A Prayer for A Better Week

Last week was not my week. It blew in, overwhelmed me in different ways than I am used to and I felt woefully unprepared. I lived inside my head last week, thoughts tumbling over one another and stacking up higher and higher.

If you know me or have been following along with me for a while, then you might know, I struggle deeply with enoughness. I perpetually live in a space where I do not ever believe I do enough or am enough. Last week my self-critical voice was louder than it has been in a long time. The week ended with a Sunday spent in tears—triggered by someone who felt they ought to share something they deemed was me not doing and giving enough. Unbeknownst to them, it hit me so hard that it knocked me down, again, after a week where I kept getting knocked off balance. So, in lieu of a list of weekend joys here is what I hope to be a centering praying for a better week ahead.

God of grace, God of compassion, God of love—you have searched me and known me and continue to search me and know me. You know the pain that resides in my heart even when I haven’t the words to describe it, you know the wounds that are raw and open and you know the words, the actions, the judgments from my own self and others that prevent those wounds from healing. God, bring comfort. Tenderly bind up the wounds with your loving hands, pour into me you love and may it overflow.

God of strength, meet me in my weariness, meet me in my fear, meet me in my defensiveness and bring strength and courage to face a new week, grant me rest and renew my strength, tear down my walls and soften my heart. For in your eyes I am always enough, always worthy, and always wholly known and always fully loved. Remind me, Holy Spirit, that whatever comes, I am never alone.

God of the past, present, and future— I pray to leave behind last week behind, choosing to trust that you were there with me through it all, even when I failed to see you. I pray to be present here and now in this moment, at the beginning of a new day and a new week. I pray to be grounded in the present throughout these days. And God, I pray for the future that will come—that you would go before me just as you have gone alongside me and just as you go beside me now.

God of joy—bless me with a heart of love, a spirit of peace, a presence that is open to your joy everywhere I go, in everything I see, in everything I do, and in everyone I meet. This is my faithful prayer for a better week—Lord in your mercy, please hear it.

Amen.