A Prayer...

I am preparing to make the biggest purchase of my life tomorrow: a new car.  So, I thought it would be nice to say a few prayers.  Usually, I like to journal them with paper and pen, but it is getting late and I feel like blogging this prayer, so if you don't feel like reading any further, you should probably stop here.

So here goes:

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for answering my prayers and giving me a job.  Thank you for my education and all the years I've spent preparing for my future, and for giving me my soon-to-be-partner in life (Cody).  When I think about all the things in my life - family, friends, a job, a car that at least gets me from A to B, I am so amazed at how much I have.

Help me to be a good steward of the things you have given me.  Help me to be a generous giver after I get paid every other week, even when it seems like I don't have enough.  Lord, you are the provider.  Help me to put my faith in you that things will work out and that I'll have enough money to live on.

Be with Cody as he begins his job search.  God, I pray that you will lift him up and help people to see how smart and funny and nice he is, and that he will find the right job for him down here in Houston.

Lord, help me to make smart financial decisions.  Please be with me tomorrow as me and Rachel negotiate car prices, and financing with the Honda dealership.  Help me to have a good attitude, unlike this afternoon when we went to look at the cars.  I want to be a good representative of the Christian faith tomorrow, so just change my heart towards the situation and help me to genuinely be happy about how things turn out.

If it's not in your plan for me to end up buying a new car tomorrow, then help me be prepared for it.  I pray that we will stick to the price that we want to get for the car, and not end up spending more than I can handle.

Lord help me to remember Matthew 6:25-34 about not worrying about tomorrow, you provide food to animals that live in the wild, you put beautiful flowers on the plants in the earth.  Surely, you will provide food and shelter to me:  I have no reason to worry.  Help me also to remember Matthew 6:19-24 about money.  You tell us there, that where a mans treasure is, there his heart is also.  God, please give me the right attitude about money.  If I do end up buying a new car tomorrow, help me to realize that it is just a car, and I don't need all of the extra features that add lots of extra cost.  Help me to put YOU above everything else.

I also pray for the car salesman.  Lord, soften his heart tonight and give him a good attitude as well.  I pray that he has a generous spirit, instead of a greedy one, and that he will be genuinely helpful without ulterior motives of adding more cost than I need.  I also pray that he will hear me, and listen to what I have to say, and what I want and not try to keep selling me things I don't need.

God, lastly, I pray for peace of mind tonight as I go to bed.  You are such an amazing God, and I know that I'm saved just by putting my faith in you and believing that you sent your son to die for my sins.  Nothing that I have here on the earth is permanent.  Everything will pass away, and when I die, I won't be able to take anything from here with me when I go to Heaven.

Everything I have is yours.  You have given it to me, and you have the power to take it away.  Help me remember that and whatever happens, I pray that I will bring glory to your name tomorrow!

AMEN.