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Today is a day of prayer and fasting. A worldwide call to cry out to God for healing and protection: Our God, we are in your hands.

Lord God, have mercy on us. Pour out Your care and protection and wisdom on our world. May we turn to You as never before as we realize how dependent we are on You.

Lord God, would You open the eyes and minds of the scientists in the same way that You did for George Washington Carver? Would You reveal secrets that are hidden in Your creation? Would You speak to their minds and enlighten and enliven them? Would You strengthen them with stamina and courage and insight? Would You help them find treatments and cures as You have done for ages with other plagues?

Our God, we are in Your hands.

Lord God, would You speak to the world’s leaders? Would You give them wisdom and courage and foresight that they’ve never had before? Would You show them the way to go? Would You give them the character they need to lead in this time? Would You help them make the decisions they need to make?

Our God, we are in Your hands.

Lord God, would You be our provider, our sustainer, our all during this time? We face scarcity and it freaks us out. Would You help us turn to You instead of our online shopping or local grocery store for peace? Would You help us trust You for our daily bread?

Our God, we are in Your hands.

Lord God, would You heal what ails us in our broken world’s economy now that this virus has crippled it? At the same time, would You reveal to us that what we trusted in was never worthy of our trust?

Our God, we are in Your hands.

Lord God, would You help us see what matters most in these times? Would You fill our hearts with love for one another…for the least of these…for people we do not even know?

Lord God, would You protect and comfort the lonely…the isolated…the fearful…the bored…those who are on the brink of a mental break? Would You sustain and uphold them?

Lord God, would You connect us as never before in a time that we are distant? Would You awaken the church with faith and courage and wisdom? Would You help the church rise up and be a light at this time? Would You cultivate our longing for community? For worship? For what we took for granted only months before? 

Would You watch over our children who are on the front lines? Would You protect them, heal them, guide them? Would You strengthen their immune systems? Would You, dear God, help them and our grandchildren to escape this pestilence unharmed? Lord God, would You bless them with long life and health and a relationship with You?

Would You draw them to You? Would You help them see that they need You? Would You draw near to them in ways that they sense Your goodness and love and presence?

Thank You, God, that You have built a hedge of protection around our youngest generation. You have given them amazing immune systems. In Your mercy, You are making the plague pass over the youngest of us. Thank You, God. Please continue to protect the children. Lord God, would You bless them with long life and good health?

Our God, we are in Your hands.

Lord God, our world is broken. Would You heal our world? Heal our hearts? Heal our hospital systems? 

Would You help us rise up as a people across the world stronger, wiser, more resilient?

Would You comfort those who are grieving the loss of precious loved ones? Would You be the God who draws near when we mourn? Would You be present with them when they awaken to the new reality of their loss?

Would You strengthen the ones who must deal with all the death? Would You protect their health and help them see the light in all this darkness?

Lord God, would You make a way in the wilderness? 

Our God, we are in Your hands. 

You alone can save.

You alone can rescue.

You alone, God. We cry out to You in desperation.

Come, Holy Spirit! Bring healing in Your wings.