Today I have a friend who...

is undergoing surgery to complete a miscarriage. Everything is wrong about those words. I want to throw up writing them. But like Aibileen in The Help , writing the prayer is its own form of special prayer. Today I pray for a friend who has no business hurting like she is. I pray for her healing, physical and emotional. I pray that this is the last of her tragedies in growing her family.

Today I have a friend who is pregnant after a long, arduous, and expensive journey. I pray that her pregnancy remains strong, viable and healthy. I pray that she does not have to endure what my other friend is enduring.

Today I have a friend who has welcomed her 6th child into the world, and first GIRL! I pray in thanksgiving for her chance to raise a daughter and in continued hope for a healthy child and healthy mama!!

Today I have a few friends who would so love to have a baby. On different stops in their journeys to become parents, their desire is the same. I pray that God would answer their prayers and fill their homes with babes.

Today I have a friend who just took her 22-year-old son off a ventilator. I held her hand as she prayed over her boy and listened to her tell God that like Mary gave Jesus on Good Friday,  she was willing to give her boy. And give him, she did. I pray that she is able to find the strength to breathe, to pray, to live without her son.

Today I know of a woman who has died, leaving 3 little girls, ages 9, 5, and 1 without their mama. I know where the mama is. I pray for the little girls whose pain is unfathomable.

And today I know of a woman who, thanks to the precious life inside her, feels all of this so much more actuely than I could have ever felt before. The tears of pain, anger, sadness, gratitude, joy and peace are so very real. I thank God for the life within me. I pray for little baby's continued growth and health. And I pray for healing and peace for each of the amazing ladies listed above.