A Prayer For The Faith And Life Of A Loved One

 

 

God of  grace, compassion, mercy, quietness and  strength we thank You for the faith and life of one we  have known and  loved.  We find our peace in the words of our Savior who said,  “I  am the resurrection and  the life,  whosoever  believes  in  me, though he die, yet shall  he  live, and whosoever lives and  believes in  me shall never die.”   Lord she was a covenant child from birth, one who confessed  faith in You from her earliest years and who lived a life of faithful obedience to Your teachings  in  the summers and  winters of life: in times of  plenty  and in  times of  poverty; in times of joy and in times of  disappointment; in times of sickness and in times of health.  

 

We thank You for the life she lived and the legacy she left her family and those of us who shared in her life.  As we remember her this morning two words come to mind: love and loyalty.   She loved You, Lord, she loved her parents, she loved her husband, she loved her children, she loved her grandchildren, she loved her great grandchildren, she loved her caregivers, she loved her pastors, she loved all who loved the Lord.  May her mantel of love fall on us this morning.  

 

She was also a person of deep loyalty.  She was loyal to her church, she was loyal to her family, she was loyal to her marriage vows, and she was loyal to her friends.  She never knew a person she disliked or on which she wished any harm.  Every person was a child of God and she wished them only the best.  Grant, Oh God, that her mantel of loyalty may fall on each of us, that it might be said at our final service that we were known for our love and our loyalty; and if that be the case, we will die with the richest of the  rich.

 

Give us now the grace to release her into the joy of her Lord, that she may become one of the saints in glory who night and day pray for the weak and the weary, the lost and the lame, the fallen and the forsaken and each and everyone of us sitting in this place at this time.  Let us rejoice that we have a new advocate in the eternal heavens praying on our behalf.

 

Thank You, Lord, for the victory which is ours, for the peace which is ours, for the hope which is ours, for the future which is ours even in this time of hurt and heaviness, sorrow and sadness, loss and emptiness.  We cling to You knowing that You are our rock of refuge, our mighty fortress in our time of need.  Comfort us through Your Word, strengthen us with Your Holy Spirit and assure us that You will care for us as a mother hen cares for her chicks. This we pray in the name of Jesus our Lord.

 

Amen