Goodness, this life is hard sometimes. It’s easy to get discouraged and to wonder why God isn’t fixing your situation.
I’ve wondered it more than a time or two in the past few years. My husband and I lost four babies over a span of three years.
During that time, there were many instances when I wondered what to pray…how to pray. I didn’t want to pray for a healthy baby and then be disappointed yet again if God chose not to grant that desire.
What I learned in that time was that even though life is hard, God is still here with us.
He’s with us in the hard.
Here are 7 prayers I prayed often during that time.
7 Prayers for When You Feel Discouraged:
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That God will make His presence known to you.
What we need most when we’re feeling discouraged by life is not an answer to what the future holds (though that would be nice) but to know we’re not alone.
That’s why this prayer is so important.
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That you will stand firm in the faith.
It’s tempting in the midst of a struggle to question God. There’s nothing wrong with questioning Him (David and Job questioned God a lot, after all), but pray God will help you stand firm even in the midst of your questions.
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That God will bring people into your life who will encourage you.
God often uses the body of believers to encourage His children. He uses them to be His hands and feet. Ask for God to bring these people into your life.
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That you will shine your light well, even when times are tough.
There’s a quote I’ve seen on Pinterest lately that says this: “Broken crayons still color.” It’s absolutely true. A broken crayon can still color the same as an unbroken one.
You and I, likewise, can still color the lives of those around us…even when we’re hurting. Pray you would do this well.
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That God would use this hard situation for your good and for His glory.
Rick Warren once said that “your greatest ministry will likely come from your greatest pain.”
It’s true, isn’t it? God often redeems our pain by using it to minister to others. Pray for God to use your hard situation to bring about something good in you (Romans 8:28) and in the Kingdom.
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That God Himself would encourage your Spirit through His Word.
Ask God to point you to Scriptures that will encourage your Spirit.
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That you would be unbeaten by this trial.
After one of our miscarriages, I remember telling God I would not allow Satan to win this battle. I would not let him beat me.
Pray for the same kind of determination.
What other prayers would you add to this list?
This post is part of Lindsey’s blog tour to celebrate her new Bible study and devotional, Unbeaten: How Biblical Heroes Rose Above Their Pain (and you can too).
To celebrate her book, she’s giving away a HUGE bundle of books! Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win. You can get more entries by commenting on other blogs in the tour as well. Get a full list of participating blogs here.
About Unbeaten:
Why does life have to be so hard? If you’ve ever asked this question, you’re not alone. Difficult times often leave Christians searching the Bible for answers to some of life’s most difficult questions.
Questions like:
Does God hear me when I pray?
Why isn’t He doing anything?
Does He even care?
In Unbeaten: How Biblical Heroes Rose Above Their Pain (and you can too), Lindsey Bell walks with readers through the stories of men and women in the Bible who went through difficult situations. In this 10-week Bible study and devotional, she addresses many of these questions and helps readers learn how they too can be unbeaten.
About Lindsey Bell:
Lindsey Bell is the author of the Bible study and devotional, Unbeaten, and of the parenting devotional, Searching for Sanity. She’s a stay-at-home mother of two silly boys, a minister’s wife, an avid reader, and a lover of all things chocolate. Lindsey writes weekly at www.lindseymbell.com about faith, family, and learning to love the life she’s been given.
Awesome list of prayers! Thank you!
Thank you, Judi! I’m so glad you found this list helpful:)
Great reminder!
Thank you, Tiffany!
Hi Lindsey. I just wanted to share with you that the simple act of sharing “Unbeaten” post to my wall as part of entering the context has encouraged a friend who’s dad is dying from cancer. It was just a simple sentence I copied and pasted as per the instructions. Plus I was happy to share as well as would love to win the prize! I wondered if anyone would see it as I sometimes feel like so many of my posts get ignored. But sure enough my friend said how much she needed to see the post and several others also liked it. So I hope that encourages you today. You are going to be changing lives!
What an encouraging comment, Kerry! THANK YOU!! So very much:) I’m so humbled to hear that my words encouraged someone going through such a hard time. Give your friend a hug for me. I will be lifting her up in prayer. Blessings to you today.
Thank you for sharing these prayers. I am planning to use them not only for myself, but also for two friends who are facing serious health issues.
Blessings!
Connie
Hi Connie! I’m so glad the prayers will come to good use:) Blessings!
Love these, Lindsey…Will only add one more to it: The prayer that seems totally inappropriate to anyone except you and God.
Here’s an example: The other day my riding lawn mower just stopped cutting grass completely. It still ran well, and would drive okay, just would NOT cut the grass. I said a quick prayer that, had anyone heard it they would have thought that I was crazy – I said “Lord I pray that the belt to my mower has slipped off.”
The reason I prayed that was obvious…The choices were that the belt would have slipped off, in which case I could get my wrenches out and put it back on, OR the belt could have broken, which would have meant that I would have had to clean up (since I was dirty from working outside), go 15 miles one way into town, FIND the right belt, then bring it back home, and really tear the mower apart to put the new belt on.
He answered my prayer. Ten minutes after I prayed it, I was back cutting grass!
Yes! This too….a prayer that might not make sense to anyone else but God gets it because he knows exactly what you are thinking at the moment :) Thanks so much for commenting!
Thank You!!! I was feeling discourage today after the Doctor reports so i googled prayers when feeling discouaged….helped me so much!
Hi Bridget, I’m so glad the post was encouraging to you today. And I’m sending up prayers for you this afternoon. Blessings, my friend.
During our own times of troubles, we often cannot see how God can use such situations for good.
I doubt you would have been able to give this prayer advice to others if you hadn’t gone through what you did. Considering your children are in God’s hands, I suspect the good that you have done just with this blog post far outweighs the pain of your suffering, and I do not mean to belittle your suffering by saying that. Rather, to glorify the Lord and make it clear just how beneficial it is to be able to use your own pain to help other people like me through times of extreme hurt and discouragement.
Thank you. I will definitely be using these prayers as a template during my own current crisis.