For many women, Mother’s Day is tinged with anger, sadness, regret or a sense of loss. I wanted to mark it in my own heart this year, remembering those of my friends who struggle with this day in their calendar. I woke up earlier this week with these words in my spirit which I felt were a gift to me as I pray for them:

 

Lord, today we want to recognise and thank You for all the women You have used to invest in us over the years. We thank You for our own mothers, grandmothers, wider family and friends. Thank you for those significant women who have sought us out in the churches and communities we have been part of, to be a blessing and an encouragement to us. We praise You for those who have comforted us, challenged us and prayed for our well-being and Christian growth.

(Perhaps you can offer your own silent prayer for a person who comes to mind now, as someone you are grateful for from your own past…)

May our hearts overflow with gratitude to You, for the gift of life you gave us as You formed and knitted each of us in our mother’s womb.

We ask a special blessing today on those fighting for women who have been ill-treated, overlooked or who face the world alone, hungry or afraid.

We pray for those women who lead businesses, churches, councils, schools, hospitals, charities, countries and forces for good in our world. We ask that you would give them the mind of Christ, the wealth of heaven and the support of godly people.

For all the women in our own Ivy church family across Manchester, we ask today that You would be the source of their spiritual and physical strength. We pray that rhythms of repentance, forgiveness and healing would shape every home – and that women and girls would find their place in the body of Christ and be an agent of change in our world.

Amen

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