A Prayer about Our Hope in Broken Stories
A Prayer about Our Hope in Broken Stories
They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4
Restoring God,
Today we lift up all who are in the middle of a story
that feels like it has been torn up and tossed in the trash.
The woman who has had three miscarriages in the past two years,
The child who just heard of her parent’s divorce,
The man who has received a cancer diagnosis,
The people who experience marginalization
because of their skin color or nationality…
The list goes on and on and on.
Help us to look for what we really need to see
in the midst of such stories:
your restoring work that is happening even today
and will be completed when Jesus returns.
Here is just some of the good news Jesus speaks to us through Isaiah:
Instead of streaks of tears sullying your face,
your face will shine with the oil of gladness
and the hope of restoration (Isaiah 61:3).
No longer shriveled by sin and sadness,
you will stand strong,
planted firmly in the Lord’s steadfast love,
like a mighty oak waving its leaf-laden branches
in praise of the Lord’s glory (Isaiah 61:3).
The ruins of your life will be rebuilt,
losses to the evil one will be restored,
relationships ravaged by sin will be revived (Isaiah 61:4).
Help us to meditate on this future
which you are writing into our broken stories even today.
In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.
Read Isaiah 61:1-11.
Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage
author, life and legacy coach, speaker
Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage is the author of Preparing for Glory: Biblical Answers to 40 Questions on Living and Dying in Hope of Heaven.
(affiliate link)
![When’s the last time you highlighted your weakness?
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor. 12:10
All-Powerful God,
We confess,
we in Western culture
crave power, control, and independence.
The last thing we want
is to be seen as weak.
And yet, weakness is the way of Christ,
so it must be our way as well.
The apostle Paul understood that,
so in the face of accusations
that he wasn’t an apostle,
he countered the boasting of the “super-apostles”
with some boasting of his own:
“If I must boast,
I will boast of the things
that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30).
And then he mentions how he was lowered in a basket through the window of a wall in Damascus, of all places,
a place he went to persecute Jews only to be knocked down on the road,
struck blind, by his Lord and Savior himself.
Paul shares many other weaknesses in 2 Corinthians,
a book that’s all about weakness as the way
of followers of Christ.
He asked that you would relieve him from a “thorn in the flesh,”
but you did not.
Instead, you said,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
Lord, we know we really are weak —
[for each of these areas, name any weaknesses you have]
weak in our bodies,
weak in our work,
weak in our wills,
Weak in our faith,
Weak in our hope,
Weak in our love.
We believe
that you your power is made perfect
in and through our weakness.
Help our unbelief.
In Jesus’s name. Amen.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:10.
#Dailyprayer #devotional
#hopewriterlife #goodnewsfeed #votd #Biblestudy #dailydevotions #grace #dailyverse #womensministry #aging
#gospelshaped #shereadstruth #womenoftheword #christianliving](https://www.elizabethturnage.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)