## 4:1
%% 4
> Answer me when I call
>> Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

Occasion: Stress over unfair treatment

Lord, I keep replaying what was said.
The cut in the voice.
The blame laid in my lap.
The look that said the matter was settled
before I opened my mouth.

I keep thinking of what I should have said,
how I might have made them understand.
Part of me wants to defend myself again,
even though the moment has passed.
It is hard to rest when something remains unfair.

Settle me before this settles in me.
Help me answer what is mine to answer
and release what I cannot fix.
Keep me from carrying their judgment
as though it were the whole truth about me.

If I carry this all day,
my body will stay tight,
my jaw hard,
my sleep thin.
Hurt becomes anger so quickly, 
and anger becomes a conversation 
I can't stop having in my head.

Give me one safe place tonight.
A chair.
A meal.
A person who does not require me to defend myself.
Give me enough quiet to remember
that I do not have to resolve everything before I rest.

Settle me, Lord.
Let this not live in my bones all night.

Amen.