Sunday, April 23, 2017

A Prayer

Father,

Life sometimes is a whirlwind. Things come at us out of the blue. And there are times when they throw us for a loop. We find ourselves hurting and a bit confused. And the question that we come back to is, 'What in the world is happening? Why is it happening?' And all too often, we don't come up with answers for those questions.

But we can have some answers. Ultimately, whatever comes at us happens because of You. You are the sovereign God. And that means that everything happens because of the plan You laid out before there was anything. Everything happens because of the plan that You are now executing.

And while there are parts of that plan that really hurt, we do know some important things about it. The goal of the plan is to reveal who You are as God. And sometimes, You use evil to reveal how good You are. We exist to be a means of that revelation to the world around us. We live for Your good. Help us to believe that and to accept it. Ultimately, we are not here for our benefit, but rather for Yours.

And yet, You are so very clear that as we give ourselves to You so that You can reveal Your beauty, we will be blessed. The results of our accepting our role in Your plan include lots of really good things for us, things experienced now and especially later. Help us to hold on to that in the midst of our hurting.

So, Father, we pray for those in our group who are in the midst of hurting times. There's Dave and Pam as they deal with the scourge of cancer. There's Jon and Lisa who right now find themselves in a hospital concerned for JJ. We ask that You would give them Your peace and Your healing. What they are dealing with is a part of Your plan.

And while we may not all be dealing with such crisis situations, we are all dealing with something. Help us to accept our roles as the means through which You reveal who You are - even as that calls us to deal with some really hard things.

Father, we look forward to the day when all of this suffering will be over. That method of revealing who You are will no longer be necessary. Help us to endure to that day when it will only be bliss. And when we get there, seeing the wisdom of how You used our struggles to bring about so much good, we will praise You, our wise and loving Father. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

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