Who Doesn’t Know What To Pray Right Now

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

“I KNOW THAT GOD MUST GET TIRED of hearing from me, Becky,” my friend told me with a small laugh. “There always seems to be something wrong that I have to pray about.”

I smiled, offering her the gift of understanding but knowing that my friend’s view of God’s attitude toward her wasn’t quite right.

God never grows tired of hearing from my friend, just like He never gets tired of hearing from any of His children. In what seemed to be a simple comment, my friend was expressing a much deeper concern. She felt as if her life had an ever-lengthening list of needs to address. There were people she loved who were sick, there was an impossible deadline to meet, and there were major life transitions that required her to make some serious changes. She was feeling the weight of issues inside her home as well as at work and among her friends and community.

“There’s so much to tell Him about,” she added. “I don’t even know where to start!” Those words I understood completely. When we feel as if God needs to step in and do what only He can for everyone we know and everything we are a part of, the emotional weight of those burdens can be nearly unbearable. But Scripture offers this important instruction for how to handle those cares: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).

God is a kind Father who wants us to come to Him with all our joys and concerns. He wants us to find rest for our exhausted and overwhelmed hearts in Him. Sure, He already knows everything we are facing, but He wants us to seek Him, knowing that when we do, we will find Him. We will find His guidance, His strength, His peace, and the promise that wherever His presence is, we will have everything we need.

If you’re in a place where your prayer list is longer than your grocery list, your concerns far outweigh any celebrations, and your heart feels so sick with worry, know this: God is listening. He has heard your prayers. He has heard the words you haven’t even whispered out loud yet. And He never ever grows tired of talking with you.

Tonight we pray for the momma who doesn’t even know what to pray right now. Lord, if she could, she would write You a letter that is one hundred pages long, detailing every joy, sorrow, heartache, and burden that has filled her heart. Lord, You know them all. Please surround this momma with everything and everyone she needs tonight. Please grant her sweet, restorative rest.

We ask in Jesus’s name, amen.

Father, when I don’t even know what to pray, thank You for understanding what’s on my heart about . . .