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A Prayer about the Comfort of a Suffering Savior

by | Dec 7, 2022 | Advent, Christmas, Daily Prayer, Grief, Seasons & Holidays, Suffering

A Prayer about the Comfort of a Suffering Savior

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:4

Father of All Comfort,

With the losses of the last two years mounting, 

divisions among friends and families, 

disease throughout the world,  

death of dear ones, 

we’re aware that this Christmas season 

may not be so merry for everyone. 

And yet, into the silent and dark season long ago, 

you sent your very own Son, 

a baby born to bear our griefs, 

a child delivered to carry our sorrow, 

an infant sent to suffer for our sins, 

Because he submitted to this suffering, 

we can know the “peace on earth” 

we will sing about in this season. 

Because he was “afflicted” by you (Isaiah 53:4), 

we can know the “joy to the world” 

we sing about in this season. 

Even in the midst of sorrow, 

may we see the profound hope of healing 

we have in our suffering Savior.

Amen. 

Read Isaiah 53:1-12. 

Get Elizabeth’s Advent devotional for free here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/34no8c805q.

A Prayer about Remembering Redemption Stories

by | Dec 3, 2022 | Advent, Christmas, Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, Seasons & Holidays, Suffering, worship, gratitude

A Prayer about Remembering Redemption Stories

And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. Luke 1:36

Lord God,

Thank you for this wonderful story of redemption. 

Even as the angel Gabriel revealed to Mary 

an incomprehensible promise: 

she would conceive and bear a son, 

the Son of God, Jesus our Savior, 

who would reign on the throne forever (Luke 1:31-33), 

he shares a story of redemption to show her, 

“For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

Father, even today, as we rush 

to finish our giving and our buying and our wrapping, 

or as we miss the days 

when we made all those preparations 

for a typical Christmas, 

press pause in our hearts. 

Help us to sit before you 

to remember our own stories of redemption, 

of the times you came through with the money 

when we didn’t know how we would get through the month, 

of the ways you healed a relationship 

that we thought was irrevocably broken, 

of the baby you brought into our lives 

after we had long given up hope of having a family, 

of how you burst through suffocating darkness

with the light and hope of Jesus.

As we remember, 

may we hope and pray again 

that you would do the impossible 

in this broken and hurting world.

In Christ’s redeeming name we pray. Amen. 

Read Luke 1:31-38.

Image courtesy of Good News Productions International and College Press Publishing at FreeBibleimages.org.

Get Elizabeth’s Advent devotional for free here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/34no8c805q.

A Prayer about the End to Sorrow and Sighing

by | Nov 29, 2022 | Advent, Christmas, Daily Prayer, Grief, Seasons & Holidays, Suffering

A Prayer about the End to Sorrow and Sighing

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10

Good Father,

In these days, the calls of “happy holidays” 

may fall deaf on the ears of those 

whose hearts are filled with sorrow and sighing. 

How grateful we are for the hope of Jesus’ first coming 

which brought ransom and redemption 

to “captive Israel,” 

which transformed her mourning into joy.* 

Fill our heavy hearts with the vision Isaiah paints 

of what has already begun 

and of what will one day be full and final 

when Jesus returns:

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; 

the desert shall rejoice and blossom 

like the crocus; 

it shall blossom abundantly 

and rejoice with joy and singing” (Isaiah 35:1-2).

“[We] shall see the glory of the Lord, 

the majesty of our God” (Isaiah 35:2).

May we who have “anxious hearts” 

hear your reassuring voice 

speaking to us from your Word: 

‘Be strong; fear not!” 

Indeed, one day soon, 

Jesus says, 

our God will judge all evil. 

In that day, 

all “sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 35:10), 

and we will know gladness and joy forever and ever. 

In this season of Advent, 

deepen our longing for that day.

In Jesus’ restoring name. Amen.

Read Isaiah 35. 

*Listen to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

Get Elizabeth’s Advent devotional for free here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/34no8c805q.

 

A Prayer about Missing People and Places at the Holidays

by | Nov 21, 2022 | aging, dying, and death, Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, Grief, legacy, Seasons & Holidays, Suffering, Thanksgiving

A Prayer about Missing People and Places at the Holidays

“My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalm 84:2

Gracious and Hospitable Lord,

As Thanksgiving comes around, 

our family misses my mom and her home. 

For many years, we visited her there, 

but her home now belongs to another; 

her new home is in heaven with you.

I know many face a similar sorrow. 

It will be their first holiday without their loved one. 

In a season when we may feel exiled from familiar places, 

draw our hearts to your ever-present 

and always abundant hospitality. 

You make homes for sparrows and nests for swallows (Psalm 84:3),

and you have invited us to be your sons and daughters. 

Even as we limp through the Valley of Weeping,

You make it a place of springs (Psalm 84:6), 

refreshing our hearts with your gentleness and joy.

When we tend to believe the lie that we are bereft, 

remind us that you are our “sun and shield,” 

bestowing “favor and honor”, 

assuring us, “No good thing 

do I withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).  

In the name of your Son, 

who came to walk this earth with us 

that we might live in heaven with you. 

Amen.

Read Psalm 84.

 

A Prayer about Lamenting Chronic Illness

by | Nov 18, 2022 | aging, dying, and death, Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Lamenting Chronic Illness

For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. Psalm 22:24

 Good Father,

Today we lift up our friends 

who have searched and searched and searched,

 who have waited and waited and waited

…for health, for wholeness, for healing. 

We join in their lament 

using the words of David:

“My God, my God, 

why have you forsaken me? 

Why are you so far from saving me?”

[Don’t you hear my groaning?]

“O my God, I cry by day, 

but you do not answer, 

and by night, but I find no rest” (Ps. 22:2).

How we thank you, Heavenly Father, 

that you have given voice to our lament 

in your Word.

As David names his grief to you, 

he remembers his reason to trust in you, 

and he asks boldly and persistently for help. 

We join him on behalf of all of our friends 

who have suffered for years:

“In you our ancestors put their trust;

 they trusted and you delivered them” (Ps. 22:4).

“Be not far from me, for trouble is near, 

and there is none to help” (Ps. 22:11).

As we raise our cry for help, 

may we remember that you are the good Father, 

and may we join with David in praising you, 

for we have even more reason to hope: 

your Son, our Savior was forsaken on the cross 

that we might be forgiven, 

that we might one day live with you 

in eternal glory, 

in whole and healed bodies forever and ever. 

Read Psalm 22.

 

A Prayer about Our Tear-Counting God

by | Nov 15, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Our Tear-Counting God

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.  You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 

 

Tear-Counting God,

It has been a long season of loss for many.

Our friends are mourning, as are we…

We’ve lost homes in fires and floods,

We’ve lost children to miscarriage and the misery of sin,

We’ve lost aunts and uncles and mothers and fathers to Covid and cancer,

We’ve lost relationships to betrayal and abuse…

We’ve shed so many tears.

How can we endure the pain, Lord?

Only by knowing that you care about our tears,

that you count and collect them.

Only by knowing that you sent your Son

to weep real tears before he died on a cross

to redeem all of our tears.

Only by knowing that one day, our Savior will return,

and in that day, you will ever so gently

wipe the tears from our eyes. 

How we look forward to that day!

How we thank you for your love!

In Jesus’ weeping name. Amen.

Read Psalm 56; Revelation 21:4.