Sunday Prayer

Truly, Father, all things work together for the good of those who love.
Thank you for the difficulties that produce divine dividends.

I know that pain is only a phase of the growing process: that seed buried alive under suffocating ground in a windowless grave agonizes before it ruptures into new life.

I know that I build hard muscles in heart, mind, and body only when I lift heavy loads. 
I thank you for tough times that produce callouses that could save my spirit from softness that would be weakness.

There have been times, O Lord, when only through great difficulty have I learned the valuable lessons.  I was too blind to see, too arrogant to believe, or too stubborn to accept any other way than by a bed of pain.

I praise you for the times an open door slammed in my face and forced me out of an old rut that I never would have had the courage to leave, and led me down the road to a beautiful new life.

I thank you for heartbreak which caused me to bury the hatchet and speak again to someone I had for far too long been out of touch.

Thank you, Father, for life's priceless times of fruitful difficulty.

Amen.