A Prayer for When You Don't Know What to Say

Oh God,

Here I stand before my child, her eyes wide, tears brimming. She wants to know about the story she heard on the news before we could turn the TV off so she wouldn't hear.

My other daughter is asking about the Christians who were beheaded for their faith half a world away. Her friends were talking about it at school.

Everywhere we turn we see trauma, grief, despair, loss.

Hurricanes.

Abuse.

Riots.

Terrorism.

I don't know what to say to You about it, let alone my children. 

How, God? How am I supposed to help them see Your goodness in such darkness?

How do I tell them of Your perfect love when their friends' families are falling apart and they see children living in the streets, digging through garbage for their daily food?

Help me, God. Help me to see. Help me to know.

Help me show them Jesus.

Help me show them how Jesus welcomed the children with open arms. The shy ones, the rowdy ones, the doubting ones, the snarky ones. He beckoned them all, and got in the face of anyone who tried to stop them.

Help me show them Jesus walking on the water, calming the storms with a simple word, bringing peace to chaos just by showing up. And that He can do the same in their hearts. In this world.

Help me show them Jesus reaching out to the dirty, the poor, the outcast, the broken, the lonely. Help me show them how Jesus stepped into their world, saw into their hearts, and gave them a family when everyone else had walked away. And how He will do the same when they feel lonely and discouraged. And how He'll help them do the same for the lonely in their schools. Churches. Neighborhoods.

Help me show them Jesus fighting for justice and honor in the house of God. How He showed us that it's okay to call a spade a spade and call out darkness when it attempts to parade as light.

Help me show them Jesus laying aside His fear and sorrow to follow the very best and perfect plan God had for Him. Help me show them His courage. His obedience. His willingness to say yes to the best even when it was more terrifying than He had imagined.

Help show them Jesus.

With my words. With my actions. With my attitudes.

Help me show them Jesus. 

In Your Word. In Your church. In Your people.

Help me show them Jesus. For it is only in Him that they will find the courage to face the dark things of this world. And through Him they will have the joy to rejoice in the beauty of Your grace.

Amen. And Amen.