National Day of Prayer - May 4, 2017

The Theme for this Year’s National Day of Prayer is:

“For Your Great Name’s Sake. Hear us… Forgive us… Heal us!”

(Taken from Daniel 9:19)

There is so much going on in our nation and in our world right now that can cause anxiety and concern. Prayer is a very effective means of getting that fear out of ourselves by calling upon a Higher Power to guide us, to protect us and to give us courage. And, so we pray:

Dear God,

Today, as I go about my day, please help me to feel the trust that You so beautifully provide to each one of us. Please help me to see beyond my issues to those of the fellow souls around me. Please help me to know and feel Your presence.

When I extend myself to the world’s issues, I lose my sense of security – please help me to bring that outer world closer in, to my nation, to my state, to my community, to my town, to my home and finally to my heart. Please help me to feel the sense of strength, courage and protection always available to me. Help me to realize that extending myself to the wider, outer world, only lessens myself by becoming too easily distracted and discouraged. Please help me to find the real sense of security in my heart.

Please help me to face the silence and not be afraid. Please help me to face my anger and not be afraid. Please help me to face my sadness and not be afraid. Please help me to face my lack of belief and not be afraid. Please help me to face any illness and not be afraid. Please help me to face my insecurities and not be afraid. Please help me to face all my fears and not be afraid ever again.

Please help me to rise above it all – the shame I may feel, the feelings of insecurity, the lack of belief in myself, the wrongs that I have done, the petty inequities to which I cling.

Please help me to be a person to whom others can count on, a person who faces his/her trials, a person who doesn’t complain, a person who seeks forgiveness instead of holding grudges.

Please help me to be cognizant of the beauty always surrounding me – that of humanity, of nature, of writings and creativity, of gifts of Grace, always available to me and continually being showered upon each one of us.

Please help me to dispel my feelings of boredom – how could I be bored with all that You have provided; please help me to let go of any addictions that take me away from my true self and get in the way of my relationships; please help me to release any need to prove myself in order to be accepted or approved of; please help me to stop vacating or escaping when I feel Your lessons coming toward me.

Dear Lord, please help me to be grateful for positively everything, to find gratitude for the hills that You’ve helped me climb, to be appreciative of all that I’ve become and all that is yet to come. Please continue to heal me and to bless me.

I ask this, as always, in Your Name. Amen.