Guided Prayer for Care Givers to Pray with Those Going through a Life Crisis
When others go through a life crisis, we are often called on to give one-on-one moral and spiritual support. Our role as a caregiver can be a formal one, such as a Stephen Minister, pastor, teacher, counselor or mentor. We also might become informal care givers as friends and family members. Here is a prayer for you that you can use in helping a care receiver going through a crisis period.
This is a guided prayer where the leader says a few words on a topic of prayer, then pauses, leaving a time for the listener to offer their own personal prayer on the topic. The leader then prays out loud on the next topic of prayer. The leader may allow the other person in a one-on-one prayer situation to either pray silently or to verbalize their own prayer on the topic out loud depending on what the care receiver feels most comfortable doing.
Guided Care Giving Prayer for those in a Life Crisis
Dear Lord, I thank you for all of the good qualities ________ (care receivers name) possesses and for the positive things that are in his/her life right now. We now thank you specifically for the following positive things that we see ______________________________________(pause for silent or verbal completion of this thought.)
We thank you that you tell us in the Bible that your grace is sufficient for all our needs. We now pray for one specific grace that _(CR name)____________ needs today___________________ (prayer pause.)
You know the problems and difficulties that ___(CR Name) is having right now. We pray the time will be shortened and the burden eased as he/she deals with this problem. Father, we know that You sometimes remove mountains and other times when our mountains can’t be moved you walk with us over them. We lift up the following mountain that he/she is dealing with today________________________________
Father, there are things about the current situation that we feel are unfair. We honestly express our sorrow, regrets and feelings of depression and grief about _____________________________________
We thank you that you lead us step by step and we pray that you will encourage us by bringing to mind one good step _______(CR Name) has made in the right direction_____________________
And we pray that you will bring to mind the next good step that he/she can take in the right direction________________________________________
We thank you that you are the God who cares about the small details of our lives. We all have things that we’ve been thinking are too small to bother you about. We come as your children now, asking your help in this one small thing right now_____________________________________________________.
We look forward to the time when this crisis period is over and things have stabilized in ____(CR Name) life. We thank you that You say in the Bible, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) Please place in our minds a small glimpse of your beautiful future plans __________________
Other helpful resources: To learn how to plan a detailed prayer strategy of how to pray with a care giver going through a life crisis see this article: Prayer strategy in a care giving relationship.
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Copyright Karen Barber, 2013. All rights reserved.