Prayer for Today, Thursday, April 14

Lord,

We want to be faithful to You, but we often fail. Free us, Dear God, from those things that separate us from You. Strengthen our resolve to serve You with our whole hearts. We can’t do it alone. We need Your Spirit to sustain us. Our hearts are open, Gracious One, fill them, we pray, to overflowing with Your Divine Presence. We pray in Jesus name. AMEN.
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Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary Beth Cassody on the death of her brother, Roger Hays.

I received an email form Tammy Skaggs. Mike and Tammy have recently been visiting Central; she said:
“If I could, I would like to request someone in my family to be put on the prayer list. My niece's husband, Fred Haddad, was been diagnosed with stage 4 bile duct cancer which apparently is rare, and usually not found until it has spread to other organs and there is not much they can do for it. It has progressed much faster than the doctors anticipated and at this point they have been told to call in hospice because his liver could fail at anytime. They live in Norman and he is only 55 years old. He was only diagnosed about a month ago. My niece's name is Leslie Haddad. She and Fred are people of strong faith and I know they would appreciate all the prayer that they can get. Thank you so much! We will see you in church on Sunday. Mike and Tammy Skaggs”

Please pray for Fred and his family.

Betty Unruh’s great granddaughter has been released from the hospital. They still aren’t sure of the cause of her illness.

Ryan O’Banion was doing much better. He will likely be released from St. Mary’s today.

Willo Clark’s daughter, Shannon, is coming back to Enid to be with Willo for a few days. Her recuperation at home will be ongoing.

The “Journey to the Cross” begins tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m. and will also be open Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Plan to come and be moved by the experience.

The scripture reading for today is 1 Samuel 16:14-23:
Now the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. And Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command the servants who attend you to look for someone who is skillful in playing the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will feel better.”So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me someone who can play well, and bring him to me.”One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence; and the LORD is with him.”So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David who is with the sheep.”Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them by his son David to Saul. And David came to Saul, and entered his service. Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.”And whenever the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

Grace and peace,

John McLemore