Oh Lord, my Savior.

Today my heart is so very tender.

I don’t want to feel, Lord, but today I feel so much.

Around me swirls heartache

and fear

and injustice

and trials of every kind.

It seems that we are being crushed from every. single. side.

It’s nearly unbearable the pain that I can see in my neighbor’s eye.

It’s beyond heartache to watch my colleague’s jaw tighten and throat clench as she holds back one. more. tear.

Pain, our pain, our earthly pain, is unavoidable. This, Lord Jesus, we know.

Our fallen world has given us gifts that are not from You. No, they are not of you, for you give us good gifts.

Instead of seeing your good gifts, we receive from the world and suffer alongside our brother.

Father, help me.

In all of my tenderness, in all of my feelings, help me to see.

Help me to receive your good and gracious gifts.

For even grace is a gift.

Lord, for my family, for my friends, for my neighbors,

grant them peace.

And hope.

And love.

And light.

Heavenly Father, as I sit in the hard, the tough, the tender,

may I only look to you for hope.

And may that hope come from you.

For you are the creator of all good things.

The giver of all good gifts.

Your compassion never fails,

and your mercies are new every morning.