a blessing when hope seems lost

O God, hope is only a half-remembered dream behind a closed door,
and I sit alone with grief and loss.

O God, bring me out from these confines of despair,
to where hope lives.

God have mercy
Christ have mercy
Spirit have mercy

My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:3

God have mercy
Christ have mercy
Spirit have mercy

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

Blessed are we,
with spirits starved for what is good,
allow our eyes to open to see the small sealed space where despair has isolated us.
and cry out: God, help me! i can’t break out of this.
please, break in!

Cut through the walls of this hard prison, and flood it with the light of Your presence,
grant me grace to pray as naturally as breathing:
to release to You all that I know and think and feel,
and inhale deeply the lifeblood of your goodness and strength,

Blessed are we when we realize that suddenly, already,
you are right here, saying: “peace be with you!”
breathing life and hope and truth,
filling everything, until the walls are dissolved
and we are free to move in faith again.

Blessed are we who smile in the certainty
that in that dark space, You were there all along,
and as sure as day follows night, hope returns.
and faith, the evidence of things unseen.

Let a yawn come, and another. See what new thing begins. All by itself.

In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15