More Holiness Give Me

More Holiness give me, more strivings within

More patience in suffering, more sorrow for sin

More faith in my Saviour, more sense of His care

More joy in His service, more purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me, more trust in the Lord

More pride in His glory, more hope in His word

More tears for His sorrows, more pain at His grief

More meekness in trial, more praise for relief.

More purity give me, more strength to o'ercome

More freedom from earthstains, more longings for home

More fit for the kingdom, more used would I be

More blessed and holy, more Saviour like Thee.

If you've been reading along, you'll notice all of my post titles are song titles. I thought this song summed up my week thus far. Right now, I have a headache. Sometimes they turn into migraines. I've drank my water, had my coffee, popped an Aleve (the last one:() and considered laying down. That is the extent of my suffering. Not too bad, yet pesky. I think of those who are bearing the suffering of fighting cancer. Or Lou Gehrig's. Or diabetes. Or those who can't have surgery because of lack of insurance. Daily struggling with pain. How do they go on? I haven't walked in their shoes and yet those who have Hope in Jesus have testified that they feel carried by the prayers of their church families. They are able to bear it because of God's grace.

More purpose in prayer. I don't feel that I've ever had a strong prayer life. I want that to change and desire to be more intentional in praying for others. An older sister in church gave me a "Prayer Box" in which I've written down prayers on a piece of paper and left them in the box. Every once in a while, I go through those prayers and place a check mark next to those that have been answered. It's a great faith builder!

Vine's Bible Dictionary declares the word "gratitude" to be "a word used to express thankfulness and praise". Having just come through Thanksgiving gratitude should still be fresh in my mind. Yet, I've given into Satan and his attempts to point out that expectations have not been met over and over.

More meekness in trial. We've both said our faith hasn't been tested like this before. God is stretching us. Being tested in faith isn't a comfortable thing. It's like sticking your foot into a too small shoe and wanting to give up. But, the shoe is designed to grow and mold to your foot and with time, it stretches until its a perfect fit. That shoe will protect you from obstacles and sharp objects and cold elements in the way that faith will protect us from despair, discouragement and doubt.

More longings for home. The longing for Heaven seems really dear. What is this life? Certainly some days, I'm just ready to go and leave everything behind. Things that used to mean something have lost their glitter and appeal. I almost get depressed thinking about how our world has turned Christmas into this big shopping frenzy and food party and doesn't seem to embrace the real meaning of the birth of our Saviour.

Bah Humbug!

CHRISTmas matters!

Celebrating it for its true meaning matters.

And not just Christmas, but Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc. I'm speaking to myself first, as I step back and realize how I've viewed it in the past and how my life here is short and to take time to do and think about the things that matter. #runonsentence

More fit for the kingdom. I'll admit I haven't always yearned to be more fit for His kingdom. And yet when I asked God to draw me closer to Him, to waken a zeal to life for Him, He provided this journey we are on.

In this song alone, the word "more" was mentioned 24 times! This is the type of "more" that is good. It is spiritually healthy. It is what I hope to continue to move towards.

God's blessings on your day!