In the weeks leading up to the start of our 40 day prayer and fasting journey this year I attended the funeral of the son of one of my dear friends from California, who had been accidentally killed by a gun-shot wound.  On the morning of his death, my friend had left her home to participate in a Walk for Life, only to come home and find her son had lost his.  Her painful journey has kept me fervently before the throne of grace pleading for the comfort of God to minister to her and her family's broken heart.  Today's prayer is for all the mother's who have travailed in labor, who have been disappointed because of barrenness and infertility, who have grieved over prodigal children, who have struggled with single parenting, or who have mourned over the death of a child, whether by birth, abortion, suicide, sickness, tragic accident, or natural causes. Our hearts grieve with you who have suffered the deepest and most impossible pain, and pray that on this day that we all are reminded of the joy and privilege our heavenly Father has given us as women to be mother's - whether by the womb or by the heart.  For we have been crowned with the honor of nurturing the world and sharing the tender comfort of the Father's heart. I offer this prayer in honor of my own mother who has had to endure the lasting grief and sorrow of my brother's suicide, and for all the mothers, fathers, siblings, family members and friends who have mourned the loss of someone they have deeply loved.  Through this prayer I pray you will feel our Lord's compassionate love and tender embrace as He holds your wounded heart close to His. "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between His shoulders" (Deuteronomy 33:12).