Dear God,
Thank you for reminding us in your Word that we do not face the storms alone, but you are always with us. Whispering calm. Speaking peace. Bringing rest to our souls.
This world feels like a hard place some days; it's hurting and broken. We pray for those who are facing deep losses right now, for the times that grief has covered us all. Please comfort us through the painful seasons, surrounding those we love with your huge peace and the reassuring presence of your Holy Spirit.
We confess our need for you. We ask you to forgive us for trying to figure everything out on our own, for not trusting that you are more than able and powerful to work on our behalf. Forgive us for picking back up what we already determined to lay down at your feet. Give us the ability to trust you more, give us hearts that find rest in your presence. Give us the wisdom to seek peace and pursue it, remembering that it's only to be found in you.
Thank you for the promise that your yoke is easy, and your burden is light. Thank you that you care for us so incredibly and that the peace of your loving presence guards and protects our hearts and minds in you. Thank you that we never have to walk in fear or live constantly in these overwhelmed cycles of worry and stress.
Help us to keep our eyes on you, and to see when another soul around us needs to be encouraged. Help us to be faithful to carry one another's burdens, remembering that we're all in this life together, and there's such great power in unity and love.
Thank you that you are the soul refresher, the One who brings us rest, lifts our burdens, and gives peace. Thank you that you renew our strength and encourage our weary hearts. Thank you that you know our needs before we even ask you, that you know our thoughts, and all that troubles us today.
We ask you to please bring us into seasons of refreshing from your Spirit, that you would draw us closer to your presence as we seek to follow you. Help us to remember what's most important in this world, and what's not. Teach us to hold on to what matters, and to better know how to let go of what doesn't.
Thank you for the gift of Jesus and the freedom He brings. For no matter what we go through in this life, or what we're up against today, we never have to be shaken. You hold us secure, and we're kept safe with you.
We love you Lord. We need you today, to once again lift from our hearts this heaviness and constant burden, as only you are able. And help us to find rest and hope in you again.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
Father, my heart is heavy. I feel like I have to carry the burden alone. Words like "overwhelmed," "distraught," "exhausted" seem to describe where I am. I am not sure how to let you carry my heavy load, so please show me how. Take it from me. Let me rest and be refreshed so that my heart won't be so heavy in the morning. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Loving Lord Jesus, whose hands are underneath our lowest feelings to support us as we rest in you. Hold me in this dark place and sustain my life with your hope. Let the light of your love warm my heart, and your Holy Spirit, the comforter, be with me to lift me up. Amen.
Father in heaven, God of power and Lord of mercy, from whose fullness we have received, direct our steps in our every day efforts. May the changing moods of the human heart and the limits which our failings impose on hope never blind us to you, source of every good. Faith gives us the promise of peace and makes known the demands of love. Remove the selfishness that blurs the vision of faith. Amen.
Like travellers lost in a hot and arid desert, we cry out to You, O Lord.
Like those shipwrecked on a barren coast, we cry out to You, O Lord.
Like a father robbed of a loaf of bread that he was bringing home to his starving children, we cry out to You, O Lord.
Like a prisoner cast into a dank and dark dungeon by an unjust potentate, we cry out to You, O Lord.
Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may know that the race is not always to the swift---that there is more to life than increasing its speed. Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny. Amen.
I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth; in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come to me all that desire me and be filled with my fruits. O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Grace, Hope of the world. Hear us, your children, who cry to you.
Let us pray - O God, who by the marvelous protection of the blessed Virgin Mary has strengthened us firmly in hope, grant we beseech You, that by persevering in prayer at her admonition, we may obtain the favors we devoutly implore. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Heavenly father, in my present need, help me to believe that you are aware of my anxiety and will do what is best for me. Give me the strength to trust you and put the present and future in your hands. Grant this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.