Pocket Prayers for Times of Trouble

By Timothy Johnston

"In your mercy, Lord, hear my prayer. Heal my mind; heal my heart; heal me from deep within. Open my eyes so that I may gaze upon your glory. Open my ears so that I may hear you calling. Open my heart so that I may love as you would love."


What is it about times of suffering that makes expressing our need for God's comfort even more difficult? Th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Twenty-Third Publications/Bayard
• Release date: Dec 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781627850759

Book preview

pocket_cover.jpgTitle Page: Pocket Prayers for Times of Trouble, written and edited by Timothy A. Johnston, Published by Twenty-Third Publications.

For Amy and Molli—

may God’s grace keep

you in troubled times.

Scripture quotations for the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) are copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches in the United States of America and used by permission. All rights reserved.

The prayers in this collection are those of the editor, unless otherwise noted. I am very grateful to everyone who provided prayers or granted permission for them to be printed in this volume.

Twenty-Third Publications

A Division of Bayard

One Montauk Avenue, Suite 200

New London, CT 06320

[phone] or [phone]

www.23rdpublications.com

Copyright ©2014 Timothy A. Johnston. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission of the publisher. Write to the Permissions Editor.

ISBN 978-1-62785-075-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014946266

Contents

Pocket Prayers for Times of Trouble

Introduction

Traditional prayers for various occasions

Healing of mind and body

Death

Family Life

A wounded world

Work and unemployment

In times of struggle and anxiety

Friendship and trust

Help for particular needs

About the Author

About the Publisher

Introduction

I was a little nervous when I was asked to write this small prayer book. I thought, What do I know about people struggling? Do I really have something to share? I thought of my ministry as nice and tidy; I couldn’t think of stories that would enlighten this process. So I fretted for a few days and just began to pray and write.

As I began to pray over this project, it became clear that the Holy Spirit had much more to share than I could have imagined. This journey reminded me not only of my own struggles, but how I had been invited to walk with others who had struggled. I remembered a former student who told me of his physical abuse. I remembered a parent who, filled with fear, came to me unsure of how to handle her son’s newly diagnosed mental illness. I remembered a dear friend in a nursing home who was so afraid of dying that her days were filled with tears. I remembered my cousin who has faced many challenges and often yelled at God, but continues to turn to God to plead and ask questions. But most of all, I was reminded of God’s infinite mercy and how generous our God is when we cry out for help.

During the course of our lives, each of us wrestles with obstacles, some known and some unknown, that bring about fear, anger, and depression, and even shake our faith. For me, I had come to a low point in the fall of 2006. I had been suffering from an illness that no doctor had been able