A Prayer for Healing

Lord Jesus, 

As we slowly emerge from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are aware of our deep need of your presence and your healing in so many aspects of our lives. 

We cry out to you for physical healing. Give strength to those who have suffered from COVID-19 and may still bear the scars of this battle. Give healing to those who are currently suffering from this disease, and who will suffer in the future. We believe you can do this; help our unbelief (Mark 9:24). 

We pray for mental and emotional healing. Give peace to those whose minds and hearts are in distress due to mental health issues, financial strain, loneliness, and the loss of loved ones. Thank you for being the God “who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Cor. 1:4). Thank you for not being distant during our suffering but rather entering into it as one “familiar with pain” (Isa. 53:3). 

We ask for relational healing. We feel distanced from our loved ones whom we have not been able to see. We feel at odds with people who have seen this pandemic in a different way than we have. Please heal what has been broken and lost and let us be “[your] people [living] together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1).

We are also in need of spiritual healing. As the months have worn on, we have wondered where you were when we were sick, when our loved ones were dying, when nothing seemed like it would ever be right again. Give us eyes to see that you are who you have always been—Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). 

We plead for vocational healing. As your church, you have given us a calling to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19); an invitation to participate in what you are already doing in our world. The pandemic has made this call so much more difficult, and we have drifted into patterns of comfort and familiarity. Give us renewed vision for this mission! 

In all these things, we pray for your healing, as the one who heals our broken hearts and binds up our wounds (Ps. 147:3).

In Jesus’ name, 

Amen 

-Stephanie Christianson

Stephanie Christianson (MA in Theological Studies) serves as Adjunct Faculty Advisor & Instructor at Horizon College and Seminary in Saskatoon. Her love for theology was nurtured at Bethany College, and now she loves to explore Anabaptist-Mennonite history & theology, nonviolence & divine violence, and the work of Miroslav Volf. Stephanie is married to Austin, who serves in pastoral ministry.