Shopping for Mother's Day cards took longer than I expected. As the day gets closer, I'm feeling so many emotions. Card shopping used to be a lot of fun. But this year, my mother and many of my friends are facing uncertain times. Mom sits in a nursing home, furious that she is trapped with the crippling effects of a stroke. Two weeks ago, a friend just buried her newborn. A coworker is glowing as she prepares to celebrate her first Mother's Day as a mom. My hands shuffle the stack of cards as I think about each one of these special women.

Dear God, what would you have me say? Please help me celebrate the joys and comfort the sorrows that my friends are experiencing. Lord, teach me how to pray about this.

As I open my bible, the page falls to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, 5:17, "Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."