Day 52 - Thankful hearts

Here we are a week after Easter. How are we feeling? Have the events of the Easter weekend changed us? Are we the same people we were last week? I wonder as we pray what God will reveal to us today.

Let's bring ourselves to God in prayer.

Dear God, as we are a week away now from all the different emotions we felt over Easter, we bring ourselves to you today. Help us to understand what we have been through, knowing your presence with us today and every day.

We thank you for loving us.

Lord, we ask ourselves how, when we are so unlovable, can you consider us loved enough to make such a sacrifice on our behalf. When we spend so much time denying and betraying you, how can you welcome us back, again and again? Help us to accept and understand your truth.

We thank you for loving us.

Lord, as we waited in sadness, thinking you were gone, facing a difficult future of uncertainty and loneliness, we know you shared our pain, just as you share our pain over every sadness we feel in our lives.

We thank you for loving us.

Lord, as we went with the women on Easter morning, facing the task ahead, but scared of what we had to do, we little knew what we would encounter. Help us whenever we face challenges in our lives to know you are with us.

We thank you for loving us.

And then what surprise we felt, encountering angels and rolled back stones, listening to messages and finding emptiness where we expected death. Encountering you Lord on the path and being told the joyful truth that you weren't dead but risen! Help us to keep the joy we felt at hearing and seeing your wonderful truth as we journey further away from Easter. Help us to share the good news with others and to show what a difference it has made in our lives to those who need to share that too.

We thank you for loving us.

Those few days have changed us, Lord. Make us always able to remember the time we have travelled through, the people we have encountered along the way and the changes it has brought into our lives.

We thank you for loving us.

Lord, make us always an Easter people, ready to see you all around us, ready to go where you lead, ready to know all you have waiting for us as we journey along. We thank you for loving us and changing us into the people you want us to be.

Amen.

Catherine Booton