Submit to necessary afflictions

April has ended, and we're now in May. How time flies. We begin the month with this Puritan prayer.

Let us take up his cross and follow him.
May the agency of thy grace prepare us
....for thy dispensations.
Make us willing that thou shouldest
...choose our inheritance and
...determine what we shall retain or lose,
....suffer or enjoy;
If blessed with prosperity may we be free
..from its snares,
..and use, not abuse, its advantages;
May we patiently and cheerfully submit
...to those afflictions which are necessary.
When we are tempted to wander,
..hedge up our way,
..excite in us abhorrence of sin,
..wean us from the present evil world,
Assure us that we shall at last enter
....Immanuel’s land
......where none is ever sick,
......and the sun will always shine.