‘Breaking Night’ – The Power of the Serenity Prayer

Click the above image to go to an amazing video that is on Guidepost’s website about a woman who went from “Homeless to Harvard” and who came to learn the Serenity Prayer at a very young age in a way no teen ever should have to. It’s an amazingly inspiring explanation of the meaning of the prayer and it’s impact and the comfort it gave to a motherless, homeless teen.

Liz Murray’s book, “Breaking Night,” details her incredible young life, a life no child should have to live through, as a child of parents addicted to and dealing drugs, which resulted in her going out on the streets, which she saw as an escape and a step up from where she was. At age 15, she took control of what she could, and let go of trying to control what she couldn’t, and began her journey to Harvard and beyond. As she says in the video, “If I could just pick the things that I had some control over, and give the rest to something higher than myself, let it go, surrender to it, focus on what I could control — and for me that was education. It was school. I couldn’t change any of that, but you know what? I could show up at school everyday. … I could get not only a B, but I could get an A.”

The Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.”