Prayers
A Prayer for One Who Parents Alone
Ever-present God, Remind us that You are near In our single parenting. For we are spread thin, Stretching to fill many roles, And we come to You Aware of our family’s need To be filled with Your care and great compassion. O Lord, we feel like we’re doing So much for our families, Yet it’s…
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Christmas Is For You
For the ones who are hollow inside cracked and cavernous dusty and dried void of vision and voice wrestling to find light to rejoice Remember: God came near Not only next-door neighbor near No, even nearer He moved into a woman’s womb her heartbeat, his song her breath, his movement No matter what they say…
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Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Love
God of love, You came to us within a family. You know how hard family life can be. This season when we gather with relatives, Especially those we don’t see often, Be with us through our challenges and conflicts. We give You all the hard things we cannot carry alone: Grief and grudges. Disappointment and…
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Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Joy
God of joy, This can be a heavy time of year for our mental health. For many of us, the world outside grows cold and dark. The sun sets early. The wind blows hard. Our minds and bodies suffer From the lack of light and shorter days. We were already struggling, but now everything feels…
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Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Peace
God of peace, We’ve done it again. We’ve crammed our calendar full to bursting. We don’t know how we’ll get it all done. December is packed with Parties, plays, and performances, Christmas concerts and celebrations At school and church and work And everywhere in between— Shopping, planning, decorating, baking, Prepping, giving, buying, wrapping, Doing, doing,…
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Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Hope
God of hope, Help us in this season of stress, This beautiful time of year that Can bring added burdens. Less money, more expenses, increased anxiety, Christmas coming right around the corner— Everything feels overwhelming right now. For rising costs and mounting bills. For Christmas lists and year-end deadlines. For groceries and gas and everything…
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For Those Who Make Things
May you bake, and be blessed. May you write, and unearth wonder. May you paint, and know pleasure. May you think on theories and theologies, and know deeply that this, too, counts. May you grow things, and glimpse growth within yourself. May you weld silver, and find that you are also being forged. May you…
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To The One Who Doesn’t Anymore
To the one who doesn’t journal, anymore. To the one who doesn’t play piano, anymore. To the one who doesn’t dance, write, shoot, build, garden, cook, bake, sketch, or sing anymore. You are not a failure, and the passion of your past was not fake. That art came to you and came from you for a season. The…
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Shadowlands
Lord, we invite you into the shadowlands of our hearts. Reveal to us the ways in which we continue to turn away from You. Release us from the shame of our betrayals and our perceived failures. Help us run toward Your mercy and repent of our sins. In these holy days, transform us and conform…
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A Prayer for Miscarriage
This prayer for miscarriage is featured in the book Pocket Prayers for Times of Trouble (Twenty-Third Publications, 2014). God of comfort, you who are mother and father of us all, hear my anguish at the loss of my child. My heart and body are broken, wracked with pain and grief. Let me bring you my cries and my confusion, my anger…
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Lord Have Mercy
Lord have mercy. It all feels so hopeless as we talk and talk and posture and debate and namecall and swipe and dehumanize for our own gain and nothing changes. No end in sight as children keep dying and families keep weeping and wailing and grieving… Lord have mercy on us all. Where are our…
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Lord, Help Me Choose Love
Lord, help me choose love. Help me choose love over the need to correct. Help me choose love over the need to educate. When I feel the need to prove my point, help me choose love. Help me choose love when I’m tired or impatient. When I’m angry, when I’m struggling with my mental health,…
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Again. Again. Again. Again. How long? How long. How long By what we have done And what we have failed to do, We have our children’s blood on our hands. Hear our cry, God of Justice. Heal our wounds, Prince of Peace. Help our brokenness, Spirit of Truth. We cannot live like this.Which is why…
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Lord, when I pray to You as my Father, do not allow my human mind to limit You to my human understanding of what it means to be father or mother. I pray that our limits of human language do not hide who You truly are to every one of Your children. You are Spirit,…
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Whether planned or unplanned, a Caesarean section is a powerful birth experience. The act of surrender into a surgeon’s hands symbolizes the physical sacrifice of motherhood—and invites a new reflection on Jesus’ own words: “This is my body, given for you.” Since it’s normal to face fear or anxiety heading into the operating room, it…
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How long, O Lord? How are we to bear this pain Over and over and over Blood cries out from the ground Again and again and again Met once more with Empty words and violent fists Hearts of stone which fail to see To weep, to lament, to repent How long, O Lord We are…
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Frustrated with your three year-old? Fed up with your teenager? Certain stages of parenting are just plain hard. Here are three prayers for when your child (or you) is throwing an epic fit. And remember: Help me is a whole prayer, too. A short version: God, I am going to lose it. Help me not…
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If they only knew that your love for them hums along in quiet work they cannot see, in love that is relentless, monotonous and nocturnal, hidden in acts of service that guard and keep. Perhaps they do not care how fully you care until the good order they take for granted is missing in action.…
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Inhale: their smoky tempers, all aflame, fiery and persistent in their desire Exhale: calm and firm, consistent boundaries Inhale: their sweaty anxieties, all wrapped up in things they don’t understand Exhale: a peaceful presence, unwavering even in your own misunderstanding Inhale: the taste of rebellion, their wild energy dancing away from you Exhale: grace, the…
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Help me remember, O Lord, That nothing surprises You And no need is too great For Your mighty hand. O Lord, I ache to fix things, To heal my child, To protect them from suffering. And though I wish I were in control, I’m fighting to trust that You alone are God. As they prepare…
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God of goodness, How could you let this happen to my beloved child? Watching them in pain Brings the deepest pain I have ever known. I wish I could step in and take their place So I could suffer instead of them. But I know that you know Human suffering from the inside out. That…
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The device contains a universe of things and also nothing of any importance. May it be a tool you own and use so that it does not own and use you. May it offer connection to what is real rather than escape from what matters. May it be the last place you look for validation…
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Some of us wrestle because we are full of a grief we cannot escape. If this is you, may you remember that your grief doesn’t mean you’re remiss or ungrateful. Lord, have mercy on us grieving ones. Some of us wander because we believe Jesus meant what he said when he told the parable of…
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Heavenly Father, I thank You for the honor of being a mother. Thank You for entrusting me with this precious gift. As I bring my children into the world, my heart is heavy. I wonder what people will think of me as a Black mother. Will I meet their expectations? Or will I disappoint them?…
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