Dear Father in Heaven,

We come to You in prayer - sad, scared and heart-broken - not really knowing what to say or even what to ask.  But we know that the power of prayer isn't dependent on the words we use - or the way we use them.  The power of prayer is simply putting ourselves in Your Presence and allowing Your love to penetrate our entire beings.

We truly believe that You have a plan - a Master Plan.  A Plan that encompasses yesterday, today and tomorrow and which will come completely together in the fullness of time. We each have a role to play in that plan as you've created each of us for a specific purpose.  You use both our joys and our sorrows to bring Your plan to fruition.

We only have a partial vision of this plan.  We can only see it in the way it affects us in the here and now.  We see partially - but some day we'll see it complete.  And then, we'll understand why the sorrows  had to be.  This is faith - knowing that this sorrow and this distress is passing and is small in comparison to the joy that awaits us in the fullness of time.

Help us to always remember that Your wisdom surpasses all human understanding and that we are here to serve You and Your Purpose which is greater than the individual plans we make for ourselves. You are delighted when we come to You in prayer - but help us to always remember that the purpose of prayer is not to 'get what we want' but to open ourselves up to Your Holy Will - even while every fiber of our being is screaming 'NO!  PLEASE! I DON'T WANT THIS!'

You are our Father.  You love us beyond any love we can experience on earth. You will not allow us to experience any distress or sadness that will not ultimately be used for the fulfillment of Your Master Plan.

All of our love and all of our trust is Yours.  Let our response to You always be a resounding 'Yes' as Mary's was a resounding 'Yes' when asked to be the Mother of the Christ Child.

"May it be done to us according to Your Word."   Amen