Almighty God and Father, I love
you and I give you all the glory and
praise forever and ever!
Gracious God, source of all
goodness, thank you for the gift of life and for Your loving presence in my
life for the past fifty-four years. You
have blessed me with another year to live which I am ever so grateful. By your
grace, may I be able to continue to grow in your love and to serve You more
each day.
Thank you for Mommy and Daddy,
whom You have already called to Your kingdom. This is my first birthday without
them Lord. You know how much I really miss them. As I close my eyes, I can see
and hear them singing happy birthday to me. They will forever be the pillars of
my faith and strength for they have passed on to me the gift of faith that you
have blessed them with.
Thank you for all the blessings,
as well as the trials of the past year, most especially, the loss of my Mommy,
Daddy, Uncle Cesar, Lola Nieves and Ate Emma. I will never understand why these deaths had
to happen in a span of seven months. But
truly, my Lord, Your ways and thoughts are higher than mine. You allow things
to happen for a reason and for the good of everyone. All of these experiences did not only make me
stronger in faith. It made me hunger
more for You and do what is pleasing to You.
Thank you for my loved ones and
for all the people around me whom You have sent as Your instruments to love,
teach, guide, strengthen and humble me. They have made my life beautiful. I am
what I am now because of them.
For the times that I failed you, my
Lord, please forgive me. Lead me always
to the path of righteousness and never allow anything to come between us.
I do not know what lies ahead of
me now, Lord. What I know and believe is
Your promise to me in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for
you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you..plans to give you hope and a
future.”
And so dear God, as I go through
this year, my prayer is for me to be free from health concerns and financial
worries, to always see and love you in every person I meet every day, to rise
above my human nature in moments of weakness,
and to never cease to do better each day…all for Your honor and
glory. All of these I pray, in the
sweetest name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
