Prayers for the Week – Psalm 139:14

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s Prayers for the Week post.  For this week, we are focusing on the book of Psalms, specifically Psalm 139, and verse 14.  In this Psalm, which is attributed to King David, he is saying to God “Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart.”

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well.” ~ King David, Psalm 139:14 (ESV)

This past week, two distinct things happened that I want to talk with you about, and in both of them, I think that Psalm 139:14 is the perfect accompanying verse for them.  In the first event, my work saw our HR person retire after over 30 years of service with the State of North Carolina.  She is a wonderful person, full of honesty, but also full of a wonderful sense of what really matters.  My work is going through a huge change this year, and there is certainly a lot of uncertainty over the future of the organization.  Here are some of the words from my friend in her farewell email:

Please: take care of each other. Please: be kind to each other. Please: get each others’ backs. The mission that you share is uniquely special and many times, a difficult one. But, you do it so well. Well done. Well done. There is so much of which to be proud.

Those, my friends, are the words of someone that knows what is really important in this world.

This past Wednesday, I received an email from the Vietri Outlet Store (I’m on their mailing list).  Normally I just glance at those things, and then move on, but the subject of this email stopped me from doing so:

“Celebrate the life of Ray Daye”

In both a stunning loss, and a celebration of who they are as a company and what their employees mean to them, I learned that Mr. Daye was the Outlet Store Manager, and he had suddenly passed away in his sleep at the young age of just 43 years old.  The tragedy of that loss is sufficient enough that you don’t just archive the email, you give it some reflection because someone took the time to send it to all of us.  However, as I kept reading, I learned that the Hillsborough Outlet Store would be closed on Saturday, August 30th, all day, so that they can honor Mr. Daye at his funeral.

My friends, this is not flowers and a card sent on behalf of the company; this is the entire store — and the parent organization, also — acknowledging that there are times when the business just doesn’t matter at that moment, that there is something more worthwhile than dollars and cents.

In both cases, whether it be the retirement of a longtime employee or the decision made by a company, the focus remains the same and should serve to remind us that there are times when the same-old, same-old will not due.  Please remember that, and please pray with us for our prayer requests and praises.  Thanks!

Prayer Requests and Praises…

• My friend Sylvia needs to prayers, please. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:My daddy was brought home yesterday from the rest home. Hospice and Ruth will be helping us with daddy. Today has been hard.
  So much of what’s going on reminds me of Joe. I just have to shut my eyes and breath to keep from crying. I really miss Joe so much!Please pray for Sylvia and her family, for God’s Peace, Comfort, and Strength to descend upon them. Thank you everyone!
  • Sylvia, her father, and her family are doing well.  He suffers from demensia, but he is home and with those he loves.
• Big praise for my friend Margaret, who celebrated her retirement this past week!  Here’s a picture of Margaret and myself:

• Praise for the life and salvation of Mr. Ray Daye.  In addition, please pray for his wife Michelle, and all of his family and friends that love him and miss him.
• Please pray for my friend Sheila and her friend Kitty.  Here is what Sheila wrote:
  Went to go see Miss J’s Grandma Kitty at the rehab center and something was not right with her. She was speaking gibirish and just not herself. Thank goodness the doctor agreed & she has been readmitted to hospital. Please pray for her.
• Lastly, please pray for those requests that we don’t know about; pray for God’s Peace, Comfort, Strength, and Love to descend upon all of them, and pray that they would lift up their requests to God so that He may help them.

Now, please pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever.

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