A Prayer for a Sick Friend

Father, my friend is sick, and I am standing on the outside of it, useless. I have sent the messages and dropped off the meals, but I cannot take the illness from their body, and that helplessness is its own kind of ache.

I confess I do not always know what to pray. Sometimes I am simply angry that someone so good is suffering, and I do not understand why it is them.

So I bring my friend to You by name, knowing You love them even more fiercely than I do. You are in that hospital room when I have to go home.

Heal their body. Push back whatever is attacking them and let their strength return. Ease the pain and the fear that comes in the long nights. Send rest, send good news, send people with kind hands.

You taught us to carry one another and to lift each other up when one falls. So I carry my friend to You, the way friends once lowered their own through a roof to reach You.

Whatever comes, let them feel surrounded, by You and by the people who love them. Heal my friend, Lord, and let them know they are not alone. Amen.