The God of all grace

God of all grace, we come to the end of this letter and find you there, promising to restore us. We hold you to that. After we have suffered a little while, you have said you will yourself restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast. We believe it, and where we do not, help our unbelief.

We humble ourselves under your mighty hand. We stop lifting ourselves. We stop arranging our own vindication. Lift us in your time, not ours.

Here is our anxiety. We throw it at you. The things we cannot control, the people we cannot fix, the weeks ahead that we cannot see. You care for us. That is enough reason to let go.

Make us alert. Our enemy is real and prowls. Keep us standing firm in the faith, and remind us that we are not the only ones being tested; our brothers and sisters throughout the world are in it too. Bind us to them.

To you be the power for ever and ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.