Dear God,

Things don’t always work out the way that I wish they would. I wish there was some button that I could press to make the financial strains, the familial and relationship headaches, and study woes all go away, but there isn’t.

However, you’ve given me a means to cope and a means to succeed. You didn’t leave me stranded and for that I’m eternally grateful. I have the obligatory prayers, an action where I am able to stand in front of you and remind myself that there is One greater than every woe that exists in front of me.

You also gave me a plethora of other means of seeking your assistance. There is an hour on Jumuah where the supplication of your servants is accepted and I try my best to call on you then. Whenever it rains I try to remember that it is one of the blessed times for supplication. In the company of the righteous I may whisper a prayer hoping that due to my effort of being in their company you’ll answer. Lately, I’ve done something ever so simple by adding Zam Zam water to my diet.

Whenever I’m about to sit down and study or begin work I take a few sips and call on you to bless whatever I’m about to. It’s so easy to forget that an action done without your blessings is nothing. It’s only through you that I see success.

With all of my studies I read stories of people that wouldn’t lift a pen without saying your name. People that would cry at the thought of disobeying you, and because of their level of devoutness to you, you blessed them.

I too crave those blessings though I am undeserving. I too want my progeny to know that I constantly called upon my Lord to grant me the openings that I needed to accomplish what little that I did.

So I call on you not only to give me the openings, but to remind me of the paths that lead to those openings. Paths like these little sips of Zam Zam that quench a parched soul seeking your guidance.

Jumada Al Thani 17th, 1440
February 23rd, 2019

Your servant,
Arthur K. Richards