Lent and Bible Studies

We are a little over a week into Lent and it feels... different this year. In the past I have given up sweets and snacks, and I did this year too, but I also have been doing other things as well. I have given up playing computer games (I didn't realize how much time I was wasting playing on the computer until I had to find something to do to fill that time... ugh!). I have been spending more time with the kids (cause, you know, I don't spend enough time with them already. I am with them 24/7, but to hear them tell it, they never get to spend time with me). And I am spending a lot more time reading my Bible and doing my Bible studies. I am currently doing James: Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore and Mosaic: When GOD Uses All the Pieces by Shane Stanford. They are both REALLY good, which means they ask really hard questions, and make you examine yourself in ways that are painfully honest. I don't like to examine myself in ways that are painfully honest. BUT, I am glad I am doing both of these studies. After all the 'turmoil' I felt last fall with the medical stuff, and the emotional stuff I went thru (more on that another time perhaps), it is time to do some deep searching and let GOD work on me and in me. I know if I submit to HIS will, I will be a better mother, a better wife, a better friend. I know that if I humble myself and let HIM take control, I will be a better person for it. I know that if I let HIM chisel away all the unnecessary baggage I carry from the past, I will be a more effective witness for HIM. So please keep me in your prayers that I will just let go and let HIM do HIS work in me. Thanks :)