A Prayer for Hope in Depression

Father, hope feels like a word from a language I used to speak. Somewhere along the way the color drained out of things I once loved, and now I look at the future and see only more of this flat, gray stretch. I want to want again, and I cannot make myself.

I confess I have grown suspicious of hope, because it has disappointed me before and I am tired of the fall. It feels safer to expect nothing.

Still, I am turning to You, the One who specializes in resurrection, in bringing life out of places that looked dead and done.

I am not asking for everything to fix itself overnight. I am asking for one small green shoot, one moment tomorrow that does not hurt, one reason to lift my head. Reawaken in me the quiet expectation that You are still at work even when I cannot feel it.

Your word says those who wait on You will renew their strength, that they will rise up as if on wings. I cannot fly today, so let me simply wait, and trust the renewing to You.

I hand You my flat and faithless heart. Plant hope in it again at whatever pace You choose. You are the God who is not finished, and neither am I. Amen.