a blessing for the courage to do something difficult
God, i am struggling to face
the difficult thing i know i should do.

o God, help me.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
i took courage,
for the hand of the Lord my God was on me.
Ezra 7:28

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

blessed are we who recognize, that strangely,
we are struggling under the weight
of the nothing that has happened
but needs to.
blessed we who say honestly, God,
this is so hard, and i don’t know why.
the longer i leave it, the worse it gets.

God, help me begin
—or even begin to begin—
though i can’t know how this will go.
come into that inner space
where i am secretly overwhelmed
yet hiding it, even from myself.

the fact is,
there is that one difficult thing.
and what if it were today
that it could start?
and even as I begin to notice how afraid i am,
i hear you say again
“I will strengthen you and help you” (Isaiah 41:10)
and the truth comes clear
that You go before me
and yet You are right here with me.
even now. love never fails.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

do what you know.
then ask for what you need next.
love wins.

when i am afraid, i will trust in You.
Psalm 56:3

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More from @KatecBowler

29 Jan
We want to tell the truth about the suffering of our world. But here are three things about the intensely URGENT AND APOCALYPTIC culture of Twitter actually prevents me from grappling with the truth about suffering sometimes. (thread)
1. Most people need to manage the amount of suffering they absorb in a day. Twitter seems to demand that you withstand life's terror every day, at all times, or else you are somehow complicit. I wish there were more grace for the way that we need moments of exposure and shelter.
In the cancer clinic, the nurses always turned off the news. I always appreciated that as a permission slip. One day's suffering is enough.
Read 6 tweets
21 Jan
a pandemic blessing when it feels hard to be loving
God, we know that we should be loving,
but it feels like this pandemic
has made it so much harder.

o God, give us what we need
to able to love others well in this paradox,
this strange mixture of isolation and closeness,
despair and wanting.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

I do not understand myself.
I want to do what is right but I do not do it.
instead, I do the very thing I hate.
Romans 3:15 NLV
Read 11 tweets
14 Jan
We will not be diminished in our faith by a culture of “thoughts and prayers.” We are a people praying for the courage and wisdom to act.

a blessing for when violence is done in the name of Jesus
Jesus we are furious.
we are trembling.
we are outraged,
that murderous acts of violence
are committed in Your Name.

Lord God, come and set things right,
starting right here, right now.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
the voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
psalm 29:4 KJV

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Read 12 tweets
4 Dec 20
a blessing when you need a little hope
o God these are darkening days,
with no hope in sight.

o God help us in our fear and desperation.
anchor us in hope!

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

“let not your heart be troubled;
you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
John 14:1
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

blessed are we with eyes open to see
the suffering from pandemic danger,
sickness and loneliness,
the injustice of racial oppression,
the unimpeded greed and misuse of power,
Read 8 tweets
26 Nov 20
a thanksgiving blessing when you don’t feel terribly thankful
God, i am struggling to find my way
toward gratitude this thanksgiving.

help my heart find joy,
for you know how much i need it.
come meet us in our needs
that weigh so heavily upon us.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
psalm 85:6

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Read 8 tweets
1 Nov 20
a blessing for the day we mourn our dead (All Saints’ Day)
o God, we have not been here before.
sorrows old and new envelop us
as we grieve in this new pandemic reality,
without hugs and funerals, shared jokes and fresh tears,
and graveside picnics to place flowers
for those long departed.
God, give us comfort that is bigger than all this,
and love that is stronger than all this.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
Read 9 tweets

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