A Prayer for the 30004 Community

Dear Lord,

We are tired. We are worn out. We feel so heavy under the weight of all the recent losses in our 30004 community. We have lost mothers, sisters, friends, coaches, fathers, sons. All taken seemingly too soon, with ginormous holes to fill. I beg You, will You fill those holes. Will you lift the heads of the weary family members who can barely rise out of bed to do their work. Will You pour out Your grace into the homes of the families where a seat is empty and remains unfilled. Will You strengthen these friends and family members who have grown weary through grief, giving them grace upon grace as every wave of grief washes over them. Renew their strength. Your grace and strength are unexplainable, may they get to experience it in full bloom right now. You promise that You are near to the brokenhearted, Lord, we ask You to help the grieving feel that and believe that. In this season of utter pain and unmatched sorrow, will You be the one thing that remains for them. Unwavering. Unexplainable. Unmatched grace for the hardship they are encountering.

To the remaining, this side of heaven people, may we not forget that life is a vapor and to spend it well. Spend it on the people You have given us care over, the gifts and talents we have to be spent on things of value…people. You knew these days would come, and You are intimately acquainted with grief. So when You promise that You are good, may our grieving friends and family find that to be the truest now in their life in the midst of deep sorrow. Hard providence and this fallen world remain and leave wounds, but You, Lord, You are good.

So Lord I ask you to bottle up these tears, breathe new life into the grieving, give them a new song in the morning, and let the memories in their hearts and minds of their loved ones remain unfaded. We trust you. We surrender what we do not know or understand. We trust You’re good when life is not. You promise strength for the weak, fulfill that over and abundantly for these many families.

Amen.