A Prayer for Strength During Illness

Father, my body is failing me in ways I never expected, and the days blur together between the bed and the doctor and the waiting. I am tired in a place that sleep does not reach.

I confess I am frightened, and I have wondered where You are while my body aches and the tests keep coming back uncertain. I am tired of being the one who is sick.

So I turn to You, the One who knit me together and knows every cell that is struggling now. I do not understand this, but I bring it to You honestly, without dressing it up.

Strengthen what is weak in me. Steady my breathing, quiet my fear, and give the medicine and the doctors their work to do. Hold me on the long nights when the pain will not let me rest.

You said that even when my flesh and my heart fail, You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Be that strength in me now, deeper than this illness.

Whatever this body does, I belong to You, and I rest in the One who holds my life with gentle hands. Amen.