Prayer Time

As morning unfolds and I find my way through a routine of devotions and prayer time, I am not sure why, but I am posting part of my prayer as I recite it, I type it as it comes, unrehearsed, non-scripted, but straight from my heart, this morning, when a pink haze creates a glow that sets the stage for a beautiful day....

Dear good and gracious God, I thank you for the opportunity to awaken to a new day, one you created with your goodness and grace. I thank you for your loving presence in my life and in the lives of those around me and in those I don't even know. I come to your throne several times a day, sometimes in quiet, sometimes in a panic, sometimes softly, sometimes through screams or cries, and you are always there. Thank you for being the constant force in my life. Thank you for the blessings you bestow in the form of a loving, kind husband, a vibrant, energetic, spirited daughter, caring siblings and friends, extended family, and all those you have brought into my life for a purpose. Thank you for the time you allowed me to be Allison's mother on earth and for the work you are doing through her and through us. Thank you for the strength and perseverance and a settled spirit you provide and for resources to allow me a gift of time for myself and to tend to all others. Thank you for the moon and the stars and the sun and the energy they bring. Thank you for the smile of others, even strangers, who cannot possibly know that I needed something positive in that moment of time. Thank you for carrying me through darkness and showing me light when I thought I couldn't breathe or go another minute in this walk of grief. Thank you for the health that surrounds me and for the opportunity to live this day. Thank you for allowing me to abandon self-pity and focus on you and the blessings you bestow. And, Father, as I thank you endlessly, I also ask your blessing on so many...the list is endless and I will continue later as I sit in quiet contemplation with you. I ask you to continue to hold Karen and Michael in the palm of your hand, for their journey is intense, but you are showing them the way. I ask your blessing upon friends who will find medical results this very week, Father, and I ask your intervention in their lives, so they come to know you, and walk with you, and know the freedom that comes from a loving God who carries us through every journey. I pray that if it is your desire and will, that they will be treated and cured and have time to spend with family and loved ones. Father, I ask your grace upon Kim and her family as they celebrate the life of her daughter who now rests in the peace and comfort of your arms. But their grief will be painful and strong and will take them on a journey like no other, and you will know their pain. Please be present in the service today and hold them together to celebrate the life they did have with their beloved Jessie. I hold in my own heart the pain of loss, Father, and I continue to seek your guidance and fatherly wisdom as I face new paths each day in this walk of grief. I pray every day that you will settle my spirit, that I can find my way, I can laugh, I can live, and I can honor you in all I do. I pray this day for those who do not know to find the gift of salvation in your words and love, for your word promises us this is all temporal, that the reward comes through eternal life. I pray we all prepare spiritually, as strongly as we do to accomplish the physical preparations. I pray I live each day to honor you and that when loss comes again, and it will, that we know our loved ones or friends are at peace and in the place you intended all along. Father, this world is difficult, challenging, painful, and even evil. I pray to stay focused on you and feel the sweetness of the journey you have planned for me. I thank you for the trust, the faith, the hope you provide with every word and for the holy spirit you send with the messages. I pray to be still and listen and to know you are guiding my life according to your own desires and will. As I close, I ask your blessing upon all of those in the ever widening circle of family and friends who face great celebrations and joys, as well as those who walk with a burden. May we all find our way to reach out and help in the way that is possible, through a smile, a kind word, a note, a meal, or the gift of time. May we not be so consumed with our own thoughts and burdens that we cannot open up to see that by helping others, we help ourselves and remain pleasing to your desires. Father, I praise you and I thank you and I ask these things in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who died so that we may live. Amen.