I am deeply grateful for my spiritual heritage. My life is constantly touched by the hearts and minds of past generations who were devoted to being only Christians. Though I shall never know their sacrifices, their searching faith will always bless me.

I have grown through my study and prayer. I know that You are at work in my heart and mind. I see things that I have never seen. My understanding of Your principles and truths has reached new depths. The more I grow, the more I understand. The more I understand, the more I want to grow.

As I yearn to plunge deeper into the mind and heart of Christ, I meet an unexpected obstacle. I am shocked by areas of my faith. In some of my spiritual places, I discover my faith trusts a religious 'system' instead of Your Son. In those places, as my faith in Your Son grows, my 'system' feels threatened.

So, spiritually, I find 'me' in conflict with 'me.' My 'system' declares that I am in conflict with 'them,' and, in the past, I believed that. But my growing faith has reached a new level of honesty. Jesus shows me that my growing faith and my 'system' are struggling.

I cherish my heritage. I cherish the faith of my family. I cherish the church. I cherish my understanding of the Bible's importance. I cherish my commitment to obedience.

I also cherish Jesus, my spiritual role model. I hunger for Your priorities. I hunger for a fuller understanding of Your will. I hunger to love and help people as You do. I hunger to have the heart and mind of Jesus so that helping people becomes helping the person. I hunger to be a Christian who does good in our world because I am a child of the God who does good in our world.