Dear God,

    We are at a time in our country of considerable stress and concern and a threat is very much all around us with this unexpected infection, and we have in our own strength not enough resources to know exactly what to do and yet we do have understanding enough that there are things that we collectively can do to try to reduce the amount of pain and suffering and death that may otherwise happen.

    Please fill our minds with the kind of wisdom and insight that we need because we’re often lacking in that, in our own works.

    Please help us though, to be free of a sense of paralyzing fear but rather to be energized and empowered and to be strong and courageous and to seek out a path forward here, so that we can not just feel like the clouds have closed in but also see a break in those clouds, a time in the future where we can come through this with a sense that we have done what we were called to and that you have been right beside us all the time.

    That part we know.  We give you thanks for that.

    Bless our nation.  Bless all those who put themselves in harm’s way, to try to care for the sick, and help us to be brought together somehow by this whole thing, because goodness knows we need more of that, too.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Francis Collins, 1950 – , American physician-geneticist

Focus on the Family broadcast 25:20 in the video

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Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly.

“Just as I swore in the time of Noah
that I would never again let a flood cover the earth,
so now I swear
that I will never again be angry and punish you.
For the mountains may move
and the hills disappear,
but even then my faithful love for you will remain.
My covenant of blessing will never be broken,”
says the Lord, who has mercy on you.