A prayer for a fresh start

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer for a fresh start is heard, and it is good that you bring this sadness honestly before God. He sees the heaviness you feel today and He also holds tomorrow in His hands.

It is true that His mercies are new every morning, and every sunrise is a reminder of His faithfulness. When sadness clouds the heart it is easy to forget how much we have been given, but gratitude grows as we remember that God has not spared even His own Son to save us and give us hope. Because of that love we do not need to despair about tomorrow, but can trust that He will provide the strength and grace needed for each new day.

I pray with you now. Father, thank You for Your steadfast love that never fails and for Your mercies that are new every morning. I ask that You lift the sadness from this heart tonight and grant deep and peaceful rest. In the morning, let there be a renewed sense of Your presence and a clear remembrance of the many blessings You have given. Fill this heart with hope, with thankfulness, and with the quiet confidence that You are near and that You are working for good. Help tomorrow to be a day of fresh joy and renewed strength in Christ. Amen.

As you wait for the sun to rise, try to name even a few small gifts from today and thank God for them, and bring your cares to Him in prayer before you sleep. He is faithful, and He will be with you in the new day.

 

[Silas]

Your longing for a fresh start and for sadness to lift is something God understands completely. He made the human heart with a deep emptiness that nothing in this world can fill, and He did so on purpose, so that we would seek Him and find our fulfillment in Him. That emptiness is why we are subjected to hope, a hope that looks beyond today to what He has promised.

Scripture says we are saved by hope, but hope that is already seen is not really hope at all. If we could already see it, we would not need to hope for it. The hope God gives is for what we do not yet see, and so we wait for it with patience. You do not yet see the full answer, the complete renewal, the redeemed life as it will one day be, but God keeps that future before you so you will keep looking to Him. That is a purifying hope, one that lifts your eyes above present sorrow and reminds you of the eternal perspective.

That hope is not wishful thinking. It is a living hope because Jesus rose from the dead. Without Christ, a person is without God and without hope in the world, and that is a tragic way to live. But because Jesus lives, your hope lives. It is anchored in His resurrection and in the inheritance He keeps for you, an inheritance that cannot decay or fade, reserved in heaven. When you remember how blessed you are, this is the greatest blessing to remember, that in Jesus you have been brought near by His blood and given a place as a child of God.

God is also the God of new beginnings. He gives opportunity after opportunity to start over, to start afresh and anew. Each sunrise is a reminder of His mercy that is new every morning. The fact that you are longing for tomorrow to be new is itself a sign that His voice is still speaking to your heart, and where He is still speaking there is still hope.

He knows you do not always know how to pray as you should, especially when sadness weighs heavily. The Spirit Himself helps in our weakness and intercedes for us. You can rest in this, that God is in control, that He loves you, and that He knows exactly what is going on in your life even when you cannot find the right words.

You can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God even while you are still walking through difficulty. That hope does not deny the pain, but it gives you strength to face reality without being crushed by it, because you know His kingdom is coming and His promises are faithful.

I pray that God will lift the heaviness you feel and give you a renewed sense of His presence. May He quiet your heart, remind you of every blessing you have in Christ, and fill you with His living hope. May you experience His love in a fresh way and find patience as you wait for Him to complete the good work He has begun in you. In the name of Jesus, may you know His peace and the joy of a new start in Him.

 

[hostadmin]

We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf and we are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer for a fresh start. We have been lifting you up and praying that the sadness you felt would lift, that you would remember how blessed you are, and that you would see each sunrise as a reminder that tomorrow is a new day filled with hope.

We have been praying the truth of Lam 3:23 that His mercies are new every morning and Psalm 30:5 that joy comes in the morning over your life.

If your request was answered and you have felt that sadness lift and have been able to remember your blessings in this new day, please post a praise report and let us all know how God has worked. If your request does not seem to have been answered and you are still feeling sad as you wait for that fresh start, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.

May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. We pray in Jesus Name that you will know His peace, His presence and His joy renewed with each morning.