Purify my heart...

Leading prayers at church this evening, I always worry that I will not 'do it properly'.  I don't like to pray specifically for world disasters; nor for other churches; nor even for the sick and bereaved in our own community. I am afraid, sometimes, to name them for fear of forgetting someone important or upsetting someone else if I omit their loved ones.

Today, I jotted a few notes. I focused on the work of Compassion, and on renewing hearts to love God and serve his people.

I prayed, and choked up, touched by the plight of millions of children all over the world. I almost couldn't carry on.

And then, all I could think of was God's people, sitting in churches, hearing His Word. I so desperately wanted them to respond.

Brian Doerksen's song Refiner's Fire sums it up so beautifully: