a letter to the senior class of 2020

Dear Senior,

I hope and pray this letter finds you well and brimming with hope at the bright future ahead.

I know you have or you are facing disappointment right now. I won’t say that I know how you feel because I don’t. I don’t know what it’s like to be 18 or 22 and about to graduate high school or college during the midst of a historic worldwide pandemic.

I don’t know how it feels to miss out on all those milestone markers and rites of passage that come with closing an educational chapter. I’m a teacher and while I can empathize with students, I still have no idea what it actually feels like to be you.

I don’t know what you’re feeling, but I care. That’s why I’m writing to you wherever this letter finds you.

Let’s take a moment together to think about all the things you are missing right now - I promise there’s a purpose to this.

Going to prom, participating in spring sports, walking across that stage to receive the diploma you’ve worked YEARS for, going on the senior class trip, cherishing those last few weeks at school with your friends before life takes you all in different directions, hugging friends, signing yearbooks, experiencing all the perks of being a senior + [insert anything and everything else you’ve missed or are missing here].

It’s alright to cry. It’s alright to feel upset. Disappointed. Afraid. Angry. I fully believe that it’s necessary to face what we feel to move forward.

Move forward - that’s just what I know you’ll do. I see stories every day from the Class of 2020 that inspire me.

I know that’s just what you will do and what many of you are doing right now. You all are strong and courageous young people. I want you to know that I see that and recognize that. It’s amazing!

I may not know you personally, but I believe in you. I believe in your ability to triumph over this season. I believe that you’ll become stronger through this time. I believe that there’s purpose here. That’s because I believe in Jesus.

I’ve been following Jesus since I was five years old. A lot of people think that when you follow Jesus, nothing bad happens. But that’s not what the Bible teaches us. In my journey of faith and trust in Jesus, I’ve walked through seasons I would NEVER have written for myself. I imagine this one right here is certainly not how you would have written out your graduation year.

Yet what I have learned is that Jesus doesn’t leave us in one season forever. In the fire, in the flood, in the wilderness - you may walk there, but I promise you, you don’t stay there forever. Yes, you may be called to walk through, but you’re not called to live there forever.

I believe that our world will return to normal.

But it’s not in time for your graduation year.

We’re walking through this for a season. Remember, it’s not forever.

And so, I have a question for you: How will you choose to live this season?

It’s just a season, but your responses, your reactions, your choices right now will shape your future. What you plant right now will be the harvest you reap in the next season. How are you responding? What are you planting?

Sometimes the best way to answer these questions is to do so backward. We can flip the question, “How am I responding right now?” to “When I look back on this season - because one day all of this will be a distant memory - how will my future self wish I had responded?”

And we can flip the question, “What am I planting?” to “One year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, what will I wish I had planted right now?”

your response

Let’s start with your response. One of the most powerful realizations in life is that we are in control of our responses. Other people, circumstances, world events - these are ALL outside of your control. Thankfully, as a follower of Jesus, I believe that they are all under God’s control. But these things are not under my control or yours. If they were, I would have re-written this chapter differently for you. If I could, I would erase this virus and its devastation on this globe and all the tears you’ve cried.

Yet I’m not the Author of your story, and who knows what would be missed by omitting the challenges from your stories? What would be missed from deleting this season?

The world you’ve grown up in has projected this idea that you always need to have it together. You always need to look perfect. Your life off Instagram still needs to look like Instagram - problem-free, happy, everything you want it to be and approved by others always.

Yet that’s not how life is, that’s not how God planned for life to be, and ultimately, that kind of living leads to boredom, selfishness, and mediocrity.

Challenges are not to be wished away. They are not meant to take you by surprise as if something strange is happening. Challenges are a part of life. I’m not implying you don’t know this, but I am recognizing that you are learning this life lesson earlier than most.

I’m a Jesus girl, so I have to share His Word with you. As a Christian, I believe that God calls us to view life differently than what we would naturally default to. He calls us to see with eyes of faith and set our mind on heaven.

With that in mind, please read this:

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 

3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 

4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 1:2-5

How would I recommend you respond? Consider this trial as PURE JOY.

Your response doesn’t diminish your trial. We’re not burying our heads in the sand in denial. We’re shifting our focus.

Some of you may think this is pure ridiculousness. Fight a global pandemic with joy? Yeah, right. Christians are weird.

Hear me out.

Joy sounds crazy? Let’s listen to the alternative. What if it read, “consider it total misery…whenever you face trials.” Hmmm. We have a decision here.

Your life is fleeting even when it doesn’t feel like that. When you’re 18, when you’re 22, there’s this feeling that you’ll never get old. There’s this fearlessness, this resiliency, this feeling of immortality. However, how you choose to live this season will impact you when you’re 35, when you’re 50, the you you’ll be at 70 and beyond. Choices you make now will determine choices you can make in the future - a fact not to make you anxious, but to make you choose wisdom in the here and now because of the there and then one day.

Your generation’s choice right now to choose joy or to choose misery will determine what you get out of this season. Remember, it’s just a season. This is not forever. But your response in this temporary season has lasting impacts.

your seed

So, let’s get practical. What does it look like to choose joy right now? And why?

Rejecting misery and despair allows you to live out of hope and abundance instead of fear and defeat. Choosing joy allows you to see the possibilities and blessings around you instead of all that’s been taken from you.

This is the life of faith. This is what it means to have faith. Not walking by what you see, but what you believe to be true.

It’s the paradox of following Jesus. Choose joy over misery. Love your enemies. Trust in God and not yourself. Don’t be afraid, only believe. Give and you shall receive.

Most wondrous of all - The sinless Son of God hanging on a cross dying for OUR sins so we can have peace with God. His very life gives us a radical, counter-cultural example of how to respond to suffering. The Bible says that for the JOY set before Him, Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus, the One who would have been completely justified to choose misery under the weight of sin that was NOT His, chose joy. Because He did, we can in His strength.

Faith means responding to life in a way that only makes sense in the context of God.

Once again, I have no idea how this pandemic has hit your lives. It’s different for all of you.

Maybe you’re stuck at home with your parents and they are driving you crazy. What if you looked at them differently? You’ll not always be under the same roof. Perhaps this fall promises a new beginning far away in a different state, a different country even. And you can’t wait. It can’t come soon enough. I know your parents aren’t perfect. They’ve made mistakes. But what if you decided to cherish this time with them - time to watch movies together, make dinner together, laugh and cry together, read books together, learn TikToks together, enjoy each other, appreciate each other, love each other deeply. Time is precious.

How can you cultivate joy right now? How can you share it with those around you?

Please don’t hear what I’m not saying. Joy doesn’t mean fake happiness. It’s okay to be sad. God sees your tears. It’s okay to still cry. It’s okay to still be upset or sad. Or all the emotions.

But choose your predominant response to be a defiant joy.

your harvest

Last autumn, I had my kindergartners plant lima beans. I made sure to tell them right from the start that it would take a while for their seeds to grow into a tall, green bean plant. I told them it was going to take a lot of patience. A lot of tending and watering, and watching until the teeny tiny green seedling sprouts through the soil.

Since we planted in the fall, due to the lack of consistent sunshine, we needed a plant lamp to shine on our plants throughout the entire school day. Once everyone’s seed was planted, I arrived every morning to school with a new task I did before anything else. I would walk straight over to the plant lamp, sometimes before even putting down my teacher backpack and book bag, before even flipping on my classroom lights, and turn it on. I couldn’t wait for our little plants to soak up all the light energy and turn it into something beautiful. And at the end of the day, the very last thing I would do was turn off our plant lamp. I wanted to maximize every moment of pseudo-sunlight streaming down on our treasured plants.

Soon enough, we began to see our little seedlings sprouting - each at their own time and in their own way. Before long, I had to adjust our plant lamp because the plants were growing so tall and bumping against the lights!

Every day, we celebrated the growth of our plants together. One of the happiest days of kindergarten was when they finally got to take their plants home. They were so excited! All of their sacrifice, patience, and hope had been worth it.

Planting seeds of joy right now is like shining that plant lamp on your circumstances. It might not seem to make that much of a difference - after all, no one would judge you for choosing sadness or sorrow right now. Choosing joy doesn’t mean forcing smiles and faking fine. It doesn’t mean that you’re always happy and never have a down day.

Planting joy right now means that you are choosing to believe that your impact - however small or big you perceive it to be - matters to the world around you. You’re a rising generation and soon enough, you’ll be the ones leading this city, this country, this world. The seeds you plant now will be what the world harvests later on.

I believe you’ve got what it takes.

And I’m cheering you on with all my heart.

You’ve got my admiration and my prayers.

I’ll end with a couple of ways to choose joy:

• Be kind to your parents and siblings. “Kinder than necessary” - I think that’s what the book Wonder said, right? Treat people kinder than necessary and watch your relationships with your family members transform.

• Text five friends every day something encouraging. A compliment, prayer, Bible verse, just because. You never know how much that can mean to someone, especially during this time.

• Take senior graduation photos. If possible, get out your graduation cap and gown and have a friend or family member take photos. Celebrate your hard work. You deserve it. Don’t miss celebrating just because it looks different than you thought. It’s important to stop life for a moment, take an assessment of where you’ve been, and be grateful. Celebrating helps us do this. Don’t skip this!

• Throw a virtual graduation party with close friends and classmates.

• Donate clothes and items you no longer need to help someone who does.

• Start journaling and write down at least three things you are grateful for each day. During one of my hardest seasons, this helped me persevere. And get specific! Don’t just put my mom, my dad, my dog. Write out details: the smell of lilacs on my walk today, the taste of cinnamon coffee, the way sunlight streams through chartreuse leaves, the sound of my mom’s laugh. When you look back on this time, this list will bring back beautiful memories from a hard season. And it will mean something profound to you. There’s beauty here to be found.

• Pray for someone who’s hurt you. We’ve all had someone who’s hurt us. Pray for them because if they were truly whole and happy, they wouldn’t have. They need prayer and your heart needs to pray for them - I’ve found it’s truly the ONLY way to let it go.

• Get off social media. It’s fun, but it’s also draining, don’t you think? Your life cannot be compared or quantified by likes or friends or subscribers. Your worth and value could never be defined by the number of followers. Post and contribute, but realize real life happens in front of you in the present moment. Don’t miss it.

• Write a thank-you note to someone who’s helped you get where you are. A high school teacher, a mentor, a coach, a college professor. Let them know how they inspired you. They may never have known how they influenced you or helped you. Tell them. Write them, email them, call them. Just tell them.

• I can’t leave this one out: Read the Bible. Don’t just take what other people say about it. Get in there and discover it - the history, the epic battles, the romance, the trials, the sorrow, the sin, the beautiful redemption - the story of an AMAZING God who loves His people and won’t stop loving. No, not ever. This book is far from boring. Ask Jesus to meet you within the pages. He will. And suddenly, you will find your own story in His grand story of love and redemption. I pray you are forever changed.

TL;DR: When I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in Communications in 2013, I remember telling a friend that I knew exactly why they’ve set up graduations to happen in the springtime. There’s something so incredible about graduating during a season of so much sunlight with a bright summer ahead. It’s so fitting and perfect.

I hope some day this May or June, you’re out in the brilliant sunshine and you feel this, too. This joy at being in such a special season of your life while the world around you is full of light, flowers, sunshine, and blue skies. I hope you feel a holy hope for what your life can be flood your soul and fill your heart. I pray you dream big dreams and run after them. I pray the right doors open for you and the ones you’re not meant to walk through stay closed. I hope you trust that God loves you unconditionally and like no one else ever could. I pray all of this brings a smile to your face.

And I hope you know deep in your heart that:

You are so loved.

You are so important.

You are so inspiring.

Congratulations, Class of 2020!

You’ve so got this!

Being single during a global pandemic

Hi, friends!

I am writing to encourage all the singles out there and to testify of God’s goodness to me in an unsure season.

I’m 31 and I’ve never been married. I’ve always dreamed about being a wife and a mommy. Yet God’s timing is not my own. If it were up to me, I would have been married by 25 and had little ones by 30! But I have submitted my entire life to Jesus Christ. When I trusted Him to be my Lord and Savior, I surrendered my own lordship and rule over my life. My times are in His hands and He makes everything beautiful in its season.

When this quarantine first started, I’ll be honest, one of my first thoughts was wondering if I had put my professional pursuits before relationships. Is this why I’m still single? You can’t earn a Master’s degree by 29 without singular focus. I was telling a friend recently that I’ve had a laser-like focus with my career. I’m super grateful for how driven I am. I believe God made me this way and I love how He has uniquely shaped my personality! I am a go-getter, totally Type A, and absolutely determined to reach my goals while living with kindness and joy to everyone God puts on my path each day.

But in the midst of a world-wide pandemic, I couldn’t help by wonder if all of this would be easier if I had a husband. Someone to encourage me, help me, calm my fears. Someone to just be there to go to the grocery store with. Face masks and all.

This would all be easier if I was married, right?

Not true.

God has been showing me that I am complete in Him and that He is the One I can lean on, rely on, look to, and run to at all times. During this time, I’ve been going on lots of walks and running a lot, too. I’m thankful for this sunny spring weather. It’s been such a blessing! On my walks, I love to memorize Scripture, pray, and just pour out my heart to God. I’ve felt His presence and love in ways I have never before. He’s been the only One I have to turn to during this time. And it’s been amazing to lean on God like I never have before. He has been my Rock during this time. I always knew He was my Rock, but I’ve never leaned on Him so FULLY than during this time.

Jesus has been so gentle with me during this time. He has pulled me SO close during this time. I have felt so seen and known by Him in a way that I have never felt in my life.

I have to share the ways He has shown His love for me!

-ABUNDANT PROVISION: Early on in the quarantine, I went to the store to get groceries. As I was checking out my groceries in the self-checkout, the machine malfunctioned. A supervisor came over to remedy the situation, but after many attempts (and a lot of time passing), it was still not working. He apologized profusely (and was one of the kindest people ever!) and asked me to move all of my items to a nearby checkout lane. As he was scanning my things, he was so gracious and apologetic. He assured me that he will give me a discount - saying I had to wait over an hour for this to be resolved and it was the right thing to do. When he pressed the total button, he took off $100 from my total! I couldn’t believe it! I even told him that he didn’t have to do it. He was so insistent. I was AMAZED. Nothing like this has every happened to me when I’ve been shopping. I knew it was the Lord’s sweet kindness to me. I don’t need a husband to provide for me. I have a Heavenly Father who created the heavens and the earth and knows everything I need before I ask. He is my Provider.

-PERFECT TIMING: At the start of April, I found an old Bible study from three years ago that I had left unfinished. This is so uncharacteristic of me. I always finish my Bible studies. (I think it’s that AP honor student still in me - ha!) I like to complete what I start. This Bible study has been about the Israelites in the wilderness and how we need to believe God with all of our hearts. It has been just what I needed! I am amazed at God beckoning me to finish the second half of the study (I had exactly half of the study left). He has used this deep study of His Word to revive my heart and restore my soul. I know that He divinely purposed for me to finish it now. And I am so grateful!

-FOREVER FAITHFUL: A couple weeks ago, I found a box of all of my old journals. Re-reading them during this time has been nothing short of life-changing! Remembering the Lord’s faithfulness to me through elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and grad school has been so sweet! It’s also been a convicting process! Reading over my writings of God’s love and faithfulness to me, I realized that we are so prone to forget the beautiful things that the Lord has done for us. I’m very much a “futuristic” person, according to StrengthsFinder. I love to dream and plan for the future. Yet in walking with Jesus, we have to remember what Jesus has done for us! We have to look back and let ourselves be in AWE of the God of all of our days. I’ve found myself on my knees in tears at the recollection of sweet memories I will now treasure more deeply. It’s one thing to remember a season - it’s quite another to see your own handwriting and read your own thoughts from that time. If you do not journal or prayer journal, I cannot encourage you enough to start this! With each entry, you are creating a written history of the faithfulness of God in your life. One day, you will re-discover what you write today and I promise you, it will mean something. Something significant, encouraging, and life-giving. Remembering how the Lord has been with us, loved us, saved us, healed us, restored us, helped us in the past is how we have victory in our battles today. We must stand on the Lord’s faithfulness to us!

-ETERNAL LOVE: This leads me to my final point here (but certainly not my last example). I could sing of His love forever! Having so much alone time with God and experiencing His love in deeper ways than I ever have before has settled my heart so beautifully. Yes, I would love to be married and have little ones right now. But God has deemed that this is NOT that season. And so I rest. I still dream of that day. Wearing a lovely white gown and walking down the aisle to an amazing man of God who loves Jesus with all of his heart. Being a wonderful wife to him. Having little ones call us “Mommy”and “Daddy.” Watching them grow. Helping them learn to read (I cannot wait to teach my future littles how to read one day!). And yet, I trust. God has shown me how intimately involved He is with my life. Again, cue the tears. And suddenly, all my dreams and goals and hopes meld into one desire - I just want to know this God who loves me so much more. Who died for my sins so I could have THIS - this relationship with Him. A relationship that makes my heart cry out more and more: I just want You, God. I just want to know, You. I just want You. You are the One my soul longs for; You are my heart’s desire. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. YOU are the One my soul searches for, my heart longs for. You and You alone.

Friends, let Jesus love you. Especially to all the singles out there - you may be “single” to the world, but you have Jesus on your side. He is with you wherever you go. Let Him love you like never before during this time. Let Him re-direct your heart to Him. Run from anything that tries to distract you from an undivided heart focused on Him. Let your soul behold Him in a way that you never have before. When you do, you will be changed FOREVER.

I still want to be married, but out of this season has come an even greater surrender. I already have the greatest Love I’ll ever know. His name is Jesus. He rejoices over me with singing. He’s promised to never leave or forsake me. When I was messed up in my sin and so broken, He died on a cross to save and redeem me. When I fall, He catches me. When I’m overwhelmed with this world, I run to Him and I’m safe. He calls me His beautiful one. He alone is the only One who has seen every moment of my life - who was there through it all. His love is a love that is better than LIFE itself!

And nothing can separate me from His love.

Jesus - He provides abundantly for me.

Jesus - His timing is so beyond perfect.

Jesus - He is forever faithful.

Jesus - He loves me with an eternal LOVE.

Jesus - He is my heart’s desire.

As a single, there’s no 100% way to know if I’ll ever get married. But if I do, if that’s part of Jesus’ plan for me, I know that I will be a better wife and mommy because of this time with Jesus right now - during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Because of how Jesus met me here.

Resting in His GREAT love and praying He shows you how DEEPLY He loves YOU!

You are so loved by Jesus and me!

Love always,

Colleen

Running to Him

Hey, friends!

I pray this post finds you well and that you are seeing God’s beautiful purposes for you in this season. As our world endures this global pandemic, I pray that it’s a time we can choose to run to God and not to anything else.

I imagine we’ve all had seasons in our lives where we’ve run to everything else except God to save us. We’ve cried out to our idols - all those things and people that we lift up our souls to instead of God. During this time of quarantine, I’ve been completing a Bible study and it’s been about the Israelites’s unfaithfulness to the Lord in the wilderness. Frustrated with His timing, they created a golden calf - as if something they had made with their very own hands could save them.

We often try to distance ourselves from the Israelites, imagining that we ourselves could never be so foolish or forgetful. Hadn’t they just seen God’s great power at the Red Sea? Didn’t all of their enemies drown before their eyes because God was with them? Had not they carried off the wealth of Egypt with them and been freed from horrible bondage and miserable captivity? Did God not show His love and faithfulness to care, fight for, and provide for them?

How could they forget what God did? How could they settle for a graven image in place of the one true God?

In context of the whole story, their blatant idolatry seems utterly ridiculous. But we have to remind ourselves that they didn’t see the whole story like we do. The Promised Land was not a place to read about in the Bible; for them, it was a place based only on the Word of God. Getting there would require one step of faith after another. That was the only way.

We are just like the Israelites. How many times have we sought salvation and refuge in someone or something other than Jesus? How often have we run to anyone or anything else to save us? How many times have we forgotten how God has saved us, delivered us, and loved us in the past? All of us have!

Why do we do this? Why do we run to other things when we know deep in our hearts that Jesus alone can save us?

I believe it’s because we think He can save us, but we’re not as convinced that He can satisfy us and we doubt His plans for us. We believe He died for us, but we’re not absolutely confident about His care for our daily life. We look at our circumstances and they don’t look how we want them to look, so we question Him. That’s exactly what the Israelites did - they looked at the wilderness and God’s timing and thought, “This doesn’t look like a Promised Land!” They refused to trust Him and instead, leaned on their own understanding. Psalm 106 describes the fruit of their distrust - “leanness of soul.” They believed that they knew what was best. They looked at life through natural eyes and not through the eyes of FAITH.

Friends, the biggest storms in my life were not from unexpected circumstances rocking my life. The biggest storms in my life have come when in response to a storm I chose to lean on my own understanding instead of trusting God. And the best turn-arounds I’ve lived through have all come when I responded with faith in God instead of reliance on myself or anything else.

Friends, I’m writing this with so much love and compassion. If my words convict, know that I can only write them because I have lived them out. I’ve been just like an Israelite at times questioning God’s ways and crying out to other things to save me and give my life meaning. And I promise you, living like this only brings more pain and brokenness. It makes the stormy seasons worse.

God’s ways and His thoughts are HIGHER than ours. His plans are more than anything we could ask, think, or imagine. His plans for your life are for a hope and for a future.

Everything about your circumstances might be screaming at you to believe otherwise, but that’s why we need Christ. We need Jesus to give us faith to believe that God’s heart towards us is always and only good - even when it doesn’t seem like it. Faith in God is not based on our feelings or circumstances, but the never-changing Word of God!

After 40 years of wandering, the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land. As they crossed the Jordan River, parted for them by the power of God, they retrieved 12 stones from the river. At Gilgal, they set up the stones as a remembrance of what God had done for them. There God called them to consecrate themselves and rededicate themselves to Him. It was a powerful and pivotal moment in their history. They were actively walking away from idolatry and unbelief and purposing to walk in faith and obedience. God rolled away the reproach and shame of their idolatry, rebellion, and sin. He gave them a fresh start as they began life in the Promised Land.

What have you been running to in this quarantine? If it’s anything or anyone other than Jesus, it will not save you. It will not heal you. It does not have the power to restore you. I promise you this.

I pray that our eyes are opened to the majesty of Jesus - for when we truly behold Him, we are changed. When you look at Jesus, when you see how He has forgiven you, when you look at how He has redeemed you, when you put your trust in Him to save you - you will be forever CHANGED. Jesus does not condemn you; He welcomes you. He proved His love for you at the cross. If you ever doubt His love or forgiveness, stare at the cross. He did that for you. In your brokenness, in your rebellion, in your sin - He died while we were still messed up. Read Romans 5:8. You are LOVED!

I pray that this is a time of re-dedication. A Gilgal for all of us. A set apart time of running after God with all of our hearts, of remembrance of His faithfulness, of re-imagining the future from here on out - one of walking by faith, not by sight; of walking in trust and reliance on God and God alone. It’s time to be bold and confident in the Lord. He is with us in this and we are never alone!

God is the pursuer of our hearts. Whether you know it or not, He is pursuing you and will never stop. He sees you, friend. He sees your joys and your tears. He knows your struggles and your fears. The things you share with no one else, He knows. He’s seen your sins and your failures. And He loves you. He wants to redeem you from all of your sins and restore the joy of your salvation. Run to Him. Run back to Him. He’s always been running to you. With open arms and with a love so deep and long and high and wide that will bring your soul back to LIFE.

I usually always end my posts with a prayer and a song. Pray and worship with me if you would like!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your love for me. I acknowledge that I’ve run to other things and other people to save me. I’ve created idols in my efforts for self-preservation and for peace. I repent of my sins and believe that because of the blood of Jesus, I am forgiven and free forever! Turn my heart away from worthless idols and to You, my God and my Savior. Let my soul behold You like never before; Let me stand in awe of You! Thank You for Your grace when I fall and Your power to restore my soul. I believe You will use even my mistakes for Your glory, honor, and praise. You redeem all.

Thank You for drawing my heart to Yours and healing me. Thank You for always chasing my heart. Thank You for satisfying my heart with Your love. I rededicate myself to You. I choose to trust in You and Your ways - even though they are so different than mine. I reject my own understanding and ask for Your wisdom. I believe You are good and that You have good plans for me through it all.

Empower me to live through this quarantine according to Your will; I want You more than I want this to end. I want You more than anything. Your love is better than life and my soul praises You! I love You, Lord. Thank You for loving me forever. In the mighty, beautiful, and powerful Name of Jesus I pray, Amen.