My Nepali Prayer

Lord God, I give you thanks and praise for my sisters and brothers in Nepal.
For their dedication to walk miles upon miles to share your love with others…
For their witness to their surrounding neighbors who do not know the depth of your grace…
For their hospitality to accept strangers into their homes and into their hearts…
For their commitment to enact justice and to heal wounds of brokenness among them…
For their confidence in your faithfulness to reach out to you in prayer.

Through the witness of my Nepali sisters and brothers, O God, I humble myself before you. I humble myself recognizing you are holy and you are love and you are power. And through your grace, I come to you, seeking to be made obedient to your will, seeking to be strengthened in my commitment to serving you with the same obedience and passion as my sisters and brothers.

Lord God, as my heart cries out with tears of joy for their loving witness and tears of sadness for the distance between us, I pray that you may continue to fill me with your compassion that I may serve you where I am. And as my tears fall upon the road I walk, I pray for others to encounter my tears and for my tears to serve as a witness to the deep, profound ways you have broken my heart for the beautiful people of Nepal, as fellow bearers of your love and grace. Please protect them and watch over them, renew their hearts day by day, give them good health and courage to continue to share your Word with others.

Lord God, I thank you for my sisters and brothers and for the continued ways in which you let me experience your love and grace, through the many witnesses around the world, and ultimately, through the death and resurrection of your beloved, Son, in whose name I offer this prayer.

Amen.

Jane Larson is a first-year MDiv student who traveled to Nepal this spring on a cross-cultural trip with the Seminary’s World Mission Initiative. Others from her team have also blogged about their experiences: The Power of Prayer and We’re All One Body in Christ.