A Prayer For Those Who Face An Agonizing Decision

 

 

God of gods and King of kings, author of all truth and inspirer of Holy Men of many generations, we come before You with Your Word in our hands.  We confess that we have searched it through and through looking for the story of one who struggled through the night in greater agony of soul than the ones for whom we pray this morning hour.  We have found no one, save Your Son, who prayed in greater anxiety, greater tension, greater pain than those for whom we pray today.   We have found no one, save Your Son, who knew the struggle, the strain and the stress like one crying out in the darkness of the night for strength to place a loved one in the care of others.  The weight of the guilt of even thinking of such a thing, let alone doing it is enough to crush and cripple the soul of the strongest.  The very thought sends shivers up and down the spine.  It makes one feel dirty, dogged and dripping with sweat.  The more one anticipates it, the more cold, cruel and calloused it seems.  What will others think?  What are we thinking?  Can it really be that we would surrender the care of a loved one into the hands of others?

 

And then our loved ones, what will they think?  How will they react?  Will they become angry?  Will they feel abandoned?  Will they give up the battle of life?  What can we do to soften the shock?  How can we keep them feeling unloved?  O Lord, God of broken hearts, help them to understand why we are doing this?  Help them to understand that this decision is the most painful thing that we could ever do.  We do it only because we can handle it no longer.  The responsibility of taking care of our loved one must be turned over to younger backs with greater knowledge of what is best for those with great physical needs.  

 

Father, help us to see that belief in You is not as important as what we believe about You.  Help us to rest in the confidence that total care facilities are Your gift to us.  That we do not love any less when we surrender a loved one to those more capable of caring for them.

 

Oh God, be our helper, we are a pilgrim people, on a long journey with many detours and disappointments.   We need the assurance that one day when this journey shall end we shall enter into that great, grand and glorious eternity which You have promised to all who accept Your love in Jesus Christ. One of its great joys will be that heaven’s telephone book will not list total care facilities, for we will have bodies such as we had in the flower of our youth.     

 

The victory is ours O Lord!  The victory is ours!

 

Amen