Prayers

Out of the depths I called to You; Lord, hear my cry, heed my plea. Be attentive to my prayers, to my sigh of supplication. Who could endure, Lord, if You kept count of every sin? But forgiveness is Yours; therefore we revere You. I wait for the Lord, my soul yearns. Hopefully, I await His word. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the dawn. Put your hope in the Lord, For the Lord is generous with mercy. Abundant is His power to redeem; He will redeem the people from all iniquities.

Amen.

Psalm

God of our life, there are days when our burdens overwhelm us, when the road ahead seems dreary, when the skies are grey and threatening. On such days our lives have no music, our hearts are lonely and Our spirits are robbed of courage. Flood our path with light, we beseech You; direct our vision to promising skies; attune Our hearts to the uplifting music of life. Grant us the awareness of true comradeship with others, to sustain us, and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage those who journey with us on the road of life to dedicate themselves to Your honor and glory.

Amen.

Author Unknown

My God and Father: I seek Your presence, praying that I may never feel alone. Though I may be separated from loved ones and friends, the knowledge that You are with me fills any lack in my heart. Bless me, Father, with the nearness of loved ones and friends. Teach me to treasure such blessings. Above all, grant me the awareness to sense the nearness of Your presence so that I may never feel the dread of being alone.

Amen.

Author Unknown

Dear God,
As I lie here waiting for surgery, I am terrified. Terrified of the procedure. Terrified of the anesthesia. Terrified of the what the surgeon will find. Terrified of the pain that I may suffer when I awaken from the surgery. Terrified of the thought of never awakening from the surgery. Dear God, please guide my surgeon’s hands as he or she seeks to make me well again. Give him or her the knowledge and skill for a successful and positive outcome to my procedure. In addition, I pray that You will guide my entire health care team, giving them the wisdom and compassion that I will most likely need in the days to come as I seek to get well once again. Through Your grace and blessings, I will count the days until I am well again… until I am whole again.

Amen.

Lorrie Klemons

Dear God,
Please watch over my beloved child as he lies in innocent slumber, with the purest of souls. With a broken heart I watch as disease robs him of his well-being, his health, his dignity, his consciousness, his life. He makes small movements, communicating in minute fashion to let me know he feels my presence. What is it about the human spirit that wants to soar even when the ugly face of illness attempts to drag it down? I struggle to understand why this dear, sweet soul must suffer. The pain of an anguished parent’s heart as I hover over my beloved child – ready to protect, defend, love…to give up my own life so that my child might live his. Lord, give me the strength to persevere as my child , devastated by disease, seems to slip away more and more each moment, all control over his well-being slipping through my hands. It is You, God, whom I turn to for that strength. For without my faith, all hope would be lost…taking with it all dreams for good things to come. Dear God, please hear my pleas and my prayers for my child. Do not abandon him .. Send him your healing love… he needs it now more than ever.

Amen.

Lorrie Klemons

Our Father, Our King, healer of all flesh, I thank You for Your watchful care. Help me to regain my health speedily. Be with me during my recovery. Strengthen me; keep me comfortable and hopeful. Help me to bear all pain with patience and fortitude. May I always be aware of Your comforting presence and always be thankful for Your divine gift of life. May it be Your will, 0 Lord our God and God of our fathers, speedily to grant me and all who lie on beds of pain, perfect healing, the blessed healing of body and soul.

Amen.

Author Unknown

I extol You, O Lord. You raise me up. I cried out to You, O Lord. and You healed me. You brought up my soul from the grave, You saved me from the pit of death. Sing to the Lord, you faithful. Praise the holiness of His glory. His anger lasts a moment, His love is for a lifetime. Tears may linger for a night, but joy comes with the dawn. I once thought, while at ease: Nothing can shake my security. Favor me, and I am a mountain of strength. Hide Your face, O Lord, and I am terrified. To You, O Lord, would I call; before the Lord would I plead. What profit is there if I am silenced? What benefit if I go to my grave? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness? Hear me, O Lord. Be gracious to me. Hear me, O Lord, and be my help. I shall never be silent, Lord my God. I shall always sing of Your glory.

Amen.

Psalm

This is your day, so make a good thing of it. When you begin a new day, let your spirit be stirred with renewed hope. “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of God is risen upon you.”

Amen.

Isaiah 60:1

The Lord is my help and my light. Whom need I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom need I dread? Though armies be arrayed against me, I have no fear. Though wars threaten, I remain steadfast in my faith. This I ask of the Lord, and for this I yearn: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all my life, That I may be permitted to enter His sanctuary, Where I shall behold the beauty of the Lord. I will bring Him offerings with shouts of joy; I will sing and chant praises to the Lord. O Lord, hear my voice when I call; Be gracious to me and answer me. “It is Your face that I seek,” says my heart. “It is Your presence that I crave, 0 Lord.” Do not hide Your presence from me; Turn not in anger from Your servant. Mine is the faith that I surely will see The Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. Hope in the Lord and be strong, Hope in the Lord and take courage.

Amen.

Psalm

Bless me, God. Let me carry this child in health and ease. Let no harm or misfortune come to me or to the precious life growing within me. Let labor begin in its proper time. Let me bear my child without too much pain. Let my child be born in health into a world filled with peace. May my child grow to bring goodness and blessing into this world. For the miracle of creation that is taking place inside me, I thank You, God, Creator of all.

Amen.

Rabbi Naomi Levy

Keep us this night, eternal God, from the anxieties and tensions of darkness. Whether awake or asleep, let our thoughts reflect Your holy will. Preserve us from all terrors of the night, from restlessness and sorrowful thoughts, from fretfulness and imaginary fears. Let us awake tomorrow renewed with strength, and cheerful in spirit. May we arise with worthwhile thoughts, living lives that reflect Your glory, the spirit of service to others, and the comfort and joy of our families.

Amen.

Author Unknown

As I lie on this sickbed, I turn to You, O God, for support and healing. I see people walking, moving. I hear sounds all about me. Looking out of the window I follow the flight of birds, the movement of clouds. I hear the sounds of the wind against the trees. Never have I been more conscious of nature and its creative power. Deepen my awareness of nature even more, that I may be filled with gratitude for blessings which we too easily take for granted. May the time come soon when I too will be able to walk about, participate again in life’s natural pursuits, blessed by normality together with Your other living creatures.
Amen.
Author Unknown

I will lift up my eyes unto the hills: From where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot stumble, He that keeps you will not slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your protection at your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep you, body and soul. The Lord will guard your going and your coming, Now and For evermore.

Amen.

Psalm

There are times when the soul is weary and we find it hard to pray. There are times when the heart feels empty, and the world seems cold and gray. This is the very moment to turn in prayer.

Amen.

Author Unknown

Show the physician due honor For the Lord has created him; Healing comes from the Most High. The Lord has created medicines out of the earth, And a sensible person will not refuse them. My child, be not negligent when you are sick, But pray to the Lord and He will cure you.
Amen.

From Ben Sira 38

However deep I am sunk in despair, Groaning in my distress, Yet will I hope in God, I will praise Him continually For He is my deliverer.

Amen.

Psalms 42:6

We pray for children who put chocolate fingers everywhere, who like to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, who sneak Popsicles before supper, who erase holes in math workbooks, who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who can’t bound in the street in a new pair of sneakers, who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish, who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money, who cover themselves with Band Aids and sing off-key, who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink, who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those who never get dessert, who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, who watch their parents watch them die, who can’t find any bread to steal, who don’t have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser, whose monsters are real.

We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday, who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food, who like ghost stories, who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the tub, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in church and scream in the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at, and whose smiles can make us cry.

We pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime, who will eat anything, who aren’t spoiled by anybody, who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep, and who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must, for those we never give up on and for those who don’t get a second chance. For those we smother…. and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

And we pray for all children stricken with life threatening disease, whose small bodies grow weaker each day, and whose days are numbered without the help of strangers, whose hopes for the future lie in the hand of those same strangers, whose parents’ heartbreak cannot be measured, who lift up their eyes begging for someone to save them.

Oh, Lord, hear our cries…. listen to our prayers and save ALL OUR CHILDREN.

Amen.

Ina J. Hughes

Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity. As a Physician, I have seen men and women, after all other therapy has failed, lifted out of a disease and melancholy by the serene effort of prayer. A constant, quieter miracle takes place hourly in the hearts of men and women who have discovered that prayer supplies them with a steady flow of sustaining power in their daily lives

Amen.

Alexis Carrel

O God of peace, we seek rest for Our spirits, and light for Our thoughts. We bring our work to be sanctified, our wounds to be healed, our sins to be forgiven, our hopes to be renewed. 0 Eternal, Master of harmony, draw us close to You; resolve the discords of our lives. You in whom all are one, lift us from the loneliness of self, and fill us with the fullness of Your love. Your greatness is beyond our praise. Raise us beyond the limits of our daily imperfections. Send us visions of the love that is in You, and of the good that may be in us.

Amen.

Author Unknown

A hopeful heart helps to keep you alive, and joy adds length of days. Relax yourself, soothe your heart, and banish anxiety. For sorrow and anxiety have destroyed many lives; they lead to no advantage. Envy and anger shorten one’s life, and anxiety brings old age before its time. A person with a hopeful heart will develop a good appetite, eating the food which helps one survive.

Amen.

Ben Sira

When we view our lives against the background of the universe and God’s eternity, we are truly humbled. Yet this view also is a source of stability and inner peace, of serenity and calm. Lord, You have been our refuge from generation to generation. Before the mountains were born, before the earth was fashioned, from age to age, everlastingly You are God. A thousand years are in Your sight as a passing day, an hour of night. O Lord, my God, I thank You for the many blessings which I have enjoyed, and for my family and friends. At this moment I need courage and an ever stronger faith. Sustain me with a fresh confidence; so that I can face the coming days and weeks constantly aware of Your love.

Amen.

Author Unknown

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in pleasant green pastures, He leads me beside the peaceful waters. He restores my soul, He guides me in good paths for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through a valley overshadowed by death, I will fear no evil, For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.You prepare a table before me in the presence of my oppressors. Once You anointed my head with oil; my cup has been full ever since. Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; And then I shall live in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

Psalm 23

My soul I give to you
My spirit in your care
Draw me near
I shall not fear
Hold me in your hands
Draw me near
I shall not fear
Safely in your hands God is with me, I do not fear!

Amen.

Author Unknown

“In trials and tribulations, in testings and temptations, grant me the insights of patience. When I am tired and restless, give me patience, O Lord. “Better to be patient in spirit than proud in spirit.”

“Out of the depths have I called to You. Lord, hear my cry, heed my plea. Be attentive to my prayer, to my sigh of supplication.”

Amen.

Psalms 130: 1-2

I need fear nothing this day, for I have declared my My faith in God’s providence. Whether tried or spared, I accept His will as good. “I am always aware of the Lord’s presence, He is at my right hand. I shall never be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my spirit rejoices; my body, also rests in hope. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is the fullness of joy.”

Amen.

From Psalm 16