Morning Prayer

God, 

As we come to you this morning, we realize that sometimes we don’t even know what to ask for. And so we ask that when words fail us, Holy Spirit, would you, who are closer to us than our very breath, intercede on our behalf with words and sighs too deep for us to understand. 

And where we can find the words, we ask that you would give us the confidence of your children to ask for what we need….

We need courage…not in the moments when we have nothing to fear or risk, but when we face giants bigger than we have ever known. When our comfort zone is nowhere to be found and we are hanging on for dear life.

We need the ability to love. Not in the moments where love feels easy and perfect but when it is difficult, when it causes us to dig deeper than we would like and our heart is breaking and we feel that we have nothing more to give.

We need hope. Not just in the moments when we bask in the warmth of the sun and things are going our way, but in the moments in the middle of the tunnel where we find ourselves feeling our way through the dark. When we are uncertain if we can take another step.

We need peace. Not in the midst of the stillness, but in the middle of the storm, where we continue to wrestle with questions and don’t know how to find answers.

We need faith, not the faith that comes with certainty and clean-cut answers, but a faith that is big enough to allow for questions, doubts and uncertainties. 

And we need grace, not the kind that really isn’t needed because we think we have it all put together, but the grace that accepts us as we are- When our masks have come off and our mistakes and failures are laid bare before us.

Our prayer this morning 

is that we would know peace amidst the chaos-

 to know that you are still creating. 

That we would be courageous- 

and not let fear have the last word. 

That we would hope against hope- 

even when it doesn’t make sense. 

That we would love until it hurts-

 and not let it stop us from loving again. 

That we would know the grace that wrote us into God’s story 

and continues to turn the pages toward a more abundant life…

Amen.