Your Story, Our Story

Lord of life giving hope, in you we are free to offer our honest grief and to be open with you about the realities of our ongoing suffering. When we are honest in our grief and when we allow our stories of pain and suffering to be caught up in and connected with your story of pain and suffering, your story becomes our story and your end becomes our end. When we can only sing lament, you finish our songs with triumph. Your grief does not end in failure. No matter what kind of death we experience, no matter what failure may apparently overwhelm us, when our stories are caught up in yours, our stories always end in resurrection.

God, I just can't see the way out of this storm. But you do see it. You do know the end. Help me to put my trust in you. Help me to connect my story to yours. Help me to interpret my own experience through the lens of your experience. Defeat the monster inside of me, put to death the lies that have infiltrated my identity. Purify me and give me a new heart. Put your heart in my chest and let it beat for you. May I endure your suffering so that I might share in your resurrection. In the name of your crucified and glorified son, Jesus. Amen.