ASKING OTHERS TO PRAY FOR YOU: If you are scheduled for a procedure and think you might benefit from prayers, let everyone important to you know when you are having the procedure. Tell them the exact date and time of the procedure and ask them to send you loving and positive thoughts and prayers at the very moment you will be having your procedure. Do not be afraid to ask your doctor to say a prayer with you or at least to be in the room while you recite such a prayer. Be sure to pray for your doctor to be skillful and for a positive outcome! If you don’t have an appropriate prayer to recite, find one that touches your heart and spirit from the prayers included in this section.
A Prayer Of Responsibility For Children
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
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
Hear My Cry
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
Heal Me
My God and Father, healer of the sick, I turn to You in my time of trouble. Hear my prayer, 0 God, and my supplication. Grant me the courage to bear my pain, and the confidence to hope that I shall be well, for I rely on Your love. Bless the efforts of my physician; endow him with Your wisdom to heal. Bless the efforts of all who seek to restore me to health. May it be Your will to restore me to health, that I may complete my years in happiness and well-being. Permit me to return to my loved ones and to my tasks. Bless me with insight and strength to serve You wholeheartedly. Heal me and I shall be healed, save me and I shall be saved.
Amen.
Author Unknown
A Prayer for Bad Days
Be with me, God. I feel so lost. I can’t seem to escape the dark cloud that is hanging over me today. Help me, God. Give me strength to combat despair and fear. Show me how to put my pain into perspective. Teach me how to have faith in the new day that is coming. Thank You, God, for today’s blessings, for tomorrow’s hope, and for Your abiding love.
Amen.
Rabbi Naomi Levy
This is Your Day
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