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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your Daily Prayer,

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Speaker 1: a podcast dedicated to helping you find the words you

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Speaker 1: need to connect with your Father in Heaven. No matter

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Speaker 1: what is going on in your life today, you can

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Speaker 1: trust that God wants to hear from you. Right after

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Speaker 1: this shore word from our sponsor, we will prit the

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Speaker 1: today's prayer for resurrection and the areas I thought were

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Speaker 1: dead together. A Prayer for Resurrection in the areas I

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Speaker 1: thought were dead by Heidi May read by Carrie Iberger.

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Speaker 1: Prophesied to these bones and say to them, dry bones,

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Speaker 1: hear the word of the Lord. I will make breath

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Speaker 1: enter you, and you will come to life. Ezekiel, thirty seven,

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Speaker 1: verses four through six. I thought my life was over, dead, gone,

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Speaker 1: never to return. When my husband died from cancer at

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Speaker 1: thirty three, I didn't know how life could possibly go on.

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Speaker 1: The future we dreamed about together, the vision we shared,

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Speaker 1: the trips we planned, the dream home we hoped for,

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Speaker 1: all gone wiped away. In that one final breath, I

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Speaker 1: walked out of that stale hospital room, putting one foot

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Speaker 1: in front of the other, not knowing how I would

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Speaker 1: take a million more steps without him. I was forced

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Speaker 1: to begin again from scratch. As Ezekiel wrote this passage

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Speaker 1: about six hundred BC while living in exile, Jerusalem had

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Speaker 1: been destroyed, Israel was conquered, the temple was gone. The

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Speaker 1: people felt spiritually dead, defeated and scattered. Our bones are

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Speaker 1: dried up, and our hope is gone. We are cut off, Ezekiel,

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Speaker 1: thirty seven eleven. During that dark season, God gave Ezekiel

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Speaker 1: a vision, a valley filled with dry bones, not recently dead,

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Speaker 1: very dry, long gone. God asked him, can these bones live?

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Speaker 1: Ezekiel answered, wisely, Sovereign Lord, you alone know the real

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Speaker 1: question underneath the vision is this. Do we believe God

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Speaker 1: can bring dead things back to life? God assured Ezekiel,

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Speaker 1: if you have restore what had been lost, these bones

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Speaker 1: are the whole house of Israel, I will open your

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Speaker 1: graves and bring you up from them. I will put

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Speaker 1: my spirit in you, and you will live. Life can

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Speaker 1: usher us into season so dark we wonder if light

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Speaker 1: will ever return. We can find ourselves in valleys that

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Speaker 1: feel permanent, hopeless. But God is in the business of restoration.

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Speaker 1: After my loss, I began to see my life slowly

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Speaker 1: take shape again. Small pieces of hope returned I noticed

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Speaker 1: light breaking through. I felt a faint but steady glimmer

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Speaker 1: of what my new life could become. God gathered the

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Speaker 1: broken pieces and resurrected the hope that had once felt buried.

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Speaker 1: He can do that for you too. When we surrender

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Speaker 1: our loss, our pain, and our hopelessness, we create space

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Speaker 1: for God to rebuild. When Jesus died on the cross,

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Speaker 1: the disciples were devastated, confused. If he truly was the

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Speaker 1: son of God, why did they watch his lifeless body

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Speaker 1: breathe its last and be lay and a tomb a

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Speaker 1: stone rolled over the entrance. It seemed final. Deep disappointment

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Speaker 1: feels that way, like the stone has sealed what we

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Speaker 1: loved forever. But three days later, resurrection came, just as

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Speaker 1: Jesus rose from the grave. God can breathe life into

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Speaker 1: the areas of our lives that feel buried, no matter

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Speaker 1: how devastating the loss. When we seek Him in our

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Speaker 1: disappointment and pain, we will begin to see dry bones stir.

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Speaker 1: After you have suffered a little while, he will himself

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Speaker 1: restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. First

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Speaker 1: Peter five, Verse ten. Resurrection is still what he does.

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Speaker 1: Let's pray Lord, there are areas in my life that

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Speaker 1: feel dead. I carry the ache of things I may

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Speaker 1: never get back. I live with regret, disappointment, and moments

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Speaker 1: of hopelessness. I wish certain things had turned out differently.

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Speaker 1: He didn't unfold the way I envisioned, and it's hard

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Speaker 1: to reconcile the dreams I once held with the life

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Speaker 1: I'm living now. But Lord, I don't want to live

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Speaker 1: in hopelessness. I don't want lost dreams to steal the

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Speaker 1: joy from my days. I want to see your hand

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Speaker 1: even in hardship. I want to trust that you can

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Speaker 1: rebuild what has been lost. Help me to view my

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Speaker 1: struggles through the lens of your goodness and hope. I

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Speaker 1: trust that you can bring dead things back to life.

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Speaker 1: I believe that the same God who raised Jesus from

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Speaker 1: the tomb can resurrect the places in my life that

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Speaker 1: feel buried. I want to live with hope, with trust,

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Speaker 1: and with the belief that hardship does not have the

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Speaker 1: final word. You did not create us for a life

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Speaker 1: of comfort, but for a life that reflects your goodness,

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Speaker 1: even when it's hard. I believe that you work all

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Speaker 1: things together good for those who love you. Help me

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Speaker 1: to see that goodness. Give me patience when change feels

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Speaker 1: slow and restoration seems far away. Teach me to surrender

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Speaker 1: instead of control. Help me to keep bringing everything to

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Speaker 1: you in prayer. And most of all, Lord, help me

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Speaker 1: to live like Christ, encouraging others even as you are

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Speaker 1: restoring me. Thank you, Jesus for loving me through the difficulty.

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Speaker 1: Thank You for my salvation and your precious name. We

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Speaker 1: pray Amen. Your Daily Prayer is a production of Life

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Speaker 1: Audio and Sale Media. If you haven't already, be sure

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Speaker 1: to follow the show in your favorite podcast app so

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Speaker 1: you never miss an episode. For more faithful and inspirational

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Speaker 1: podcas casts, visit us at lifaudio dot com. Mm hmm