Needing Reassurance? God is our Rock and Salvation

Dear God, Creator of All,

I am feeling so anxious right now. Something has happened ( . . . here tell Him what the problem is) and I am so scared. I am not sure how things will go, and I don't know what to do. I am panicking, my heart is racing, my mouth is dry and my hands feel damp. I need to take a big breath and calm down, and I just don't know how to do it. Please help me in my hour of need. Give me the calmness to face the problem, the strength to deal with it, the courage to take any steps that need to be taken.

I feel as if others do not know or appreciate how I feel, and how the situation is affecting me. Please grant me the grace to be patient with them, courteous in speech, and calm in manner. Deat God, I trust in You. Please help me at this difficult time.

Perhaps I have not turned to you before, but I'm turning to you now. I need a rock in my life, as I am in a whirlpool and don't know how to get out.

Your son / your daughter


Dear Son / Daughter,

I am thrilled you have turned to me. Of course I will help you. Look at the problem from my perspective. From all eternity I look and see that everything can be handled if people listen to each other, face up to the situation, and take step after step to deal with it. You are surely not alone. Look around you. Do you have even one friend in your situation now to whom you can turn to in order to talk about the problem?  Is there someone you can turn to for comfort, reassurance and advice? Perhaps there is a respected person in your community to whom you can go for guidance. And there is always Me - so interested in all you are doing, and in all that is happening to you. I see this situation, and truly I have many great graces; invite my Strength and Power into your life, and I will do what I can to help.

I am the Rock in your life. No matter what happens, how bad it gets, how difficult it seems, let me shoulder the burden with you. You are never alone. Dearest one, why not light a candle at 
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng
I have most certainly heard your prayer, and the symbol of your lighted candle of prayer before my sight will perhaps comfort you greatly. Let me comfort you at this difficult time. I am your Father; you are my child.  Let us work through this together.

Your loving Father God

My soul finds rest in God alone;
  my salvation comes from Him.
He alone is my Rock and my Salvation:
  He is my fortress, I will never be
          shaken.
                     Old Testament, Psalm 62, verses 1 and 2

My salvation  and my honour depend on 
       God;
 He is my mighty Rock, my refuge.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
  pour out your heart to Him
  for God is our Refuge.
                    Old Testament, Psalm 62, verses 7 to 8.

A special blessing for all struggling from war

For all who are struggling from war,
From the terrors it brings -
From the results that accumulate.
From the losses we incur;
From the grieving for the husbands, fiancees, loved ones, friends we have lost and who can never be replaced on this earth,
May this special blessing be upon you; -

Heavenly God,
Keep your Great and Loving Hand over those who are affected by war and pain. Help our brothers and sisters in the human family who are struggling with the effects of past wars, or painfully undergoing a present war.

May special blessing be upon you, dear reader, at this time. May you be healed of all your trauma and sorrow. Worship services and prayers have been offered for you.

Rev. Catherine Nicolette.

Prayer at the Last

Let this be my last word,
That I trust in thy love.
                                            Rabindragath Tagore


The day will come when each of us will be called upon by the great God to wind up the tapestry of our life, and allow the angel to remove the strings of our earthly being from the tapestry frame on which our life has rested during this earthly life. As the angel removes our life and we prepare to bring before God the works of our hands, the thoughts of our minds, the prayers of our hearts, may we be able to look at the tapestry and see many glowing colours of wonderful things we have done. Yet, truth be told, there will be gaps in the canvas and mistakes in the stitches - we all have learned lessons through making mistakes. However, Rabindragath Tagore has told us through the song of his words that, at this great moment of our birth into everlasting life, let our last word be of unshakeable trust in the love of our Creator God, the Father of the human race.


Let us be able to humbly say as we enter the Great and Luminous Presence, that we trust in His Love.


God of all, Your Love will cover all our mistakes with mercy.
Lord, Your Love will fill with compassion, all the gaps of the things we should have done in our lives and didn't do.
Creator, Your Love will rejoice in the glowing works of compassion and love we have carried out, and the lamp of Your Love and Great Works will burn more brightly and be burnished by the flame of our love.
Heavenly One, Your Love will quietly repair the damage we have wrought in the lives of others by our sinfulness, ignorance and fear.
But, above all dear God, may my judgement rest entirely
in Your Love
Because Your Love covers all the earth like a carpet of flowers covers the universe of the Namaqualand veld,
The waters of Your Love rage relentless and all encompassing over the plates of the earth as the ocean,
And Your Love is as gentle and forgiving as the dewdrop
caressing the young daisy as it raises its shy face to the quiet sun in the morning after the rain.


Dear God
Please let my judgement rest
on the bounty of Your Love;
and on the small flame of
my love for You.
Amen. 


*Photograph by Catherine Nicolette of the morning after the rain, Dublin, beautiful Ireland. Please feel free to use copyright free for any worthy purpose

Prayer for the afflicted in the ferry sinking, India

Dear Creator of all, we remember in prayer 

all who recently lost their lives so tragically

in the recent ferry sinking on Brahmaputra River

in Dhubri, Assam. We pray for those who were

injured, for all the families of the ferryboat 

passengers, and for all who assisted the

afflicted. Please accept the symbol of

 the candle we have lit in 

remembrance of all those who

 have suffered in the tragedy. 

Amen.

Prayer works Miracles

More things are wrought by PRAYER

than this world dreams of.

Wherefore, let thy voice rise 


like a fountain for me


night and day.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Dear Reader,

Spend a few moments here in prayer,

quiet reflection. You are unutterably

precious to God. He created you utterly

unique. God does not make mistakes.

He has created you for some great purpose.

Each one of us, his sons and daughters,

has a mission in life. And your greatest

strength - is prayer. Have no doubt,

prayer is a great force, it is the communication

between God and yourself.

Have confidence in your gift of prayer.

Do not be downhearted if God answers 'no'

or 'not now' to your request. Only He knows

whether your request would cause problems for

you down the road. Rely on His strength and

wisdom; trust in His goodness.

Rejoice when He says 'yes'.

Never be shy to pray - more things have, indeed,

been wrought by prayer than we will

ever realise on this side of the veil.






*Photograph by Catherine Nicolette - please feel free to use 
copyright free for any worthy purpose

Prayer of Kindness and Compassion

Every time you reach out with your heart, your words,
or your deeds to someone else - - 
Sharing with them the kindness and compassion
that emanate from you;
You not only remind them 
That they are not alone in this world,
but you remind yourself too.
You are a special person,
and the world is better with you in it.


Reverend Amy Long, Universal Life Church


*Photograph by Catherine Nicolette. Please feel free to use copyright free for any worthy purpose

Prayer in Desperation

A Letter

Dear God,

I am in the winter of my soul. I am alone. My friends are gone. I have health problems, and the bank is wanting to foreclose on me. It looks as if my marriage is on the rocks. I don't see any way out. I feel worthless and more alone than at any other time of my life. I am hurting deep within so badly, that my emotional pain is as strong as any physical pain. Please tell me what to do. I am absolutely desperate. And anyhow, where are You? You were supposed to be a caring God. I don't even feel you near anymore. Are you even real? If you are, please show me what to do.


Desperate,
Earth

A Return Letter
My beloved Desperate,


I know you are in the winter of your soul. I know all about your problems. What concerns me most is that you feel worthless. You! My beloved child! Worthless? You are more precious to me than gold or silver. I incarnated on earth so I could be your friend by understanding what you are going through better than if I had just stayed in my eternal Home. Of course I will tell you what to do. Lean on Me. We will face your marriage partnership - together. We will talk to the Bank - together. We will visit the Doctor - together. We will deal with your hurt - together. We will find new friends, and perhaps ones that won't just be 'fairweather friends' - you guessed it - together.


You see this path of snow in winter? I struggled up paths in the cold weather with cold feet and numb fingers in my earthly incarnation. I really couldn't believe that my creation could be this cold... it is one thing making the weather and the wondrous earth and all the complexities that go into ensuring creation works like clockwork and doesn't get blown out of the universe by the various asteroids that wander along through my creation from time to time. It's certainly another to be struggling along in the miserable wet and icy cold, feeling as if your human nose is going to fall off in the freeze. Yes, incarnating certainly was an eye-opener. But I'm getting off the point - you'll notice, I do that a lot, Desperate. It's because I enjoy your company so much, I feel I can just keep on talking to you. Oh wait! I think you'll have guessed the truth by now - you were quite right in your assessment of your problems, except for one; your friends have not all gone. Your best friend is still here, and has absolutely no intention of budging from your side until you get through this in one piece...


Well. The picture. The path of snow in winter. If you just keep on walking up to the top, you can't see me but I'm just sitting on the bench around the corner waiting for you to arrive. We''ll walk on together, and we can talk about your issues. I always find that when you talk out a problem, well, just getting it off your chest and getting some ideas about it makes the problem seem much less intense. You will excuse me not coming down the hill to walk up with you, I'm just sorting out a problem elsewhere in the universe which one of the angels has brought to me. Ah! Sorted! Are you coming? I'm waiting...


Oh. Just one more thing before I sign off,
I really love you.


Your loving Companion
The Creator God 

Prayer for the blessing of the Light of God

 

        An Irish Blessing 

May the blessing of Light be on you -

light without and light within,

May the blessed sunlight shine on you

and warm your heart till it glows like

a great peat fire, so that the stranger

may come and warm himself at it, and

also a friend.

And may the light shine out of the two

eyes of you, like a candle set in two

windows of a house, bidding the wanderer

to come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the Rain be on you -

the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your

spirit so that all the little flowers may

spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air.

And may the blessing of the Great Rains be on

you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash

it fair and clean, and leave there many a

shining pool where the blue of heaven shines,

and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the Earth be on you -

the great round earth; may you ever have a

kindly greeting for them you pass as you're

going along the roads.

May the earth be soft under you when you

rest upon it, tired at the end of the day, and may

it rest easy over you when, at the last, you lay

out under it;

May it rest so lightly over you, that your soul

may be out from under it quickly, and up, and

off, and on its way to God.

         *Photograph taken by Catherine Nicolette in springtime Dublin, Ireland. 
          Please feel free to use copyright free for any worthy purpose 

God, give me the grace of Serenity

This beautifully carved sculpture sits, eternally gracious and serene.  Who carved this beautiful image? Whose talented hands spent patient hours perfecting each wondrous fold in the robe, the detail in the hair and the fold falling gracefully over the left shoulder? What thoughts went through the sculptor's mind as the face of the Buddha was carved, deep in the enlightenment?


I do not know. What I do know is, the talent and the quiet elegance of this sculpture left me breathless in the wonderment of the creativity and artistry of the sculptor.


As beautifully and dedicatedly as the sculptor created this image for us to see, so God is patiently at work sculpting our souls.


'I sit on the bedrock lotus of my life
Thinking deeply about many things.
The third eye on my forehead - my conscience, my soul
opens up and reaches towards God, my Creator.


God, please sculpt my soul
With infinite patience help me to accept your wisdom
in arranging the folds of the pattern of my life


Grant me the grace to see that 
your ways are not always my ways. That Your Hands raised in blessing
over me are meant to heal, not hurt


Help me to have the courage and strength
to see that I matter enough, am important enough,
to take a few minutes of my busy day


(as worker; employer; employee; mother; father; daughter; son; carer; partner; husband; wife; friend)
- to spend solely at Your Feet
Listening quietly to Your inner Guidance to me


Guide me to allow the gifts of grace, serenity
Acceptance, patience, love, fortitude, wisdom
and gentleness  to grow within me


As the Buddha came to enlightenment
Let me, too, come to enlightenment within You
The God of all Light.


Amen.'


*Photograph taken by Catherine Nicolette, with permission