Lord, I have read and heard a lot this week. Many of those stories made me feel like I was traveling through a portal of stupidity. Often I found myself asking the following questions: Lord, is my thinking off track? Or are people now enjoying conflict? And why are they enjoying being hoodwinked? What is making them so gullible? And why can’t they see they are being invalidated?
Lord, as I sat in bewilderment over the troubles of the world, I asked, yet, another question, “Where is common sense?” Has it left the world? Has it found a hiding place? Is it sad because humankind no longer has a need for it? Lord, where is common sense? Because as I see things, who would enjoy heartaches, trials and tribulations?
Nothing I read or heard this week made any sense at all except for: “Something that sounds correct could be incorrect.”
— Prayer —
Lord, please bless the world with common sense. For without it mankind will become void in all their ways. So, again, please Lord bless the world with common sense. Amen
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
Artist: Henry Lee Battle
Dear Lord:
Your word says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” My prayer today is about what does it mean to trust in you? Or should I pray for answers to the following questions: How does a person trust in you Lord? Does this passage support our free will ? And how does it support common sense?
Lord my questions are not original (although I wish they were). But many before me have asked the same during moments of spiritual isolation. And, sadly, so many after me will pose the same question(s) during moments of uncertainty. So, Lord, again, I ask what does it mean to trust in you? Because sometimes Lord I’m afraid those that believe in you fail to know what it means to truly trust in you.
And for that reason Lord, I am asking that you help us to know what you mean in this passage. Help us to merge the wisdom of God with our instinct to spiritually and physically survive. Help us to refrain from blaming you when things don’t go as planned and according to our interpretation of your words. Help us to accept defeat as well as our victories during moments of spiritual growth. So, Lord, I ask again, help us to truly know what it means to trust in you. Amen.
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength. –Corrie Ten Boom
Artist: Henry Lee Battle
Lord, I am worried. And I am [sigh] not alone. I need for you to minister to my lowly spirit and those that feel the same as I do. Lord, we need to hear from you. Make your Holy presence known in giving us signs that everything is going to be alright. Lord, I’m not sure of the challenges my brothers and sisters in Christ are facing this morning but my challenges for today are: I have no money to meet the demands of my responsibilities and financial obligations. And adding to my list of worries last night the stove decided to join the refrigerator and go on the blink. And my efforts to secure financial stability and generational legacy seem fruitless. The feeling of defeat is hovering over my head as a continual reminder I am failing as a daughter, sister, mother, wife, and entrepreneur.
Please, Lord, keep the defeatist attitude away. Please help me and those that feel like me stay positive in the midst of life’s storms. Become our lighthouse and guide us safely to harbor oh Lord. Amen
¹²While Jesus was in one of the town, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” ¹³Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing.” he said. “Be Clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.“
Lord, some people talk too much because they want other’s to hear their “know it all” speeches; then again some people talk too much because of nerves chatter; and, then, Lord, some people talk too much because of self-absorption. But this prayer is for those that talk to much because of emotional and mental pain that overflows into their daily conversations.
Lord, help the person that is in emotional or mental pain to see that you enter into their lives everyday. Lord help them to understand you know their spirits are filled with worries. Let them know Lord they are no different from the man with leprosy when it comes to your unyielding love for your creation. Lord, allow them to feel your presence; and gently convey to their spirits that you stand waiting to heal their brokenness. Lord, give them the words to ask in prayer for guidance and healing as they create a dialogue between you and them.
I am asking for you to do these things Lord because: I have found those that unwittingly share life experiences have been greatly wounded. And because of their sorrows I come humbly before your Throne of Grace. So, once again, Lord, I am asking for divine healing for those that talk too much as they try to ease their emotional and mental pains. Lord, I ask that they find a true friend in you. Lord, I pray that you begin to peel the layers of untold anguish from their unconscious minds. Exposing their raw emotions for what they are as you help them to deal with each heartache privately. For in lessening their spiritual suffering they can find hope. And in finding hope they will find wisdom in who to share your blessings among and their tribulations with.
As I reflect on heart-felt thoughts in celebration about motherhood, this is a painful memory of a barren woman I understood.
There’s no prescription that can help her out.
There’s no one who can hear her inward painful shouts.
She suffers alone the shameful thoughts of being barren
And feel there is no one who really is truly caring.
She can never see rays from morning sunshine’s.
In the deepest of her barren womb despair
Her companions love can never compare
To a little one that is not there.
So as she looks upon baby bumps you see
All she understands is there no child within me.
She feels she’s to blame for being barren you see,
As she continues to recite there is no child within me.
She questions the universe as to what she has done
To deserve the unbearable fate of having no little one.
Her womb will not give birth to little Samantha or Nate
She feels she will never hear the patter of little feet herself proclaim fate.
As a mother and a woman with total compassion
I would like to express to the woman with a barren womb
Please don’t bury yourself in an unnamed tomb.
For I feel you are more special than I
Because the creator walks by your mournful side.
So in celebration of motherhood everywhere
Let us take time to remember the barren woman in despair.
For the burden of being barren make her special you see,
Because she has taught us to cherish the children given unto thee.
Black Women Have It Going On 