Photo credit: Ibelieve.com
As I end 2022 and begin a New Year, I am thankful for the many blessings I received last year.
As an author, the words and prayers I wrote were not mine. The words flowed from the Author of all creation.
To the thousands of you in America who read, commented on, and shared my weekly prayers I was and am touched beyond measure by you.
When I had the big storm of polio, I knew early on that God had a plan to use my personal catastrophe for good. To God, a catastrophe is a terrible thing to waste.
You and I can endure the big storms in life if we know God in our prayers calms all storms. All crises. Every tragedy.
As we know by faith, even the painful sacrifice by God of His only begotten Son had an ultimate purpose. That purpose was to make human death become just the beginning of a new life with God in eternity. To make possible the forgiveness of our sins.
Don’t we all get caught up in the big storms of life? We lose dear friends. We get fired or let go from our jobs. Someone betrays our deep trust in marriage or in a business relationship. 50% of all marriages experience divorce. Currently, some who have saved for retirement have lost 30% of their retirement savings.
We get so worried about a child or grandchild struggling with addiction or depression we cannot sleep or think about anything else.
Parents helplessly watch a child being treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
To each of you, I say there is truly one God and one thing we can do that results in finding calm inside the big storms of life. Storms as big as the one on the football field on Monday night, January 2, 2023. The one thing fellow players, 50,000 stadium fans, and millions of people did in unison around the world when Damar Hamlin’s heart suddenly stopped beating.
They prayed.
Since I was 32, I have meditated. After meditating, I pray to God. I tell God about all my troubles. All my worries. At the end of my praying, I open my eyes. Like being in the eye of a hurricane, there is peace. I feel calm inside the big storms of my life.
I do have a New Year’s Resolution to share with you. My resolution is to keep spending the ten hours each week writing and posting the prayers. In this way may I help each of you find the peace which passeth all understanding.
You and I cannot avoid the storms of life. But with prayer, peace will calm us. If we navigate the big storms of life with prayer, we can sail into peace and the loving arms of God.
God has spoken in Scripture as to finding peace in prayer.
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Let us pray.
Dear God, currently I struggle in dealing with many of my troubles. In my faith, I know that You are present with me in every storm in my life.
God, please help me to surrender to You the storms which are far too heavy for me to deal with on my own.
God, please strengthen my faith in You that You have a divine plan for me. In Your time what is bad will be transformed into good for me and those I love.
God, I am thankful that in prayer I can always find and feel the calm inside the big storms in my life because of Your care and grace. Amen
If you think Jack’s prayer helps you or will help someone you know, please forward it to them. Jack may never make millions selling books or writing prayers, but spreading God’s good news to others is reward enough for him.
Ann Boland, Jack’s Publicist
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