We asked for love, and you gave us troubled people to help. We asked for patience, and you gave us situations where we were forced to wait. We asked for courage, and you gave us fears to overcome. We asked for prosperity, and you gave us purpose and brains to use. We asked for wisdom, and you gave us problems to solve.
Loving Creator, We asked for strength, and you gave us difficulties to make us strong.
Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God. Before I begin, I would like to offer a brief prayer of thanksgiving that I have relied upon heavily, especially throughout the past year as we have suffered as a community, and as a nation, and as a world, in so many ways:
