For the one in need, here’s a prayer for right now

O my Creator, Comforter and Friend,

You know my travail and are my consolation, and it’s to Your glory in heaven that You come to me, each time, in my hour of need, not to lift me out of my circumstance, but to lift me into Hope. I don’t know how You do it, Lord God, but I love this life of faith.

There’s a person right now overwhelmed in sorrow, anxiety, grief and fear, Lord. Loss has overcome their reality, and their hope has plummeted to the abyss. Call to their heart Your Presence. Make their experience in their loneliness real. Compensate them in their suffering, Almighty God.

There’s a person so confused right now, that they seriously doubt their sanity. They’re betwixt and between. They don’t know which way’s up. Show them their way, God. Give them their peace of mind; quell their heart.

There are people with major decisions to make and time’s running out. Give them poise, my God, to know the correct decision, and confidence to know all will be okay. Help them with the resolve to keep looking forward, not to look back, and to resist the overtures of regret. Make their path straight, Lord, by giving them Your decision to make. Show them Your will, Father.

There’s a person with too much going on now, Lord, they’re burning up with burnout and they don’t know how they’ll get it all done. Come to them now with a peace beyond their understanding, and a plan and a process and a way through a mountain of tasks.

There’s one, too, Lord, about to turn their back on You. They’ve tried so hard and faith hasn’t worked for them. Show them Your sign, God, and make it possible for them to know You are real and relevant, even helpful for their life. Get them to utter the prayer their heart has been saying for weeks now. Inspire them to say those words aloud.

Gracious God, there’s pain too, oh so much pain, chronic for one, acute for another, and I ask by the powerful name of Jesus that their perception of the pain would shift. Give them the grace that is all-sufficient in You; power that is beyond their doing and that can only come from You.

Finally, God of all care, furnish the distraught—in marriage, in family, in a workplace situation—a problematic relationship—with the discernment for what to do, and give them the courage to do that thing. Grace them with support, and give them loved ones and friends who will back them up.

For all others enduring hardship, struggle, toil and snare, who may be ready to do something drastic and regretful, or who are despairing of life, comfort, Lord; comfort!

In the name of Jesus I pray these things,

AMEN.

Photo by Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash