A Prayer for My Friend

O God, source of all love and goodness,
as you have blessed my life
with the gift of a faithful friend,
so now, surround my friend with your grace,
your loving care and your protection.
May our friendship be a bond
which brings others closer to you
and gives glory to your holy name.
Amen.
 
 You have blessed my life in so many ways! I thank God for you, my friend.

Bible Verse:  1 Peter 4:10, 11b

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
...so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.

For I know that my redeemer Lives

When I am in the midst of the desert, wondering if there is any possible way out of my situation, it is hard to imagine God working behind the scenes. He is. He has his own time. He knows what needs to be in place for the fruition of his promises. I cling to this truth. Even in the darkest night, I know that my redeemer lives and is at work in my life.     ~ Katherine Walden ~

Job 19:25
I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Prayer:
My Savior,
It is when I am wandering in the desert wondering which way to go that You are closest to me. Open my eyes, that I see You. Help me to seek after Your promises and see all the possibilities that lie before me. There is an end to the desert and You will lead me beside the still waters and green pastures once again. Amen.

Bring Any Request to God

Bring any request you have to God.

No request is too large; none too small or insignificant.

How often we limit God by not bringing to God everything we want and need.

Do we need help getting our balance? Getting through the day?

Do we need help in a particular relationship? With a particular character defect? Attaining a character asset?

Do we need help making progress on a particular task that is challenging us? Do we need help with a feeling? Do we want to change a self-defeating belief that has been challenging us? Do we need information, an insight? Support? A friend?

Is there something in God's Universe that would really bring us joy?

We can ask for it. We can ask God for whatever we want. Put the request in God's hands, trusting it has been heard, and then let it go. Leave the decision to God.

Asking for what we want and need is taking care of ourselves. Trust that the Higher Power to whom we have turned over our life and will really does care about us and about what we want and need.

Today, I will ask my Higher Power for what I want and need. I will not demand - I will ask. Then I will let go.

GOD ALWAYS ANSWER YOUR PRAYER ( when you say...god tells you... )

ST. PATRICK'S PRAYER

St. Patrick's prayer for the faithful captures the wonderful spirit that
made him Ireland's patron saint and one of the Church’s most beloved missionaries.
Born in Britain shortly before the 5th century, St. Patrick, pictured below, was taken captive to Ireland by raiders at the age of 16. He lived there for six years as a shepherd under harsh conditions and became intensely devoted to God in prayer, as he puts it, “because the spirit was then fervent within me.” Tradition has it that divine dreams inspired both his escape from captivity in Ireland and his return there later in his life as a bishop.
In this prayer he asks for God’s help in various ways:

May the Strength of God pilot us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Host of God guard us.
Against the snares of the evil ones.
Against temptations of the world

May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!
May Thy Salvation, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen.
St. Patrick's prayer no doubt helped him in his missionary efforts. Although he faced his share of resistance, St. Patrick was so successful in preaching the gospel and organizing the Church in Ireland that he is largely credited with converting the Irish to Christianity.
His emblems are the snakes that legends claim he drove out of Ireland
and the Shamrock he used to great effect to explain the Holy Trinity.
(This is a wonderful illustration of three distinct entities, the three leaves of the clover, making up one shamrock, much like the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit constitute One God!)
St. Patrick's prayer for the faithful, much like the famous Breastplate prayer also attributed to him, can truly inspire us to ask for divine assistance in living our faith each day.
As Our Lord said in Matthew's gospel, if our requests are in accordance with His will, “ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you” (7:6). The “Strength of God” mentioned in the first line of this prayer should give us strength indeed!

Stress, Anyone?

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.Psalm 94:18-20 

If patience is the most difficult thing I struggle with, I think anxiety can run a close second.  I love what this verse says - not if ... but *when* my anxious thoughts multiply, my consolation will come from God.  And not only will I be consoled - my soul will delight in those consolations.

Sometimes my world seems to call out, "Look to God.  Look to God.  Look to God." 

Someone asked me the other day why I thought God allowed difficult times in our lives.  I think that is a question we all ask at one  time or another.  I though about it for a while and though the thought wasn't well-formed, said this:

"What a bunch of self-centered, egotistical people we would be.  If we never knew adversity, we'd never learn gratitude.  If we never had bad times, we'd never come to cherish the good ones.  We'd have no need for God."

I know I need God when my anxieties get out of control.  I have to look to Him, acknowledge that He is still in control.  I have to grow my faith, bit by bit.  I have to trust.  I have to pull myself out of the land of "what if," and simply let go of the outcome.  I'm not saying I don't do the things I need to do for whatever the situation is - but I do what I believe God is saying is my part - and let go.  

Letting go means putting no expectations on that outcome.  I have come to know things won't always turn out the way I want them to, or the way I expect - but I do know nothing takes God by surprise.  I know He can take any and every situation and bring good from it.  His plan is larger than mine.

When I can relax in that, I can let go of the anxieties that plague me.  I can find God.  And I can delight in the fact that He is the one who will console me - no matter what comes across my path.

Father God, Thank you that you have everything covered.  There is nothing about our situation that takes You by surprise.  Thank you that you have created our world so that we realize our need for You, and You will be by our side in each and every situation.  Amen and amen.

http://www.pathways4change.org/todaysencouragingwordonline.com/

America's hope -- National Day of Prayer

America's hope -- National Day of Prayer

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