People Tell Their Stories:
Land of the Multiply Challenged:
When a Lot Falls Apart at Once

Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I asked God for strength that I might achieve;
         I was made weak that I might learn to obey.

I asked for health that I might do great things;
         I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy;
         I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
         I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
         I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I had asked for,
         but everything that I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered;

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

From The Oxford Book of Prayer, Oxford University Press, New York, 1985, p. 119.

|  The Land of the Multiply Challenged  |  People Tell Their Stories  |