My Prayers
To me the Bible is a love letter from God in which he reveals himself and teaches me how to live my life with joy in my heart on this earth. Before my illness I thought that pleasing God meant serving others and doing my best for him through my work and daily activities. But now I realized that God is pleased when I simply receive His love. God is love and I was created by Him to receive His love. In fact, He created us all so that He can love us. God also wishes to have a two-way communication and he is willing to listen to what I am thinking about and what I wish. He even says “Whatever you ask in my name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Therefore, the following is my sincere prayer to God.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Who is the creator of heaven and earth and everything in it. I praise your name. I thank you for your love. You love me just as I am, not requiring anything from me. Thank you very much for your unconditional love.
You gave your only Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. You made an atonement for my sins and also for the sins of every person on earth.
I am grateful that you made me your child just by my believing in Jesus. I also appreciate you making a place ready for me in heaven. Since my heart is so filled with your love, I am ready to go to you when the time comes to end my life here. Please give comfort and encouragement to my beloved family and friends.
Please give your blessing to every person on this earth that you so dearly love. I pray that there will be no war or fighting between countries and tribes. I pray that people of different nations will accept the differences and try to help each other, so that we can build a world of friendship and love.
Lord, I love you and I thank you for your love. I pray these things with deep gratitude in my heart.
In the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.
If my story has touched you and you would like to share this with others, please do so. If you or someone you know can translate this into other languages, please do so as well. It is my hope to share this with as many people as possible because God loves everyone and I want to obey God’s word that says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:18
My special thanks to Amy Hirata, my sister and Sam Kakitani, my son who have helped me to put this story together and create and manage my website. Without their help I could not have completed this task to share God's love with people of all nations.
I had the privilege and incredible blessing of visiting and being with Sumiye from September 20th to 30th, 2009 at the hospital and writing down all her words. I was amazed at my sister's grateful heart and trust in God. She did not feel sorry for herself nor showed any signs of fear. Instead she spoke words of love, joy and gratitude daily. She praised the Lord and expressed how much she loved the Lord and worshiped him with songs of praise. As I was writing down her personal story of this unexpected journey, she always showed patience, gentleness, kindness, thankfulness and joy. How is that possible? It is the amazing grace of God Almighty through faith in Jesus Christ. Now when I think of Sumiye and cry, my tears are not only because I'm sad of her diagnosis and prognosis but because I am overwhelmed by God's great love for her, for me and for every person that lives. I am inspired by her faith and am forever grateful to have such a loving big sister that I am able to call "Ne-chan" (big sister in Japanese).
Amy Hirata
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