For most of my ministry, I have kept a framed prayer by John Wesley, a renewer of the church, as a daily reminder of God’s promised steadfastness.
The prayer goes like this:
“I am no longer my own but yours, put me to what you will. Put me to doing. Put me to suffering. Let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you. Exulted for you, or brought low for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours, so be it. And this covenant now made on earth, let it be satisfied in heaven.”
This past year has been full of stress, uncertainty, and complexity. Yet wherever we go, whatever we do, we belong to God—in good times and in bad, in moments of joy and in moments of grief.
May you be strengthened in the promises of God, no matter what your circumstances may be.
Grace and peace,
Robin J. Steinke, President
Luther Seminary