Reflecting on the current state of the world, and particularly of the struggle that my friend Jerad's family is facing , it seems like a good time to write down some thoughts about the Bible and prayer. Jerad mentioned in a recent blog post that he was collecting scriptures for encouragement, and I thought not only about the scriptures I hold on to, but also to how I use them. It seemed to me that unpacking the process of internalizing and living within the truths of scripture might be worthwhile. Hopefully it's either interesting or encouraging to Jerad, and anyone else that ends up reading this. So my Big Question to ponder is how do we thrive despite the circumstances we each face, and how can we take a proactive stance in prayer to resist the sense of impending doom that surrounds us, at a moment when so many other things are outside our control. Thinking on that, one of the key scriptures that comes to mind is what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4-8. Philippians 4