I Would Be Here

While reading a book for homework I came upon this prayer taken from the Valley of Vision - a collection of puritan devotions. I remembered reading it before, but it encouraged my heart afresh amidst weariness:

...Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to thee.
Convince me that I cannot be my own God,
or make myself happy,
nor my own Christ to restore my joy,
nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.
Help me to see that grace does this by providential affliction,
for when my credit is good thou dost cast me lower,
when riches are my idol thou dost wing them away,
when pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into bitterness.
Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart;
show me that none of these things can heal a wounded conscience,
or support a tottering frame,
or uphold a departing spirit.
Then take me to the cross
and leave me there.

Christ has died for me and I have died with Him; Christ is raised, and Christ will soon come to gather me to Himself. Christ crucified and raised is mine. This is reality; this is all that must satisfy my soul.

"Then take me to the cross and leave me there."