Rick Warren - Why Gratitude Matters Most in the Darkest Times

Thanksgiving is not an easy holiday for a lot of people.

How do you be thankful when you've just gotten really

bad news? I mean, some people this week all over

the world heard the news, the dreaded word cancer. How

do you be thankful at Thanksgiving when the doctor just

told you you have cancer? How do you be thankful

at Thanksgiving when you just got laid off? How do

you be thankful at Thanksgiving when the person you love

the most just told you, I don't love you anymore

and I'm walking out? How do you be thankful when

you have a chronic illness that isn't getting any better?

How do you be thankful when your dream has exploded?

When an economic tsunami has wiped out all of your retirement? Well,

the Bible says it like this. In 1 Thessalonians 5,

1 Thessalonians 5:18

verse 18. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is

God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Now, the key

to that verse is the word in. It doesn't say for.

Give thanks in all circumstances. It doesn't say give thanks

for all circumstances. There's a lot of things in life

you shouldn't be grateful for. If somebody gets leukemia, I'm

not grateful for that. If a woman gets raped, I'm

not grateful for that. If somebody's put through the indignity

of racial profiling and is treated unjustly, I'm not grateful

for that. We're not to be grateful for sin, we're

not to be grateful for evil, and we're not to

be grateful for the suffering that comes as a result

of those things. That would make God and make you

a masochist. To be thankful for everything would be masochistic.

To be thankful in everything is maturity, why? Because even

in the darkest days of your life, there are always

some things you can be grateful for. And no matter

what you're going through, there are five things you can

thank God and express your thanks and gratitude to him for.

Number one, I can always thank God for the grace

he has shown me. What is grace? Grace is when

God gives me what I need, not what I deserve.

If I got what I deserved, I wouldn't be alive,

and neither would you. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense.

Grace is everything God is able to do in your life,

not because of who you are, but because of what

Jesus did for you. Grace is God's free gift. And

the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8, you have been

saved by grace through faith or through believing. You do

not save yourselves. It was the gift of God. I

can't earn my salvation. I can't work for my salvation.

I can't deserve my salvation. I can't be religious enough

to earn my salvation. I can't bargain with God. I

can't bribe with God. It's simply a gift. That's called grace.

And because it's a gift of grace, not dependent upon me,

I can always be thankful that God forgives me, not

because I deserve it, but because of his grace. That

God loves me, not because he deserve it, but because

of his grace. That God blesses me and uses me

and protects me and takes me to heaven, not because

of what I do, but because of his grace. That

is an incontrovertible truth and it is a gift of God.

Now in the book of Psalms, chapter 103, Psalm 103,

Psalms 103 · chapter mention

It gives us a list of God's gifts of grace.

Let me read them to you. David is having a

Thanksgiving psalm and he says, I will not forget the

glorious things or the gracious things that God does for me.

He forgives all my sins, that's grace. He heals me,

that's grace. He ransoms me from hell. That's grace. He

surrounds me with love. He fills my life with good things.

He's merciful and tender toward those who don't deserve it.

He's slow to get angry. That's grace. He never bears

a grudge. I'm really grateful for that one. Aren't you?

God does not hold a grudge. He has not punished

us as we deserve for our sins. That's grace. And

no matter what happens in my life, I can say, God,

I thank you for the grace of God in my life.

The air I breathe is a gift of God. The

fact that I can hear, that I can see, that

I can talk to you, that I can think, those

are all, everything in your life is a gift of

God's grace. Now, the first way the Bible tells us

to express thanksgiving is by singing. And all through the

book of Psalms, it says make a joyful noise. Now,

even pigs do that when they're eating. So it doesn't

mean you have to be on key. It doesn't mean

you have to have the correct note. You could be

a prison singer, always behind a few bars, never have

the right key. But the Bible says, make a joyful noise.

Psalm 95 verse two says, let us come to God

with thanksgiving, singing songs of thanks to him. Number two

is for the plans he has for me. I can

always thank God for the good plans that he has

for my life. Now, life is not always good. In fact,

it's bad a lot of the time. Life is tough.

And I'm not gonna stand here as some Pollyanna pastor

and lie to you and tell you, well, just believe

the sun will come out tomorrow because it doesn't always

come out tomorrow. There are a lot of bad things

happening in the world all the time. Life is not

always good. but God is always good. And his plan

for your life is always good. Now, not everything that

happens in your life is something he planned, but everything

that happens in your life, he fits into your plan.

Here's what the Bible says, Jeremiah 29, 11. I have

good plans for you. I have good plans for you,

says the Lord. I don't plan to hurt you. I

plan to give you hope and a good future. A

lot of people go around thinking God's mad at them.

God isn't mad at you. God is mad about you.

He loves you more than anybody else. The only reason

you're alive is because God created you to love you.

If God didn't want to love you, you wouldn't take

your next breath. You are alive because God made you

to love you. He's mad about you. And he says,

I have good plans for your life, not bad plans.

Some people worship a God who they think causes all

their suffering. I worship a God who bears all my suffering.

Look at the cross. The Bible says he was bruised

for our transgressions. He was wounded for our iniquities. By

his stripes, we are healed. He took my suffering, my sin,

my shame, my guilt on him. We have a God

who suffers not just with us, but suffers for us.

That's good news. God says, I have the plans for you,

and they're good plans. Now, as I said, God doesn't

plan your sins. And a lot of things that happen

in your life are because of dumb decisions. God didn't

plan those things. A lot of things happen because other

people make bad decisions. So God doesn't plan the sins

done by you, and God doesn't plan the sins of

other people done against you that hurt you and leave

you as an innocent victim. But what God says is,

you make choices, but I already know in advance all

the choices you're going to make. So God says, I

can fit that into the plan. I can fit that

in the plan. And God looks at all of the

dumb decisions I'm going to make in life and goes,

I can fit that in. I can fit that in.

I can fit that in. God has no plan B

for your life because he already knows all the other

things that other people will do that he didn't agree

with and other things that you'll do that he didn't

agree with. God's plan for you is good, and he says,

I'll even take the bad and bring good out of it.

I liken God's will and your will to like a

cruise line. You have a free will, but it's not

completely free. You're only free to do certain things, and

it is limited. For instance, if you and I were

to get on a cruise line, and we were to

go from L.A. to Tokyo, You'd have a lot of

freedom for the next 10 days on that cruise. You

could go to all seven buffets, even the midnight one.

You could pack on the pounds. You could walk around

the cruise ship. You could go swimming. You could go dancing.

You could go probably buy some stuff. You could sleep

on the sun deck. You could listen to the entertainment.

There's lots of freedom you could do. But no matter

what you do, that ship's going to Tokyo. And you're

not stopping it. And God's greater plan for your life

is much bigger than the problems you're going through. God's

purpose for your life is bigger than the problems, even

the ones you bring on yourself. And he says, I

can fit that in. I can even use that. I

can even use the harmful things that people do against you.

And I can bring good out of those. God loves

to turn crucifixions into resurrections. He specializes in it. When

we go through a difficult time, When we face a tragedy,

when something happens, a road wind hits us and we

have no idea where it came from or why it happened,

we always want an explanation. And we start with all

the why, why, why, why, why. Explanations do not comfort.

What comforts is the presence of God. You don't need

an explanation. All my explanations are never gonna, in fact,

my brain is too small to understand why everything happens

in the world. You don't understand either. And you're not

gonna know why most things happen in your life until

you get to heaven so you need to stop worrying

about it and instead you need to thank god that

his grace is sufficient to show you what you need

his plan is good for you and the other thing

is that we can be thankful in bad times because

of this verse romans 8 28 we know that That

in all things, not just the good things, in all things,

in all things, God works. God works for the good.

Doesn't say all things are good. They're not. But God

works in all things for good for those who love him.

Not for everybody, but for those who place their lives

in him and have been called according to his purpose. Now,

I don't know what has you worried. You may be

worried about your finances. You may be worried about your health.

You may be worried, are we ever gonna work out

these marriage problems? Am I ever gonna get married? Will

we ever have a baby? Will I ever get hired again?

And on and on, I don't know, but you feel

the tension and the anxiety and the insecurity welling up

inside of you and you go, how in the world

can I be thankful in this situation right now? Because

we know if you put your hand in the hand

of the Lord, In all things, God is working for

the good. You've got somebody on your side. In all things,

God is working for the good of those who love him.

And I don't know what's got you nervous, what's got

you worried right now, but I do know the antidote,

and the antidote is the second way we express thanksgiving

to God. The first is by singing. The second is

by praying. And all through scripture, we are told to

cast our cares, our anxieties, our worries on God. We're

to not worry, instead we're to pray. Do you remember

that verse we looked at in the Philippians study? Philippians 4, 6,

it's there in your outline. Don't be anxious or worried

about anything. Instead, pray about everything. If you're not praying,

you're worrying. If you're worrying, you're not praying. The Bible says,

don't be anxious or worried about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Always making your request to God, read it aloud with me,

with thanksgiving, with thanksgiving. That's the second way you show

thanksgiving to God. First is by singing. The second is

by praying. So I want us to pause right now.

I want you to bow your head. I want you

to think about what you're worried about most right now.

And then listen to this verse again. Don't be anxious

or worried. Instead, pray about everything and make your request

to God with thanksgiving. So here's how I want you

to say, God, you know this problem that I'm worried

about and mention it to him. God, you know this problem.

You know, it's got me upset and I'm stressed out

about it. And here's what I want you to do.

And make your request to God. Ask him right now.

Here's what I want you to do. Take the problem away.

Solve the problem. Resolve the problem. Show me the answer.

Show me the way out. And then it says, with thanksgiving.

So right now, in your heart, say, dear God, thank

you for the grace that you've shown me. That you

forgive me. You ransom me from hell. You surround me

with love. You fill my life with good things. Thank

you for all the gifts of grace. And thank you

for your plan, that it's a good plan. Others people

may have a bad plan for my life, but your

plan is good. And God, I want to thank you

that in all things that are happening in my life,

you are working for the good of my life because

I love you and I want to fulfill your purpose.

Thank you. In your name I pray. Amen. Okay, number three.

The third thing I can be thankful for, no matter

how bad things get in my life, is this. I

can always thank God for his promise to never leave me.

That's a big one. I can always thank God, no

matter what I'm going through, for his promise to never

leave me. You will never go through anything in your

life on your own. You might feel alone, but you're

not on your own. You're just not aware of it.

There is no moment in your life when God is

not with you. The Bible says this, Hebrews 13, 6, 13, 5.

I will never... leave you, and I will never abandon you.

It means no way, Jose, nada, zero, no, zip,

not a chance, not on your life. Forget about it.

Don't worry about it. I will never leave you. I

will never abandon you. There will never be a second

in your life when you're going through the darkest dungeons

and valleys of life. God says, I'm going to be

with you. I'm not just going to watch you. I'm

going to be with you. That's worth thanking God for.

that he will never leave me. Some of you have

been abandoned by your dad. Some of you are abandoned

by your mother. Some of you are abandoned by a

husband or a wife or a boyfriend or a friend

or somebody you were counting on. God will never do that.

He said, I will never leave you. I will never

abandon you. I can thank God no matter what I'm

going through. He's going through it with me. We have

a God who doesn't just watch our suffering, who doesn't

just care about our suffering. He suffers with us. The

Bible says this in Isaiah 43 too. When you go

through deep waters, I will be with you. When you

pass through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When

you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.

It will not consume you. That's a promise. And I

can always be thankful for that. When you go through

deep waters, you know there's a song, popular song we

sing at Saddleback called Oceans. And it has a line

in it that says, your grace... abounds in deepest waters.

Your grace abounds in deepest waters. That's true. What does

that mean? It means you don't know God is all

you need until God's all you've got. When you come

to the point that you've got no support, no financial support,

no emotional support, no relational support, you feel like, man,

I'm out here on my own, I'm on the point,

and I'm by myself, and there's nobody with me. God says,

I'm with you. I'm with you. And you don't know

God is all you need until God is all you've got.

Number four, I can always be thankful no matter what

happens in my life. I can be thankful for the

changes God's making in me. Because he's not letting me

stay by myself. He's changing me on the inside. I

can thank God for the grace he's shown me, for

the plans he has for me, for the promise that

he'll never leave me, and for the changes he's making

in me. Now the Bible says in Romans 5, 3

and 4, we can have joy even in our troubles.

In other words, we can be thankful even in dark

days because we know that these troubles produce endurance. And

endurance produces character. And character produces hope. Now what's the

big deal about character? Why should I be so concerned

about my character? You see, you're not interested in your

character most of the time. You're interested in your comfort.

God is far more interested in your character than your comfort.

God's goal in your life is not to make your

life easy. God's goal in your life is to grow

you up. Why? Because this life is preparation for the next.

The comfort is coming in eternity forever and ever and

ever and ever and ever. No more sorrow, no more suffering,

no more sickness, no more sadness. No more depression, no

more disease, no more despair. None of that. The comfort

is coming forever and ever in eternity. Right now, you're

in the get ready stage. And why is God interested

in your character? Because it's the only thing you're taking

with you. You're not taking your money with you. You're

not taking your reputation with you. You're not taking your

career or your car or your china or your clothes,

but you are taking your character. It's the only thing

that's going to heaven, you. And so you better be

working on your character because that's all you've got for eternity.

You could pile up all kinds of stuff here on

this planet and have a little tiny weak wimpy character

and that's what you're stuck with. Really? God is more

interested in who you are than what you do. We're

always saying, God, which job should I take? Which job

do you want me to do? God's probably saying, you know,

any one of those dozen jobs will be fine because

I'm more interested in what you become than who you

work for. And God says, I want you to be

working on that. And he's making changes in me. And

that's why we can have joy in our troubles because

God says, even in troubles, I'm refining you. I'm polishing you.

I'm making you I'm developing endurance. I'm developing patience, love

and joy and peace and patience, all those things. I'm

building them in your life, even in the tough times.

So I can thank God that he's working inside me.

He's changing me. The great musician, concert musician, Itzhak Perot.

One time he was doing a concert at Lincoln Center.

And he walked out on stage. And you know he

has to wear leg braces. It takes quite a long

time to walk out on stage, take the braces off,

sit down to start playing. And as he got ready

to play, he broke a string. And everybody heard it break.

The whole concert hall heard it break. Now he's either

got to get up, put those braces on and walk

back off stage and change and get a new string

or go on the way he is. And as a

great musician that he was, he went ahead and played

that entire concert with one less string. He played that

entire concert On a broken instrument. And at the end

of the conference. As one person. The entire audience. Rose

to its feet. In thunderous applause. For this magnificent feat.

They had just watched a man. Play an entire concert.

On a broken instrument. And it's not Perlman said something

very profound. And it applies to your life. He said this. Sometimes.

It is the artist's task. to find out how much

music you can still play with what you have left.

Between now and when you die, how much music can

you make with your life for the glory of God

with what you have left? You don't have the body

you used to have. You don't have the energy you

used to have. You may not have all the support

system around you you used to have, It is sometimes

the duty of the artist to find out how much

music you can play still with what you have left.

You need to stop focusing on what you've lost and

you need to start focusing on what's left. Stop looking

at what's lost and start looking at what's left and

what you can do to make the most of what

you still got. for the glory of God. That's character.

That's not being a victim. That's character. The Bible says

this in Philippians 2.13, for God is working in you,

giving you the desire to obey him and the power

to do what pleases him. Second Corinthians 3.18, as the

spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more

and more like him. Now think about this. God not

only says, I'm going to be with you the rest

of your life. He says, I'm going to be in

you the rest of your life. I'm going to put

my power in you. Now, often we don't feel that power.

In fact, oftentimes we feel pretty weak. We think I

don't have the energy to get out of bed today.

I don't have the energy to face all the demands

on my life. I'm sick and tired of being sick

and tired. I just feel weak. And God says, that

is when my strength shows up. And I can be

grateful for the changes he's making in me. Second Corinthians 12,

nine says this. God said to Paul, my grace is

all you need. When you're weak, my power is made

perfect in you. So Paul says, I'm happy to brag

about my weaknesses. Then Christ's power can live in me.

I get God's presence. I get God's peace. I get

God's pardon. And I get God's power. I get God's plan.

And I get God's purpose. These are things I can

thank God for when my life is falling apart. And

when the rogue winds are blowing me over sideways. When

was the last time you thanked God, really, for the

grace that he's shown you, for the good plan that

he has for you, for the changes he's making in you,

and for the promise that he's never gonna leave you?

The Bible says this, giving thanks is a sacrifice that

truly honors me. Did you know that every time you

say thanks to God, God says, that's like a sacrifice.

It's like a sacrificial gift to me as God. Every

time you remember to say thanks. Let me show you

another verse. Psalm 97 verse 12. Remember what your holy

Psalms 97:12

God has done for you and give thanks to him.

This is the third way we express thanks at Thanksgiving.

This is how we give thanks. By remembering what we

have been given. Let me give you the fifth thing

you can always thank God for. No matter how bad

things get in your life. No matter how terrible the

situation is that you're going through at that moment. And

it's this. I can always thank God for the home

he's prepared for me. I'm talking about heaven. I can

thank God for the home he's prepared for me. The

grace he's shown me. The plans he has for me.

The promise he'll never leave me. The changes that he's

making in me. And the home he's prepared for me.

By the way, those changes he's making in me. You know,

I love this fact that I'm not all that I

should be. And by the way, neither are you. I'm

not all I should be. But thank God, I'm not

what I used to be. And neither are you. That's

something to be grateful for. You can say three things

with confidence. You can say, thank God I'm not what

I used to be. Thank God I am what I

am right now. Thank God I'm not what I'm going

to be. If you don't like me, just hang around.

I'm getting better. And one day I'm going to be

made into perfection in Christ. And that's going to happen

in that home that God has prepared for me. I

am grateful that this life is not all there is.

I'm grateful that this isn't the end of the story.

I am grateful that the final chapter on my life,

your life, and everybody else's hasn't been written yet. That

there is more to life than here and now. That

there is an ever after that's going to go on

and on and on. That you were made to last

for eternity. The Bible says God has put eternity in

your hearts. It's why sometimes you go, there's got to

be more to life than this. Because there is. You

were made for more than just this life. You were

made for eternity. And I can always be thankful, no

matter what I'm going through, the pain I'm going through,

for the hope. Of heaven, that he's preparing a place

for me. Jesus said it like this, John 14, two

and three. I am going there, where? Heaven. I'm going

there to prepare a place for you. And if I

go and prepare a place for you, I'll come back.

I'll come back and I'll take you to be with

me that you may be where I am. God has

been preparing a place for you. It's called heaven. You

want to know how long he's been decorating that place?

You want to know how long God has been preparing

a place for you, his family, his child? Look at

the next verse. Jesus said it here. Then the king

will say, come, you who are blessed of my father,

take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the

creation of the world. That's a long time to be decorating.

That's a long time. What is heaven gonna be like?

It's amazing when you think about it because most people

have this really boring image of heaven. White, everything is white.

You think the God who invented color is gonna make

everything white in heaven? That you're gonna sit in a

white robe with angel's wings on a cloud and play

a harp? That would be hell. I can't think of

anything more boring. I don't know how people make heaven.

You know, think of the greatest experiences that you can

think of here on Earth, like sunsets, okay, and beautiful

beaches and Bora Bora. There's a lot of cool things

on this planet, and it's broken. This is an imperfect place,

and there's still a lot of beauty and cool things

on this planet. Think of a place with perfection, with

no sorrow, no sadness, No economic disasters, no environmental disasters,

no man messing it all up. It's perfect. It's going

to be unbelievable. The Bible says, eye has not seen,

ear has not heard, neither hath entered into the heart

of man the wonderful things that God has prepared for

those who love him. In heaven, we know at least

four things. We know we will be reunited. with those

that we love i have a father in heaven i

have a mother in heaven i have a brother in

heaven and i now have a son in heaven i

have a father-in-law and i have many others we will

be reunited with those who love the lord I know

that we will be released. The Bible says there will

be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears,

no more sadness, because there will be no more death.

The Bible says there will be no disease, no despair,

no discouragement, no depression. There will be no broken minds.

There will be no broken bodies. There will be no

broken relationships. There will be no broken promises. It will

all be made whole. We will be reunited. We will

be released. The Bible says we will be rewarded. There

will be rewards in heaven based on what did you

do with what I gave you. The Bible says if

you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in much.

Are you storing up treasure in heaven? Are you spending

it all on yourself right now? And the Bible says

we will not only be rewarded, we will be reassigned.

You're not going to just sit around in your blessed

assurance in heaven. You're going to work, only it's going

to be work that you like to do and there

won't be problems and weeds in it, but you will

have things to do that are fulfilling and you will

be useful to yourself and others. Here's what the Bible says.

First Peter, God has reserved for his children the priceless

gift Of eternal life. Now I want to stop right there.

First it says God has reserved. That reservation for you

has already been made. It's been made long before you

need it. God has put a reservation in heaven. For you.

For his children. Is everybody going to be in heaven?

Absolutely not. Only his children are going to heaven. Is

everybody a child of God? Absolutely not. Everybody is loved

by God. Everybody is created by God. God has never

made a person he didn't want in heaven. God has

never made a person he doesn't love. God has never

made a person he doesn't want to know him. But

you gotta choose to be in God's family and God

is not gonna force you to love him. And you

can thumb your nose to God and say, God, I'm

gonna be my own God. I don't need Jesus. I

don't need a savior. I don't need any grace. I'm

good enough in your dreams. There's not a snowball's chance

in hell you're getting into heaven on your own effort.

The only way you're getting in is God's way. And

Jesus said it like this. I am the way. Not

I'm one way. Not I'm a good way. Not I'm

a best way. Not I'm one of the ways. I'm

the way. Now, either Jesus is true or he's the

biggest liar ever lived. I'm betting my life that he

was right. What are you betting your life on? You

need to decide, am I going to accept or reject

the love of God? To miss heaven, you have to

have so much pride. You say, I don't need God's grace.

I don't need Jesus to die for me. I don't

need salvation. I'm good enough on my own. Are you

kidding me? That is the ultimate audacious arrogance. If you

haven't settled this issue, you need to settle it. The

greatest thing you need to do is you need to

humbly say to God, God, there's no way I'm getting

into heaven on my own and I know it. I've

done too many wrong things. I'm not perfect. And I

need you to be my savior. God, I need grace.

I need forgiveness. And if you haven't done that, I

would encourage you to do it. In the heavens, the

Bible says, God gives us the hope of heaven that

he's prepared for us. This is why we believe 2

Corinthians 4 that says this, We often suffer, but we're

never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do,

we never give up. In times of trouble, God is

with us. And when we're knocked down, we get up again.

We know that God raised the Lord back to life.

And just as he raised Jesus, he will also raise

us back to life. He'll bring us into his presence together.

So we don't focus on the trouble, the pain, the sorrow,

the suffering that we see right now. Instead, we look

forward to what we don't see yet. For the troubles

we see are temporary, but the joys to come will

last forever. I am so thankful I'm not going to

have to live with pain forever. I'm grateful for death

on this earth. Because I don't want to live on

a broken planet forever. I wasn't made to live on

a broken planet forever. I was made to live in

the presence of God forever. God will wipe away every tear.

No more death. No more mourning. No more suffering. And

I can be thankful for that no matter what's going

on in my life. Let's bow our heads. Have you

settled the issue of eternity? If you were to die tonight,

are you absolutely certain you'd go to heaven? If God

were to say to you, why should I let you

into my heaven? What would you say? Would you know

the right answer? Would you say, because I humbly admitted

I cannot save myself. Because I've developed a relationship with

you and I got to know you, Lord. I've been

a friend of Jesus Christ for over 50 years. And

I know he sees, he cares. And he suffers through

everything that I go through. I want you to have

that relationship to him. I'm going to pray a prayer

right now. You may have been in church your entire life,

but you're not sure of it. It's time to settle

this issue, whether you're saved or not. You need to

pray this prayer right now and mean it sincerely. Just

say it in your mind. Dear God, I humbly admit

I cannot save myself. I humbly admit that I have

done wrong things. I have rebelled. I've done things that

you didn't want me to do. And I'm sorry for

my sin. I need your grace. I need your forgiveness.

I need your love in my life. I want to

be grateful for the grace you've shown to me. I

want to be grateful for the good plan you have

for my life. And I want to follow that plan

as best I know how. I want the rest of

my life to be the best of my life. Thank

you for the promise that you will never leave me.

Thank you that you're working in me. I'm not what

I used to be, but I'm not what I'm going

to be. And I thank you that you have prepared

heaven for me. And today, I trust my life into

your hands. I want you to be the manager of

the rest of my life, my Lord and my Savior.

And I humbly pray this in your name. Amen.