Prayer For Mental Illness Healing
God, sometimes I tremble and shake from not knowing what to do. Sometimes, it seems as if I'm frozen in time. There are times when it feels as if I've tried everything. I'm at a loss for what may be next.
When I cannot see beyond what I see now, remind me that you see more. Give me vision for the things you have for me. Give me willingness to trying something new. If I need to try again something I've tried before, give me courage to do so. Help me to rely on you and trust that you will be with me even if I get it wrong.
When the next step feels tremendously big, or far too small, help me take it anyway. If I need assistance to take that step, show me where I can find it.
Sometimes I feel like I cannot move forward. Sometimes I try to take action on my own when I need to rest. Help me to discern what is your best in this moment. If I get it wrong, you will not leave me.
God, I need your guidance. Amen.
Lord, all around me and swirling within me there are things that are scary, hard, and painful. When I feel afraid and too small to do the hard things I need or want to do, give me courage.
Like you did with Peter, and so many others, show me where you are and where you want to take me. When you call me out of my places of self-protection, help me trust you fully.
Give me courage to focus on you and not the fear I feel. I am reminded that you will not sink. You will not fall. You love me even when I doubt and am afraid. You offer courage to move ahead anyway. I need to see you reaching out for me and know your solid foundation under me.
In the middle of my stormy fears, show me you are near, and you hear. Amen.
In my struggles, Lord, I often feel alone. You say you are with me, but I can't always feel it. Sometimes, I can be with people and still feel alone. Others don't understand what I'm going through and it's hard for them to know what to do. When this happens, I feel even more alone.
You created us because you love us and want to be with us. You designed us to need you and others. Help me receive your loving presence. Help me see when you are moving on my behalf, whether it's through other people, through hard steps I've taken, through your created beauty in nature, or through some way I would never expect. I need reminders, and I need revelations of your presence with me.
Help me reach out to others when I need help, encouragement, and fun. Give me courage to ask for what I need and the courage to offer the same for others.
Heal my heart and mind in all the areas that keep me closed off, isolated, withdrawn, or defensive in relationships. I ask for your wisdom and spiritual discernment so I can see when you and your creation provide relief from loneliness. Amen.
Lord, thank you for being a God of compassion. When I feel hungry or beat down by the heat of this world, you offer refreshment. With you there is nourishment for dry and hurting places. May I see where you provide for me, because sometimes I don't notice it. Sometimes I reject it. But Lord, I admit that I need your refilling often.
When I feel shaken, you are not. You never cease to offer love and compassion for those who are weary. When I can't figure out what to do and it feels like everything I do is wrong, your arms remain open to receive me. I can't understand your acceptance and love, but you offer it. Help me accept it.
Have compassion for my doubts, fears, actions, thoughts, and the wrestling that happens in me. Show me new ways, Lord. Help me see your care and kindness, especially when I feel empty and alone.
Lord, I need compassion from others. I need compassion for myself too. Help me notice and embrace compassion offered to me. Help me extend compassion to myself and others, especially when it's hard to do. Amen.
Lord, you give life and life abundantly. I don't always experience the goodness you have to give. I don't even know how good your goodness is. But I want it, Lord.
Sometimes what I think should happen isn't actually good. My limitations, my inabilities, my refusals, my attempts to get things my way make it hard to receive what you want for me. I've struggled and pain is all too familiar. The enemy wants to destroy me, and he has taken much.
I ask for more of what you have to give, Lord. Help me experience the power of your life at work in me, and your beautiful life flowing through me. Replenish what's been stolen or lost. Fill me to overflowing with what comes from you. When I feel troubled and unable to do simple things, I choose to receive new strength. You are fully alive and renew my life. Thank you.
When abundant life seems impossible, and my thoughts take me down with reminders of all I lack, renew me with glimpses of your love in this life. Remind me of what I have because of you. Help me see there is more to enjoy than what I know now. You have more to give and more for me to embrace with you. Amen.
Loving God, I pray for all whose brains have been hurt by disease, injury, stress, trauma, and other factors of human life in a hard world. I pray for all who love them and want to help. I pray for your comfort in their grief, hope amid loss, and the balm of community with people who understand.
For people with mental illnessmay they find hope in you and feel your longing for them.
For parents of children with mental illnessmay they know the limits of their power both to cause and to cure.
For children of parents with mental illnessmay they know you as loving parent and find places where they can grow up in safety, no matter how old they are.
For friends of suffering peoplemay they resist the temptation to try to fix their friends and recognize the simple power of their loving presence.
For spiritual leadersmay they deny both helplessness and overconfidence, courageously serving as first responders and faithful shepherds.
For people who need treatment and don't receive itmay they recognize their need, believe life can be better, and find people who can help.
For those burdened by shame and stigmamay they walk into the light and find compassionate people.
Lord, I pray for light in the darkness. I pray that people with vulnerable minds will find hope and help among followers of Christ who will love them and point them toward what they need while letting them live with that need. I pray for acceptance and gracethe same kind of grace you offer so freely to all. I pray that many churches will embrace the opportunity for messy and sometimes thankless ministry among the marginalized, in the name of the one whose love knows no margins.
Amen.
Loving Creator, we come to you on this National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding because we know that you are a God of love and compassion. We come as people of all creeds and all nations seeking your presence, comfort and guidance. We come as consumers, family members, friends, co-workers and mental health professionals. We come this day because we believe that you, Divine One, love each one of us just as we are and you walk with us on our individual journeys through life. You see the ignorance and injustice that divides and separates persons struggling with mental illness and you weep with us.
Give us courage to face our challenges and open us today to the many ways you are already working in our midst. Help us to identify mental illness as the disease it is, that we might have courage and wisdom in the face of ignorance and stigma. Inspire us as we seek to overcome fear, acquire knowledge, and advocate for compassionate and enlightened treatment and services.
Lead us as we open our hearts and homes, our communities and job opportunities, our houses of worship and communities of faith. Enable us to find ways to be inclusive of persons living with mental illness in our everyday lives. Be with doctors, therapists, researchers, social workers, and all those in the helping professions as they seek to overcome ignorance and injustice with care and compassion.
Sometimes, Divine Spirit, we feel discouraged and hopeless in the face of so many challenges. Help us to see ourselves as you see uspersons of value and worthpersons of creativity and potential. May we come to understand the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit in bringing about health and wholeness. And may we go forward into our communities with a renewed sense of vision, hope and possibility for the future. Amen.
Loving God, we pray today for those who are confronted by the sadness,
ambiguity and confusion of mental illness, and for those upon whom they
depend for attention and compassionate care. Look with mercy on all
whose afflictions bring them weakness, distress, confusion or isolation.
Provide for them homes of dignity and peace; give to them understanding
helpers and the willingness to accept help. We ask this in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.