Open Yourself to God (Be Still)

To pray means to open your hands before God. It means slowly relaxing the tension that squeezes your hands together and accepting your existence with an increasing readiness, not as a possession to defend, but as a gift to receive. Above all, prayer is a way of life that allows you to find stillness in the midst of the world where you open your hands to God’s promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbor, and your world. In prayer, you encounter God not only in the small voice and the soft breeze, but also in the midst of the turmoil of the world, in the distress and joy of your neighbor, and in the loneliness of your own heart.

Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life that gives you freedom to go and to stay where you wish, to find the many signs that point out the way to a new land. Praying is not simply some necessary compartment in the daily schedule of a Christian or a source of support in a time of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday mornings or mealtimes. Praying is living. It is eating and drinking, acting and resting, teaching and learning, playing and working. Praying pervades every aspect of our lives. It is the unceasing recognition that God is wherever we are, always inviting us to come closer and to celebrate the divine gift of being alive.

In the end, a life of prayer is a life with open hands—a life where we need not be ashamed of our weaknesses but realize that it is more perfect for us to be led by the Other than to try to hold everything in our own hands.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

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Lord, I have been going through a difficult time, as have so many people I know.

Help me see that You are with me in the midst of my difficulties.

Help me to be still and sense Your presence.

Help me to sense afresh Your unfailing love for me

Help me to trust You that Your strength is made perfect in my weakness

Help me to know that You are always in control

Help me to be always open to what You are doing in my life

Help me to reach out to You, knowing that my life is in Your hands, and You will never let me go.

Help me move beyond the bondage of my circumstances and return to the place of joy and worship in Jesus' name

AMEN

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