Prayer for Healing

What a beautiful evening we enjoyed with more than 40 friends whom we’ve known a long time—some of them for 49 years. It was such a sweet gift that on the very day we’d planned to be in Michigan, the “Ol’ Timers” group scheduled their fall dinner. Folks bragged about their grandchildren and great-grands, and we prayed for those facing medical challenges. Now we’re in Indiana and looking forward to a weekend with family and good friends.

On Chip Stam’s weekly email about worship, he posted the following prayer last week. (He’s in treatment for cancer himself.) This prayer is by Timothy Dudley-Smith. I find it a helpful guide when I don’t know exactly how to pray.

LORD, HELP ME: A PRAYER FOR HEALING
My Father,
there is so much I would have
different--and which I believe
you would have different too. I want
to make a start. I think it must begin
in me. But where?
Lord, help me.

And there are others . . .
There are friends and neighbors I feel
so powerless to help. People I love,
dangerously near the rocks, far from their true home, possessed by many demons of our modern world. How can I help them?
How can I serve them better?
Lord, help me.

My own deep places--the
unremembered scars which limit me today; the unhealed wounds that make me less than whole--
Lord, help me.

My faith is not great, Lord. Indeed
I do not always want true healing.
There are attractions in a certain
undemanding invalidism. But I want
what you want. I trust you where I do not trust myself.

So be my bread of life, Lord Jesus.
Nourish, sustain, and heal.
Help me according to your will.
May my dumb spirit testify,
my weakness mend,
my blind eyes see,
my heart rejoice.
Lord, help me. Amen.