HITHER AND THITHER

When I am in one of those "dry times" in my communion with God, I find it helpful to write out a prayer from a book of prayers that I have in my devotion basket, and pray those back to God, word for word, but saying them as from me. Today this one really ministered to my heart--it hits my struggles on the head. It was written by Johann Arndt, who was a German Pietist that lived from 1555-1621, and taught at Wittenburg where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the church:

Ah, LORD, unto whom all hearts are open, Thou canst govern the vessel of my soul far better than I can. Arise, O LORD, and command the stormy wind and the troubled sea of my heart to be still, and at peace with Thee, that I may look up to Thee undisturbed, and abide in union with Thee, my LORD. Let me not be carried hither and thither by wandering thoughts; but forgetting all else, let me hear and see Thee.