A Prayer For Feelings You Can’t Express

Have you ever longed to pour your heart out to God about something personal, but you felt handicapped by an inability to express what you were feeling?
 
Several times in my life, I have said “Jesus, please help me,” over and over again because I didn’t know what kind of help to ask for.

​I believe that our Father can hear all of our prayers—even the unspoken ones—because He sees our hearts. However, I have recently discovered a helpful tool to make these moments with God more meaningful to me.
 
This Christmas, one of my dear friends bought me a book called Every Moment Holy by Douglas McKelvey. In essence, this is a book of themed prayers written for specific moments, emotions, and situations that life brings our way.

I wasn’t sure, at first, how I felt about praying a prayer someone else had written, but one day soon after I received this book, I felt burdened by a certain sin in my life that I couldn’t seem to gain victory over. I wanted to plead with God—tell Him all about my struggle, but I was at a loss for words. Something prompted me to pick up my new book and flip through it for some help in getting started.
 
That day, I discovered this prayer:

​“For One Battling a Destructive Desire”

Jesus, here I am again desiring a thing that, were I to indulge in it, would war against my own heart and the hearts of those I love.

O Christ, rather let my life be Thine. Take my desires. Let them be subsumed in still greater desire for You, until there remains no room for these lesser cravings.

In this moment, I might choose to indulge a fleeting hunger, or I might choose to love You more. Faced with this temptation, I would rather choose You, Jesus—but I am weak, so be my strength. I am shadowed; be my light. I am selfish. Unmake me now and refashion my desires, according to the better designs of Your love.

Given the choice of shame or glory, let me choose glory. Given the choice of this moment or eternity, let me choose in this moment what is eternal. Given the choice of this easy pleasure or the harder road of the cross, give me grace to choose to follow You, knowing that there is nowhere apart from Your presence where I might find the peace I long for. No lasting satisfaction apart from Your reclamation of my heart.

Let me build then, my King, a beautiful thing, by long obedience, by the steady progression of small choices that, laid end-to-end, will become like the stones of a pleasing path stretching to eternity and unto Your welcoming arms, and unto the sound of Your voice pronouncing the judgement: 

​Well done.

As I read each line, my heart squeezed and tears dripped down my cheeks. I was talking to God with words I hadn’t thought of, but they were exactly the words I needed. I was learning about myself and my struggle with sin while I talked to God about it. At the end of this prayer, I felt like I had truly expressed my heart to God, and I felt my desire to choose Him over my own selfishness grow.

Since that day, I have discovered many helpful prayers in this book—prayers I never would have thought to pray such as “For Those Who Feel Awkward in Social Gatherings,” “For the Ritual of Morning Coffee,” and “For Nights & Days of Doubt.”

You don’t have to buy this book to have a meaningful prayer life, but these written prayers have changed my perspective on what prayer is. Prayer should be personal. Prayer should wind its way into every circumstance in our lives. From our morning routines to our social fears, there is nothing too small for us to talk to God about.

Reading these prayers helped me express my thoughts and feelings to God when I couldn’t find the right words, but since I have started praying through this book, I have found myself praying differently on my own as well. I can express myself more easily than I used to, because I now understand how beautiful it is to speak with my Savior and Heavenly Father, not only in petition, repentance, and praise, but also in a way that seeks to express my heart to Him—a way that seeks to know His heart better.

• If you’re in the midst of an emotionally charged struggle and you don’t know the right words to pray, consider reading through the prayer of someone who has experienced the same struggle. You might be surprised how finding just the right words to pray opens up your heart to your Heavenly Father.
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• If you’re wanting a deeper prayer life, consider ways to make your prayers more personal instead of rote. Talk to God throughout your day. Tell Him about your fears and ask Him to give you strength. Let Him become a companion to your heart’s deepest thoughts and feelings.

I am grateful to my friend for giving me that book and opening my eyes to a new aspect of prayer. A believer’s prayer life is an ever-developing journey in which we constantly learn new ways to communicate with our God. Prayer is not all about me and my emotions, but God does care about my struggles, feelings, and fears, and who better to listen and care than the One who made me and saved me!

What tools or methods have helped to strengthen your prayer life?