with so much love

Monday, January 5, 2015 (10:00 a.m.)

Blessed Father,

It's a whole new year. And the JOY with which I had planned to finally come before You has been overshadowed by distressing news from a very dear, life-long friend ~ cancer.

Holy God, You are good. You are holy. You know what You are doing. How I ask You to be with both she and her husband as they meet with medical teams today.

While in church yesterday we heard You referred to as sympathetic. This was an unfamiliar idea to me. To think of You sympathizing with our weaknesses provides me with even more hope. Hope I long to share with others.

Father, Your Word has verse after verse regarding Your power. The apostle Paul told of Your grace being sufficient and Your power made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). I ask You Father, be all that You are for my friend and her husband. Be everything they need.

We look to You. Friends of friends calling on Your blessed name on their behalf. I depend on You. You alone! Circumstances turn ugly. satan comes along wanting to get our focus off You. Don't let it happen. You alone are good. Holy.

We learned yesterday that You are our life source. We are to stay out of the center which is where You reside. We are to feed on You. Take our sustenance from You.

We were reminded in song that ♫Your Love Never Fails – There may be pain in the night But joy comes in the morning... You make ALL things work together for our good♫ We have Bible verses and songs, teachings of Your Truth and inspirational hope that comes from various other sources.

Turning yesterday's bulletin over just now I get to read and be in awe of Your provision yet again. In a blurb entitled “The Storms of Life” Charles Stanley presented the need for Your presence in all things.

“When life gets hard, we tend to get upset and wonder how soon the difficulty will end. But God wants us to focus on Him in times of trouble. As we do, we will discover He is doing important spiritual work during these 'storms'.”

Blessed, Holy, Father God, this is exactly what I pray. Do Your important spiritual work. Be where my heart is right now. With my friend and her husband as they learn what the medical teams suggest.

Knowing and believing and trusting You to be far greater than any diagnosis or prognosis I ask the Truth of Matthew 14:14 on their behalf. “When He [Jesus] went ashore and saw a great throng of people, He had compassion (pity and deep sympathy) for them and cured their sick.”

Work Your will here Father. Bless them. Keep them. Smile down on them and show them Your kindness. Answer our prayers and give them Your peace (Numbers 6:24-26 Easy-to-Read Version).

This I humbly ask with so much love. Thank You. I Love You. Amen.

(500 words ~ 11:41 a.m.)