Christian Writers Circle

My Cry, “Lord, Prepare Me!”
by Brenda D. Flowers

 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29: 12-13, NIV)

Several weeks ago, my pastor was speaking a tender message to our congregation challenging each of us to spend alone time with God, seeking Him. He stressed the importance of giving our whole hearts to God, being truly set apart and transformed by His Spirit.

As I prepared to write this blog post, I reviewed a page in my journal where I had recorded notes from my pastor’s teaching. I noticed I had added a title on that page, “My Cry:  Lord, Prepare Me!” and a prayer,  “May I trust the Holy Spirit to help me:

 1. Honestly get rid of any idols in my heart or selfish ‘me entitlement.’

2. Remember who God is. He is Love, Life, Holy, and True. May I believe God is who He says He is.

3. Trust in my heart that God created me and each person. He sets each of us apart to be used for a special purpose.

 4. Believe His words, as recorded in the Bible, are faithful and true.

 5. Guard against receiving a lesser glory, man’s accolades or attention, and realize there are “false Christ’s” in the world, people who are not true followers of Christ who draw others to themselves, not to the one true God.

 6. Believe God can cleanse me from all my sin. He washes us by the blood of The Lamb, Jesus’s blood.

7. Trust and believe, I am a ‘scroll of the Lord’.  God protects His scrolls.

8. Love much. (‘He who is forgiven, loves much!’)

 9. Trust I have the testimony of Jesus at work in me (‘Christ in me, the hope of glory…’)

10. Hide God’s Word in my heart. We can trust that God bears us up, even when we may feel forsaken.”

As I recall, at the end of our church service that night, my pastor asked if anyone wanted to lead us in a song to end our time together.

One of our young pastors shared, “Let’s sing, ‘Lord, Prepare Me to be a Sanctuary’.” Together, our voices united as we prayerfully sang from our hearts this anointed song written by John Thompson and Randy Scruggs:

“Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living Sanctuary for You.”

It has been several weeks since that evening at my church, and I have been knowing this was the topic God was leading me to write about for this post. But I didn’t know how to write the post until a few days ago, when I was once again impacted by the words of this song.

On July 4, 2025, tragedy hit the hill country in Texas as heavy rains caused devastating flooding in that area. To date, over 120 people have died, many were children and counselors from a local Christian camp.

As I felt God’s loving encouragement to intercede for the many people impacted by the flooding,   a Christian friend texted me about how Max Lucado, who lives in Texas not far from the flooded area, was leading a prayer on Facebook Live. I joined him and fellow Christians in prayer at the designated time.

 The next day, I was checking Facebook and was praying as more news of that tragedy was reported by different sources. Out of the blue (I know God was getting my attention), a video reel started playing on my phone. I heard beautiful voices of children. These were children on a bus. Then I realized they were some of the rescued children from Camp Mystic. As I listened to their  peaceful, faith filled voices, I saw the contrast of devastating images as I looked out the windows of the bus. At one point, there was a gasp of some of the children and adults as they crossed above the raging river, yet they kept singing. I listened more closely to hear what song the children were singing. To my amazement, their united voices sang. “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. …I’ll be a living sanctuary for you.” 

I was touched by the realization that God was comforting these little ones and the adults on the bus. He was giving them the strength to testify of their faith even during the midst of a very distressing time.

Oh, God, my heart aches as I mourn and cry out to You. I do pray sincerely that You will continue to comfort and provide peace and hope to all who are alone, sad, hurting and feeling helpless today.

May we come to You with faith as children knowing You are a good Heavenly Father who loves us. I am thankful that You sent Jesus on purpose for great purpose. I am grateful for all You have done so we may live with hope. I do want to be a living sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true.