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Lord, the news this week is heavy, and my hands are too small to fix it. I feel the weight of it pressing in, and I do not want to go numb just to survive. I come to you honest, tired, and still caring. I don't want to armor myself against what's happening in the world, but I also can't carry more than I was built to hold. Search my soul, God, and meet me in the questions rising within me. You are the God who comforts me in every trouble, not so I can be untouched by pain, but so that same comfort can flow through me to someone else who is struggling. Keep my heart tender even when the headlines feel relentless. Give me rest that steadies me rather than a numbness that shuts me down. Your word says in Psalm 42:5, “Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me?” Lord, my soul does ask that question tonight, and I bring it honestly to you rather than burying it. There is so much beyond my reach, decisions I don't control, outcomes I can't guarantee, suffering I can't undo. Help me lay these down without believing my limits are a failure. I am only one person, and you never asked me to hold what only you can hold. Teach me to bring every anxious thought to you instead of letting it calcify into numbness. I don't have to go numb to survive this. I can stay soft and still be steady in you. And in Philippians 4:6 your word says, “in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. So I bring my requests to you now, Lord, with thanks even in the heaviness, trusting your peace to guard my heart and mind. Thank you that you do not ask me to be unaffected by the world's pain, only honest and open before you. Steady my heart, keep it tender, and carry what I cannot. I don't have to go numb to survive this. In Jesus’ name, amen.