A Prayer About Pain

When I am suffering

HEAVENLY FATHER,

You know I am hurting. I feel miserable, and the pain is almost unbearable. I want relief, even a brief respite. I know, Lord, that you see and care for me. I am your child, and you love me and want only the best for me. So what I am going through is in your plan—it didn’t catch you by surprise. And I am certain that I should be learning from this experience—perseverance, patience, compassion for others in a similar condition, or another valuable life lesson. But God, I need you now. Show me what I should do, what medicine to take. Give the doctor wisdom. And please help me get good sleep tonight and wake up refreshed and able to think clearly. I get so frustrated with my mortality. I eagerly anticipate the day when I will be freed from my weak and frail flesh that is subject to sickness and death, when I will be delivered from this sinful world and will be with you in heaven, totally released, with a new body. Thank you for that glorious promise.

We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:23