Slideshow image

 “Dear God, My body is broken, I need Your help. I fear I will not get well. Please God, send angels to deliver me from my pain and sickness and fear, now. I know salvation is the only true Cure, and yet I doubt when my body hurts. Help me, Lord. Please bless my medicine and guide my healers. Thank you, God. Amen.” (Illuminated Prayers, Williamson, pp.18-19)

I am struck by the honesty of this prayer. She just lays it out there, telling the truth of how she feels and the vulnerability of needing help. It’s a good way to pray. No sugar coating or explaining. Just asking from the depth of heart. The gift of physical pain (and it’s hard to say any of it is gift), is that is does open us to our need for God and for others.  And it forces us to look at our doubts and also to acknowledge our trust in the Holy unfolding of things, even when we don’t understand. 

If you are in pain now reading this-- physical emotional or spiritual--how would you pray right now? What are your doubts and questions? And what do you trust in? Staying aware and awake to the presence of God especially when we hurt, is a challenging spiritual practice, but also an invitation not to be rejected. Can you ask, can you bless, can you give thanks—somehow?  

 Pastor Marcia Wakeland is a retired ELCA pastor, a spiritual director and a listening advocate. She is interested in the actual experience of having faith and how that is lived out. She can be reached at mwakeland@gmail.com for comments or more questions Her ongoing blog of living out spiritual practices is listeninglife.live.