Prayers

Heal me, 0 Lord. My limbs tremble. I know not what the future will bring. Weary am I with groaning and weeping. The coming days may hold danger for me. I need that strength which has its source in You. While I pray with an anxious heart, I need guidance. Let difficulties not dishearten me, nor those who attend me. Give me strength so that I may master life, and not be mastered by it. Through Your light show me answers to my questions, some assurances for my doubts, some hope for renewal-soon

Amen.

Author Unknown

I extol You, O Lord. You raise me up. I cried out to You, O Lord. and You healed me. You brought up my soul from the grave, You saved me from the pit of death. Sing to the Lord, you faithful. Praise the holiness of His glory. His anger lasts a moment, His love is for a lifetime. Tears may linger for a night, but joy comes with the dawn. I once thought, while at ease: Nothing can shake my security. Favor me, and I am a mountain of strength. Hide Your face, O Lord, and I am terrified. To You, O Lord, would I call; before the Lord would I plead. What profit is there if I am silenced? What benefit if I go to my grave? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness? Hear me, O Lord. Be gracious to me. Hear me, O Lord, and be my help. I shall never be silent, Lord my God. I shall always sing of Your glory.

Amen.

Psalm

There are times when the soul is weary and we find it hard to pray. There are times when the heart feels empty, and the world seems cold and gray. This is the very moment to turn in prayer.

Amen.

Author Unknown

We pray for children who put chocolate fingers everywhere, who like to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, who sneak Popsicles before supper, who erase holes in math workbooks, who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who can’t bound in the street in a new pair of sneakers, who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish, who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money, who cover themselves with Band Aids and sing off-key, who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink, who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those who never get dessert, who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, who watch their parents watch them die, who can’t find any bread to steal, who don’t have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser, whose monsters are real.

We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday, who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food, who like ghost stories, who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the tub, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in church and scream in the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at, and whose smiles can make us cry.

We pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime, who will eat anything, who aren’t spoiled by anybody, who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep, and who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must, for those we never give up on and for those who don’t get a second chance. For those we smother…. and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

And we pray for all children stricken with life threatening disease, whose small bodies grow weaker each day, and whose days are numbered without the help of strangers, whose hopes for the future lie in the hand of those same strangers, whose parents’ heartbreak cannot be measured, who lift up their eyes begging for someone to save them.

Oh, Lord, hear our cries…. listen to our prayers and save ALL OUR CHILDREN.

Amen.

Ina J. Hughes

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in pleasant green pastures, He leads me beside the peaceful waters. He restores my soul, He guides me in good paths for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through a valley overshadowed by death, I will fear no evil, For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.You prepare a table before me in the presence of my oppressors. Once You anointed my head with oil; my cup has been full ever since. Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; And then I shall live in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

Psalm 23

My God and Father: I seek Your presence, praying that I may never feel alone. Though I may be separated from loved ones and friends, the knowledge that You are with me fills any lack in my heart. Bless me, Father, with the nearness of loved ones and friends. Teach me to treasure such blessings. Above all, grant me the awareness to sense the nearness of Your presence so that I may never feel the dread of being alone.

Amen.

Author Unknown