place I run to in my mind when I want to hide from the world. No matter what’s coming at me, or who is waiting on me, or what circumstances or problems I’m facing, I can close my eyes and enter into that secret room with You. With a touch of Your hand and a whisper of Your words to my heart, You set everything aright and give me grace to face the world again.
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You are the hero in every one of my life’s stories. You are like a loving father who provides all my needs. You are like a benevolent master who shows mercy to a humble servant. You are like my knight in shining armor when I need rescuing. You are my protector when I’m on the verge of crisis. You are my champion when I’m the underdog. You are the prince charming who saves my life through love. You are every ideal come true to me!
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Jesus, Your love for me is a transforming miracle in my life. Finding You was like finding the setting that turned my drab grayscale existence into full and vibrant color. Everything looks different now that You’ve changed me, and I can no longer imagine an existence without the warmth and color and beauty that You bring. Everything is beautiful when seen through Your eyes.
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When I think of You, my mind is at rest, my body feels calm, my spirit is quieted. I picture You sitting with me on a swinging chair overlooking a panorama of earth, sky, and sea. The gentle swaying of the swing relaxes me. I can hear You humming a sweet melody, and it causes the worries to flee from my mind. You hold my hand, and I feel warmth spread throughout my body. Every part of me feels cleansed and renewed.
I like to sit with You like this, Jesus. You give me peace—that rare commodity this world knows so little of. Thank You for Your plentiful peace.
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You fill my life with glimpses of Your presence. You reveal Yourself in the kindness of others, in the beauty of nature, in the giving and sharing of love; all to show me that You care.
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Praising You is a necessity, much like food. I feel it when I haven’t praised You enough. I feel lacking in strength and energy and focus. Praising You is nourishment that my spirit needs. Although I’m giving to You when I praise You, I’m also feeding my spirit the nutrients that it needs to stay alive, function, and be productive. Praise is like a delicious meal, because it satisfies my spirit and brings me closer to You—the master chef. Praising You sustains me.
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Thank You that every day You afford me a clean set of clothes. It doesn’t matter how dirty my clothes got yesterday—how muddy or worn, torn, or messed up—I always know that at the first light of every day I can find a clean set of clothes at the end of my bed in the form of Your renewed mercies.
Published on Anchor February 2021. Read by Debra Lee.
Music by Michael Dooley.
1 Lyrics by Joseph M. Scriven, 1855.
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