Matthew 7:7-11 (The Message)                               M. Doerr

“Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?”

How many of us go through life afraid of talking to God about ourselves, as if we were being selfish or shallow?  Or maybe we think that God is too busy caring for people worse off than we are, and we don’t want to take attention away from them.  But God is big enough, and loving enough, and cares enough, to celebrate that we would come to him, and then respond, if we are watching and listening for God, in a way that helps us grow stronger, become more grateful, and be more loving.  God loves all of us, will take care of all of us, and in every situation, God calls us to rely on him for what we need.