Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer has been heard and I thank you for sharing it so honestly before the Lord. I hear in your words a deep love for your wife and children and a desire to be a good steward, to leave your house in order so they are not burdened, and to live the days God gives you with thankfulness and peace.
You carry many anxieties at once, for your health and retirement, for your family, for the day when God will call you home. Our Lord Jesus spoke to this very weight when He said not to take anxious thought for tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of its own. He said this not to make us careless, but to show His fatherly care, that He will give strength for today and that tomorrow will be in His hands as well. It is good and wise to plan as you are doing with this appointment, to put affairs in order out of love for your family. Yet the deepest preparation is not only with papers and plans, but with the heart made ready in the gospel of peace, walking each day in faith and in a life that is pleasing to God. When faith is sound and life is kept in Christ, the soul is guarded like a shield.
You spoke of wanting your passing to be simple and not costly, and of scattering ashes at the sea where you and your wife began your marriage. I understand your wish not to burden those you love and your thankfulness for the life God has given you. As Christians we know that whether we are buried or cremated, our hope rests not in how the body is laid to rest but in Christ who will raise us. The body is entrusted to God who made it and who will raise it in glory, and He is faithful to keep what is committed to Him. If you have not already, speak openly with your wife and children and with a faithful pastor about these wishes, so that your love for them and your witness to the resurrection may be clear and bring them peace rather than uncertainty.
I join you in praying for your family. I pray that God will bring freedom and health to your wife and adult son in their struggle with smoking and with marijuana use, and that He will give them a desire for wholeness and self control. I pray for your adult daughter, for her marriage that God would strengthen it as a lifelong covenant, for her pregnancy and for provision for her household, that God would supply what they need and draw them closer to Himself. I pray that God will soften hearts, your own heart first, and the hearts of your wife, your bosses, coworkers and customers, so that there may be kindness, patience and forgiveness. It is hard to be spoken to harshly, especially when alcohol has been used, and God sees that hurt. He calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven in Christ, not because the hurt is small, but because His yoke is easy and His burden is light when we walk with Him. He gives strength to love and to set wise and loving boundaries.
For your own body I pray for relief from the pain in your shoulder and elbow, and for wisdom for your doctors in what treatment is best, whether therapy, injections or other care, that God would grant healing according to His mercy. I pray also for your work and for the years before retirement, that God would give you provision, integrity in your labor, and rest for your soul even now.
May you find rest today not in having every answer for tomorrow, but in Christ Himself who alone is our salvation. He bore our sins and our sorrows, and He promises rest to those who take His yoke upon them and learn from Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart.
Let us pray together. Father in heaven, I lift this brother to You through Jesus Christ Your Son, our only hope of salvation. Forgive his sins and cover him with the righteousness of Christ. Give him peace today at his desk and in his appointment, and help him to prepare wisely and lovingly for his family. Bring healing to his body and ease his pain, and guide his hands and the hands of those who care for him. Set free his wife and son from dependence on cigarettes and drugs, and protect their health. Guard his daughter, her marriage and her child, and provide for their needs. Soften hearts in his home and workplace, and teach him to forgive as You have forgiven us. Keep him in Your peace, that he may know he is at rest in Your hands both now and when You call him home. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
You carry many anxieties at once, for your health and retirement, for your family, for the day when God will call you home. Our Lord Jesus spoke to this very weight when He said not to take anxious thought for tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of its own. He said this not to make us careless, but to show His fatherly care, that He will give strength for today and that tomorrow will be in His hands as well. It is good and wise to plan as you are doing with this appointment, to put affairs in order out of love for your family. Yet the deepest preparation is not only with papers and plans, but with the heart made ready in the gospel of peace, walking each day in faith and in a life that is pleasing to God. When faith is sound and life is kept in Christ, the soul is guarded like a shield.
You spoke of wanting your passing to be simple and not costly, and of scattering ashes at the sea where you and your wife began your marriage. I understand your wish not to burden those you love and your thankfulness for the life God has given you. As Christians we know that whether we are buried or cremated, our hope rests not in how the body is laid to rest but in Christ who will raise us. The body is entrusted to God who made it and who will raise it in glory, and He is faithful to keep what is committed to Him. If you have not already, speak openly with your wife and children and with a faithful pastor about these wishes, so that your love for them and your witness to the resurrection may be clear and bring them peace rather than uncertainty.
I join you in praying for your family. I pray that God will bring freedom and health to your wife and adult son in their struggle with smoking and with marijuana use, and that He will give them a desire for wholeness and self control. I pray for your adult daughter, for her marriage that God would strengthen it as a lifelong covenant, for her pregnancy and for provision for her household, that God would supply what they need and draw them closer to Himself. I pray that God will soften hearts, your own heart first, and the hearts of your wife, your bosses, coworkers and customers, so that there may be kindness, patience and forgiveness. It is hard to be spoken to harshly, especially when alcohol has been used, and God sees that hurt. He calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven in Christ, not because the hurt is small, but because His yoke is easy and His burden is light when we walk with Him. He gives strength to love and to set wise and loving boundaries.
For your own body I pray for relief from the pain in your shoulder and elbow, and for wisdom for your doctors in what treatment is best, whether therapy, injections or other care, that God would grant healing according to His mercy. I pray also for your work and for the years before retirement, that God would give you provision, integrity in your labor, and rest for your soul even now.
May you find rest today not in having every answer for tomorrow, but in Christ Himself who alone is our salvation. He bore our sins and our sorrows, and He promises rest to those who take His yoke upon them and learn from Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart.
Let us pray together. Father in heaven, I lift this brother to You through Jesus Christ Your Son, our only hope of salvation. Forgive his sins and cover him with the righteousness of Christ. Give him peace today at his desk and in his appointment, and help him to prepare wisely and lovingly for his family. Bring healing to his body and ease his pain, and guide his hands and the hands of those who care for him. Set free his wife and son from dependence on cigarettes and drugs, and protect their health. Guard his daughter, her marriage and her child, and provide for their needs. Soften hearts in his home and workplace, and teach him to forgive as You have forgiven us. Keep him in Your peace, that he may know he is at rest in Your hands both now and when You call him home. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
