Almighty God,
We praise and thank you for this day. For your good and beautiful creation we see all around us. We thank you for all the blessings you bestow on us. May this truth be always on our hearts: that the God who breathed and spoke this world into being, in love, He created, made, and formed each and every one of us.
Lord,
Whether we use words, or can only summon a silent sigh to heaven, you promise to answer our prayers. You answer with the assurance that You uphold the entire universe by your word and power, and yet you know us. Even to the number of hairs on our head.
Sometimes this life is very hard, and it can feel like a struggle to keep our head above water. When our hearts feel stretched... or empty, rest us in the truth that You are as near to us as our next breath. And rest us in the truth that in the midst of life’s struggles, you are working to help, to refresh, to reconcile, and to restore.
King Jesus,
For those of us who are falling, hold us up. For those of us who are bowed down with sickness, grief or loneliness, raise us up. For all of us whose hearts are hungry, fill us. Hold fast with your blood bought promise that in this groaning creation you are invading and making all things new...and right. Recreating your creation and creatures as they are supposed to be. Rest us in the truth that there is no distance between what you say, and what IS. You are with us always. You declare us forgiven, righteous, and new. And so we are.
In your mighty name we pray,
AMEN.