Father, Comforter, Healer, we thank You today for all the ways You are tender with us, offering us the shelter of Your wings when we deserve nothing more than Your scorn.  When troubles and enemies seem to encompass us on all sides, it is You who are our shelter and our refuge, our very present help in trouble. When the path we walk seems dark and confusing, You have given Your word as a lamp to our feet and a light to the path. Even more, You are with us even through the valley of the shadow of death, and so we have nothing to fear.

You are our Guide, showing us the way You would have us go. You are patient with us, reminding us to walk closely with You again and again as we repeatedly wander off on our own and stagger off course. You are Father, providing chastening at just the right time and to the proper degree. You are Savior, giving Your life to us who were dead in our sins. You are the God Who Sees us, who knows we are dust and knows when we have truly given our all to You… and when we have not. You are the God who is Love; whose banner over us is love. You are the Vine and we are the branches, growing strong and pulsing with Your life when we abide in You.

May we crave You as we crave air itself, knowing that a life without You is no true life at all. If we do not love You enough — and Lord, how could we? —  plant a passion for You within us. Teach our souls to pant for You as the deer pants for water; to thirst for the springs of Living Water and not to carve out broken cisterns for ourselves that hold no water.  Make us into a planting for the display of Your splendor in this earth, O God, and sanctify us completely in Your truth! For Your name’s sake we ask this, and we praise You for what You are doing and what You will do in and through us for the glory of Your Kingdom, amen.