When was the last time you prayed asking God for something? What did you pray about?
No matter when you last turned to God with a plea for help with something for yourself or someone dear to you, I am convinced that it made a difference.
I have not found that each and every prayer I pray brings the desired result. I did not receive the pony I prayed for as a child, nor did my cousin recover from cancer after I prayed for her healing last year. I have not found prayer to be a magic solution for everything I want for myself or the people in my life.
However, I have found prayer to be an opportunity to turn to God for support. I talk about needs I have, or needs I’ve discovered in the people close to me. I ask for guidance, for perseverance, for patience, and most often, for wisdom. I ask for healing, for strength, for safety, and always for peace.
Whether or not the outcome is just what I was hoping for, I find that turning to God gives me a sense of hope. Trusting that God is connected to the struggles in our lives, gives me courage. Trusting that the God who created the world, who filled it with life and beauty and abundance, is also the God who walks with us in moments of pain or struggle or difficulty somehow makes them more bearable, even when the eventual outcome is not what we have sought.
Praying is not so much giving God a list of things we want, like a grocery list of needs. Praying is an invitation to God to join us in our difficulties, and to help us find the resources we need to face and overcome them. Somehow, inviting God to be with us in the face of challenges makes a difference.
Prayer
God of everything,
I am grateful that you know each struggle I face.
Guide me.
Fill me with patience.
Give me strength.
Show me how to live compassion.
Fill me with kindness.
And empower me in each challenge.
Where I am hurting, bring healing.
Where I am in danger, keep me safe.
Where I am alone, bring me support.
Where I am uneasy, bring me peace.
Help me to rely on your love and care, and trust that you are always with me.
Amen.