A Prayer for a Season of Suffering

Dec 14

A prayer for a season of suffering.

Below is a summarized prayer that is a combination of many phrases that I have prayed to the Lord.

Lord,
Thank you for ignoring some of my suggestions in prayer. In your kindness, I know that you have heard me and that my requests have been received and understood by you.
I can think of many ways that you can step in and make my trial immediately end and also make everything right. I do not understand why this has not happened, and I realize that I do not need to understand right now.
I have seen your hand work mightily in the lives of other people. You have healed cancer, restored relationships, made the blind to see, the lame to walk, prison gates to be opened, you have prevented great disaster, you have shielded people from great pain, provided finances, job opportunities, delivered food, created shelter, caused hard hearts to open to you, and helped prodigals see the errors of their ways, and raised the dead to life.
I believe all of this!
You have loved me so much as to forgive completely all of my sins and short comings. You have provided a real hope in you. You have given me a savior who has faced real physical and emotional pain, and genuinely understands what it feels like.
Thank you for your patience with me as my faith develops under this stress. Help me to stand up in your grace with a good attitude. Please, please, please remove any root of bitterness that might pop up.
Thank you for worship songs that lift my spirit and remind me of your faithfulness and power. Those songs which bring me to tears of joy and help lift my spirit to see beyond this season and refocus on your nearness in this season.
I confess that I am often so obsessed with my trial that it is hard to minister to others. I feel so poured out.
As the psalms declare, you have filled my cup and it overflows. Help me believe this by faith.
It’s taken me some time, but I say thank you for the trial. I am not afraid to suffer and experience great loss. The sweetness of your love resonates deep in my soul. Please increase my capacity to allow your love to spread to others.
Thank you for the example of saints who have suffered much more than I have. Thank you for the amazing promise that you are there! You are not only there with me, you also see perfectly the depths of my pain. Nothing is lost on you.
Protect me from trying to control my future. Help me squash worrying about the future. Keep me from pride and concerning myself with how spiritual other people see me.
Form me deeper in the character of Christ.