Heavenly Father, we come before You

...a people on the brink of a new millennium

....a family brought together by a common bond

...friends who love and cry and tease and fight and hurt.

We thank You, Lord, for the blessings that You have showered upon us:

the courage & the determination; the strengths & the weaknesses.

But most of all, we thank You for the gift of each other

-for it is from others that we draw support to face each day.

We ask for Your aid to understand Your plan for each of us

& to help us to deal with the ravages of our disease.

We ask also for guidance each day as we contend with each other

-fragile as we might be; torn by struggle and pain.

Grant us the wisdom and the patience to listen to each other

and to offer truth & comfort from our daily strife.

Give us the ability to live each day as it is presented to us

with grace and dignity.

And if it be Your Will, we ask that this new year bring a cure

and the ability to face all of the possibilities that would

then be opened to us.

We ask all of these things in the Faith that Your will be done. AMEN

Joan Snyder