Lord's Prayer: Give Us Todayનમૂનો

Sometimes we don’t know what to ask for. The sheer volume of details leaves us overwhelmed. During her final semester of college, my oldest daughter was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This is crazy and unheard of in someone who’s only 21. No family history. No apparent causes. Zero symptoms. Otherwise healthy as can be. Then, out of nowhere, it just seemed to appear fully formed. A surgery. Chemo. A brief reprieve where we hoped it was knocked out forever. Then back again. This time metastasized in the surrounding area. More treatment, again. At times like these, there’s so much to pray for. I found myself overwhelmed with things to bring before God: Healing, discernment among the doctors, right diagnoses, swift intervention, successful surgeries, effective chemo, freedom from symptoms, feeling good, relief from pain, relief from nausea, no more spread, protection from getting sick in other ways, for the ability to eat. And that’s just touching the physical side of things. Praying for mental and emotional strength, to maintain her kind and sweet demeanor, to enjoy early married life as newlyweds should, for hope, for faith, for God to hold her day by day, for her husband, her mom, her younger brother and sister, and for others struggling with the same thing. Maybe you’ve been through a similar time. In those times maybe you’ve also experienced the overwhelming volume of prayers that come flowing from your heart and fears. Sometimes the prayers come flooding out with hyper-specificity. But other times we find ourselves not even knowing what to say. There’s so much to say – so much to ask for – that we don’t even know how to cover it or where to begin. The heart is dry. The soul is tired. The mind is prayed out. It’s in those times I’ve learned the power, comfort, and hope that comes from praying the way Jesus taught us to pray. Simply say, “Father, give her today her daily bread.” Consider this today… God knows exactly what you need. Better than you know it yourself. Can you trust God to the details and just pray instead, “Give me today my daily bread.” Can you leave your worried-prayer-list to him?