openness
A few months ago, I bought The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. I can't stop talking about how beautiful it is to read and pray the prayers of others who lived so long ago and yet served the same God that I serve. God's character is steady and steadfast; He does not change with the ages.
I read this prayer yesterday, on the edge of a few hours wrestling with some high level (for me) anxiety and it gave me such peace.
LORD OF IMMORTALITY,
Before whom angels bow and archangels veil
their faces,
enable me to serve thee with reverence
and godly fear.
Thou who art Spirit and requirest truth
in the inward parts,
help me to worship thee in spirit and in truth.
Thou who art righteous,
let me not harbour sin in my heart,
or indulge a worldly temper,
or seek satisfaction in things that perish.
I hasten towards an hour
when earthly pursuits and possessions
will appear vain,
when it will be indifferent whether I have been
rich or poor,
successful or disappointed,
admired or despised.
But it will be of eternal moment that I have
mourned for sin,
hungered and thirsted after righteousness,
loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity,
gloried in his cross.
May these objects engross my chief solicitude!
Produce in me those principles and dispositions
that make thy service perfect freedom.
Expel from my mind all sinful fear and shame,
so that with firmness and courage I may
confess the Redeemer before men,
go forth with him bearing his reproach,
be zealous with his knowledge,
be filled with his wisdom,
walk with his circumspection,
ask counsel of him in all things,
repair to the Scriptures for his orders,
stay my mind on his peace,
knowing that nothing can befall me
without his permission, appointment
and administration.