Bending Angel

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Prayer for Hurricane Florence Victims and First Responders – September 15, 2018

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Dear Merciful Lord – Just one year ago the Houston area was devastated and disrupted by Hurricane Harvey. That same tremendous force of nature in Florence has now set its catastrophic power of wind, flood, storm surge, and rain on the and surrounding States.

Lives have been lost. Families placed in shelters. Homes leveled. Possessions and precious treasures lost forever.

In the darkness please help the victims and first responders see and share Your love and light.

Let them know that Harvey and Florence were not Acts of God but forces of nature.

If a victim cries out to You and asks, “Lord, Why did You do this to me?” Comfort the victim with the knowledge that it was not You who did harm.   For You would never hurt a child You love.  Rather, You were certainly the First Responder. You were there to witness their pain, to cry with them and dry their tears.

Your Baptismal waters are more powerful than any act of nature including Harvey or Florence. Flood waters will recede and disappear. But, Your Spirit which flows in us never dies and carries those who follow You to Your Almighty, Eternal, and Heavenly Sea.  Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

 

 

Prayer for Those Separated from Loved Ones – September 8, 2018

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God – Today, let us pray for all Your children who are separated from those they love.

I particularly pray for You to embrace and comfort the 500 children in America who are separated from their parents due to the implementation of immigration laws. The infants and minor girls and boys are Your innocents. They had no responsibility for the creation of their isolation and heart ache.

I grieve for them just as I grieved for the loss of seeing my parents and siblings when I was 6 and quarantined at Hedgecroft Hospital due to polio.

As I wrestled with fear and questioned whether and when I would see my family next and be reunited with those I love, each day a minister, Father Skarden Daubert, placed a book of prayer in my weakened hands. As he said prayers to You for healing and hope, I knew You were with me and I was not alone.   As my hands held that book of prayer each day I felt that Your Son, Christ’s hands were holding mine in His.

Whether separated from those they love by acts of war, service in the armed forces, illness, natural disasters, catastrophic events of nature or immigration laws, may every child of every age, country or condition know that nothing can ever separate them from You and Your inexhaustible, eternal, and comforting love.  Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer in Thanksgiving for Aretha Franklin and Senator McCain – September 2, 2018

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Lord -Today, I pray to you as Your grateful child and not as a conservative or liberal, a Republican or a Democrat or as a disabled or non-disabled Citizen of the best and freest Country on the Earth.

After witnessing the celebrations for the lives of Aretha Franklin and Senator John McCain, I want to thank You for sending them to the world during my lifetime.   In their works in Your Name they each left an everlasting imprint of their inherent goodness on our hearts.

In Aretha’s song we heard the heavenly voices of angels we needed to hear. Voices which lifted so many of us out of loss and despair in our personal and national troubles. Voices which rekindled the light of hope and joy we have lost sometimes in our struggles to live and to find You in the darkness.

In Senator McCain’s incalculable courage and steadfast faith in what our Forefathers and soldiers fought and stood for, we heard the earthly voices of the past calling us to be better  people in the present.  Voices calling everyone to honor the past by being our best now and in the future.

God, every day  in our waking and in our sleeping, please help us to listen with the ear of our hearts to the heavenly voices which lift us up to You and the earthly voices which anchor us to the guiding principles which gave birth to our one Nation under God and which will preserve it now and forever.

Sing on, Aretha. March on, Senator McCain.  Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to BendingAngel.com.

 

Prayer for Peacemakers – August 26, 2018

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Jack Emmott winner of the 2018 Gay G. Cox Award for Excellence In Collaborative Law

God – In gratitude and with humility I hold in my arms the Gay Cox Award. The Award is adorned with a beautiful dove of peace.

Recently, I accepted the Award in behalf all other Collaborative Divorce Professionals in Texas who strive every day to step into the everlasting footprint of Gay’s calling in peacemaking.

In Gay’s extraordinary life in resolving conflict in divorce she worked tirelessly and with great heart to make sure Your children were not divided like property and that they were protected from the long term consequences of litigation. Litigation which focuses on blame and pits one parent against the other.

I have done my share of being a warrior in court. That is needed sometimes in verbally, physically or psychologically abusive marriages. But, being a peacemaker, like Gay, is my higher calling.

God, thank You for Gay’s life and service to heal and reconcile broken relationships.

A falling tree ended Gay’s life far too soon. But this Award and those who follow her example will ensure that her greatest body of work in Your name did not end with her death. It began.

God, please help all attorneys, families, local, national and world leaders find ways to honor You.  By concentrating on what we have in common and not on our differences. By focusing on our strengths and not exploiting our weaknesses. By making peace and preserving it.

Where there is peace, Your love can flower.

In that place in Your Kingdom blessed are the peacemakers.  Amen

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 Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer for Teachers Who Love to Teach – August 18, 2018

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Jack, Dorothy Carlton’s seven-year-old home-bound student

God – For three years after I had polio, a teacher came to my home in Emmottville to help me learn reading, writing and arithmetic. The name of this home-bound teacher was Dorothy Carlton. She said to me, “Jack, even though you have polio and your body is weak, I am here to help you exercise your mind and to make it strong. A bright mind is the great equalizer. It will make your dreams come true.”

For three years Mrs. Carlton came to my home each week and taught me to learn from 1st through the 3rd grade.

Because of Mrs. Carlton, I am not a polio victim. I have achieved far more than that wheelchair-bound snaggletooth boy at six years of age could have ever envisioned.

God, thanks for sending Mrs. Carlton and other teachers like her to me.

Because of her and them, I loved to learn because she and they loved to teach.

God, I pray that all Your children this school year be blessed with teachers who love to teach so their students will love to learn. Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Birthday Gift of a Happy Heart – August 12, 2018

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Dear God – When I was four, I sat upon a swing with my cousins, Howard Behrens and Bob Emmott, and my Angel Brother Charles.  We struggled to maintain our balance. I repeatedly fell off the swing and onto the ground. Then, I picked myself up and got back on the swing with a laugh and a smile.

Today, I celebrate another birthday and the precious gift You gave me with my birth…the gift of hope and faith that You have great plans for me beyond all the struggles and setbacks in my life.

In the passage of time the swing is no more. The strong muscles and innocence of that four year old boy ended with polio.  I know that there will be hard times ahead. But, I will keep on smiling during and after them. I will go on living, loving and being loved. For thanks to You the heavenly hope in my heart knows the best is yet to come.

Lord, thank You for this day and for the gifts which make me smile every day.  Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer to Bless a Child’s Backpack August 5, 2018 by Jack H. Emmott

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Churches across America and around the world are now celebrating the beginning of a new school year by blessing the backpacks of students. In the event your child or grandchild, niece or nephew is unable to attend the service blessing, please take the opportunity to bless the backpack carried to school by your special child of God.

Heavenly Father, I ask that You please bless this backpack and Your child who carries it. May the child who wears it attend school each day with a fully open mind and loving heart for learning. As each school day passes and lessons are learned about the beautiful Earth You have created, may this child be ever thankful for the opportunity to explore new things and to grow in mind, body and spirit because of You. May all the child’s teachers mindfully encourage and nourish the flowering of the gifts You instilled in this child, this student and young servant of Christ. Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to BendingAngel.com.

Prayer for Our Hearts to Not Be Troubled – July 29, 2018

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God – All of us at times have troubled hearts. We cannot sleep or be at peace because we worry about those we love or things over which we have no control.

A family member or friend who drinks too much or who is addicted to drugs or pornography or incessant gaming. Fear of losing one we love to cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or aging. Betrayal. The loss of a job or financial security. Abandonment. Abuse. Divorce. Separation. Mistreatment at work. The death of a child.

At such moments when we are burdened, heart-broken, and bewildered beyond belief, please help us all to turn to You just as a sunflower naturally turns toward the sun.  For if we naturally turn to You and Your Son, Jesus, and place our troubled hearts in Your Hands, we need not be afraid or overcome by fear and stark uncertainty.  For You will shine Your peace on us and show us every day the paths on which we are to rightly travel to find our way to heaven on Earth and one day to Your Eternal Kingdom of everlasting love.   Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer to Finally Say Goodbye to the Long Goodbye – July 21, 2018

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Dear God – Today, I pray that You guide and inspire the medical research community to find the cure for Alzheimer’s. As with the polio vaccines which eradicated the disease which inflicted me as a young boy, may we one day finally say, “Goodbye to the Long Goodbye.”

This horrific disease takes so many lives from those we love including Margaret Storm Schorre, fondly known as “Miggie”.  She was my sister in Christ and was married to Charles, the extraordinary Texas artist who created the work, Bending Angel.

Miggie was not Charles the artist.  Yet, she was the best part of his work.  She was not the palate of colors with which he painted his works.  She was the inspiration which gave his work purpose.

Prayer was the best part of Miggie’s day.  Prayer, like Charles’ love of art, was something every family member should participate in as part of his or her ministry to others.

Despite Miggie’s unbounded faith and service to You, she fell ill with Alzheimer’s. Ultimately, due to Alzheimer’s, Miggie’s memory, mind and body were reduced to a dependent child-like state. As there was less and less of Miggie each day due to Alzheimer’s, her daughters, Martha, Alice Ann, and Robin, made sure there was more and more of You. The darker the days became, the more Your love and light shined on Miggie in their care of her.

God, in faith I believe Your love will surely heal our broken wings, like Miggie’s, as we one day enter the gates of Your heavenly kingdom. Yet, I pray that all Your children on Earth may one day soon live out Your purpose and do their callings in Your name without losing their minds and bodies in the Long Goodbye.  Amen

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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer to See Holy Coincidences – July 14, 2018

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God, years ago I had a hearing on a cold and rainy day in family law court. I had no umbrella as I drove my wheelchair across the plaza to enter the courthouse.  As I anguished over getting drenched in my chair, a woman came running towards me out of the building carrying an umbrella. Inside the building I thanked her profusely for sheltering me from the pounding rain.  The woman closed the umbrella. I noticed her eyes were wet but not from the rain. She said that her ex-husband owed her thousands of dollars in child support for her disabled child. She could find no attorney to take her case.  She was desperate.  Amidst the throngs of citizens, court staff and witnesses that day, I believe You, God, sent her to me and me to her. You see I quickly learned she was the daughter of a man I represented in a divorce years earlier. I answered Your call. I took her case. The father of her child was made to pay the delinquent support.

God, please help us to see that coincidental interactions with others are not always mere coincidences. Often they are invitations to do Your work, to be a part of Your grace or to let us know we are on a sacred path in line with Your purpose for us.

God, please open our hearts to see the sacred within the simple and ordinary happenings in everyday life…like the woman who carried an umbrella to a stranger in the rain.  Amen

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 Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120-lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker.  For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.