A Prayer for a Loved One in the Hospital

Father, I am sitting in a vinyl chair in a hospital room while someone I love lies in the bed, hooked to machines that beep through the night, and I do not want to leave in case they wake and I am not here.

I confess I am frightened and exhausted in equal measure. I have memorized the rhythm of the monitors and learned the nurses by name, and somewhere in all the watching I have forgotten how to pray with anything but my whole tired heart.

So I lift the one in this bed to You. You do not slumber or sleep; You keep watch when my eyes finally close. Be the doctor behind the doctors, the steady hand on every chart and decision.

Strengthen their failing body. Bring the numbers back into safe range, ease the labored breathing, let healing move quietly through them while they rest. And hold the rest of us who love them and wait.

You are the keeper who will not let our foot slip, who watches over our coming and going. Watch over this one I love. I cannot carry this vigil alone, so I share it with You. Let dawn bring better news than the night promised. Amen.