Prayer for Farm Workers’ Struggle

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Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people’s plight.
Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.
Help me take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.
Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.
Give me honesty and patience;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.
Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.
Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.
Amen..
– César Chávez

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Comfort in Sickness

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Heavenly Father
I call on you. I ask you to touch [us] with your healing power.
Cast out all sickness and recreate [us].
Let the warmth of your healing love pass through [us].
Lord grant that [we] will be free from pain,
from anxiety, and from discomfort.
Please allow your love and the compassion of caregivers,
family and friends to bring peace and comfort to [us].
This we ask through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
– Walter Whitmore

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Prayer for Help When Caring for Aged and Infirm Parents

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Lord, when we are infants, you partner with our parents in loving
and caring for us. My parent(s) is (are) now elderly and infirm, and
I ask that you partner with me in giving (her, him, them) the same
tender loving care. Give me the strength to be fully present for
my (mother, father, parents) and lovingly tend to (her, his, their)
needs and the wisdom to take time out to tend to my physical,
emotional, and spiritual needs as I care for (her, him, them).
Amen..
– Holy Names Chapel

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Coming Together—Growing Together

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We light the light of a new idea.
It is the light of our coming together.
It is the light of our growing;
to know new things,
to see new beauty,
to feel new love.
– Unitarian Chalice Lighting Invocation

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Lift Me Up

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My Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee.
Thou and Thou alone knowest my needs.
Thou lovest me more than I am able to love Thee.
O Father, grant unto me, Thy servant, all which I cannot ask.
For a cross I dare not ask, nor for consolation;
I dare only to stand in Thy presence.
My heart is open to Thee.
Thou seest my needs of which I myself am unaware.
Behold and lift me up!
In Thy presence I stand,
awed and silenced by Thy will and Thy judgments,
into which my mind cannot penetrate.
To Thee I offer myself as a sacrifice.
No other desire is mine but to fulfill Thy will.
Teach me how to pray.
Do Thyself pray within me.
Amen.
– Prayer of Philaret, Moscow: 1782–1867

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Transforming Pain to Joy

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May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for
justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who
suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may
reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain
into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are
able,
with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Savior,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore.
Amen.
– Benedictine Blessing

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Shelter in Any Storm of Fear and Trouble

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Almighty God, the Refuge of all that are distressed, grant unto
us that in all trouble of this our mortal life, we may flee to the
knowledge of Thy lovingkindness and tender mercy; that so,
sheltering ourselves therein, the storms of life may pass over us,
and not shake the peace of God that is within us. Whatsoever this
life may bring us, grant that it may never take from us the full faith
that Thou art our Father. Grant us Thy light, that we may have life,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen..
– George Dawson

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Where Your Treasure Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also

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Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon the earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break though and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.

—St. Matthew, 6:19–21, KJV

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Read Your Own Heart Right

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We would have inward peace,
yet will not look within;
we would have misery cease,
yet will not cease from sin.

Once, read your own heart right
and you will have done with fears;
man gets no other light
though he search a thousand years.

—Matthew Arnold, 1852

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.

Give Me Strength for Today and Hope for Tomorrow

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God, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to You.
Do not hide from me in the day of my distress;
turn to me and speedily answer my prayer.
Eternal God, Source of healing,
out of my distress I call upon You.
Help me sense Your presence at this difficult time.
Grant me patience when the hours are heavy;
in hurt or disappointment give me courage.
Keep me trustful in Your love.
Give me strength for today, and hope for tomorrow.
To your loving hands I commit my spirit
when asleep and when awake.
You are with me; I shall not fear.

—Traditional Jewish Healing Prayer

 

 

This post is an excerpt from Prayers for Hard Times by Becca Anderson, which can be found at Amazon and Mango Media.