A Prayer for a Friend

Dear God, I know someone that you know, too.  He is a husband and a father, a brother, and an uncle.  He is a good friend of my parents.  He is dying.  I have to tell you that I hate cancer.  It is a killer. Sometimes I don't know what to pray.  I pray for his wife, that she might be strong but only in you, as she tries to be strong for her kids, and for him; as she tries to deal with the details; as she tries to comprehend life without a part of herself.  I pray for his children, that they will remember his faith, and his strength which was rooted in you; that they will heal from watching their dad fade before their eyes.  His body has become weaker, but his will never did.  He was in pain, but he still loved.  He had an amputation, but no one could take away your Holy Spirit. I pray that that same Holy Spirit will comfort, hold, heal.  I can cry, and cry out,"Why?  Why are fathers taken away?  Why are husbands taken away?  Why are babies taken away?  How can we come to you when we see these terrible things?  How can I pray for children who watch their daddy die day by day?  Why is this suffering a part of our lives?"  Lord, please help me to remember that we, in our frailty, are not the only ones who have suffered; we are not the only ones who have been wounded; we are not the only ones who have cried out.  But "[h]e was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering...Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,... he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed... the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all..."  Your own son cried out,"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" How often we can feel that way, forsaken, alone, even facing death.  Yet, we know something else.  "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." It might seem impossible to believe these words.  I pray that you will make it possible to believe them; I pray that you will give hope where there is despair; I pray that you will bring peace where there is chaos; I pray that you will give life where there is death.  Your promises mean something.  Your promises mean we can go on.  Your promises mean that One has already been raised from the dead, and with that resurrection comes the assurance that those who trust in you, those who lean on you, those who belong to you will indeed find that life in you. I pray these things in the name of the Son, the risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen