Though frequent trouble assaults my heart, I know that You can use all calamity to strengthen my faith. Enable me by the Spirit’s power to stand stronger in the trial. No affliction is rendered worthless when entrusted to Your purposes, Lord God. Take me from a poverty of faith that only trusts You when all is well to a heart-wrenching, abiding faith that is rooted deep enough to survive any storm. Let faith abound when relationships are steady and fulfilling, when business is profitable, and challenge seems a distant thing. Keep faith strong when intimacy in relationship is betrayed, when failure feels imminent, and my trust in You is challenged. Let me hold true to Your faithfulness when mine falters. Though my spirit deflates in despair, Your presence lifts me above the clouds. Tribulation works the muscle of patience in a way that merely waiting for something doesn’t. Allow what You must if it will grow the virtues of holiness in my heart. Help me discover more of Your will even in seasons when my heart is breaking. Under the beauty of the Word in Psalm 7:9-10 and the authority of Christ, I come to the altar in prayer.

Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
    and may You establish the righteous—
You who test the minds and hearts,
    O righteous God!
My shield is with God,
    who saves the upright in heart.
Psalm 7:9-10, ESV