Prayer: For my Son & Family

Dearest Lord, thank you for all you have given me. My life is overflowing with incredible experiences that I know you brought me to. Thank you for the opportunity to touch other's lives and the desire to know you through that service. Thank you for bringing me in touch with incredible people of all stripes and manner, and for the graciousness that you lend me so that I may receive them at my best.

Thank you for not letting me fall in this recent abyss of despair, doubt and remorse. Thank you for forgiving my stumbles, my immature faith in You. Thank you for your infinite patience while you watch me flounder and find you, flounder and find you. Please know I pursue our relationship with sincerity and vigor, despite my missteps.

Lord, I know you are watching over my son. Let he and I both be wrapped, bathed in your light. I yield myself and him to your wisdom. I know you don't give me anything I can't handle; let my fear of where you are taking me fall away like water from a cliff.

Touch my heart toward my daughter. Lend me but a cup of your patience as I move through this trying time without diminishing her with my struggle. Let me be reminded of Your light through her, and let me be in it rather than suppress it. She is but one of a trillion gifts you have given to the world and I have the unique treasure of being her father.

Be with my wife. Her days are of struggle, upset, stress. Guide me in helping her find a way to move through this with grace. Guide me in helping her find You. Guide me in overcoming myself to bring us to Your feet. Let us kneel as a team, work as partners and love with no bounds. Let Your love move through us in such volume that we banish our obstacles.

Our lives are in Your hands. Let me be strong in remembering - nay, never forgetting - this so that we will derive the comfort afforded us by our love for you. Our awe for you.

In Your name, Amen.

Prayer: Losing my Brother, Finding No Friend

Lord, thank you for your blessings and thank you for working in my life. I ask your continued patience as I seek to refine my "hearing" in drawing out those things you are communicating to me.

Despite my wants, I understand you have a greater intent. Forgive my lack of trust and curiosity wherein I desire to know why I am deprived of my brother and my friend. Also forgive my drowning in emotion over these things which leads me astray from focusing on the inherent message you are giving me.

I ask that you assist my inner vision, help keep it clear of the feelings of despair, loss and bewilderment I am experiencing. I do truly know you will guide me to an answer should that be what you intend for me. I also know and trust that answer will be witheld if I am not to know, which I will meet with patience and acceptance.

Please be with my brother and his family. You know of their challenges, and the challenges unique to my brother as the leader of his family. Please grant him insights which lead him closer to you and his family in turn.

Please be with my friend. I fear his recoil at my presence is due to an unecessary weight. If provided with the opportunity, please take my pledge that I will work in the most Christ-like way I know to right any wrongs I may have brought to his life. Peace be with him and his household.

Thank you for hearing me. In your name, Amen.