​Prayers for Comfort

​Prayer for Those Who Mourn
Bless those who mourn, eternal God, with the comfort of your love that they may face each new day with hope and the certainty that nothing can destroy the good that has been given. May their memories become joyful, their days enriched with friendship, and their lives encircled by your love.  Amen.
— c. 1991 Vienna Cobb Anderson, Adapted from "Prayers of Our Hearts"

Prayer of Comfort
Comfort me with Your love O God. Wrap me up in Your strong embrace . Shelter me from the storm O Lord. Envelop me in Your tender care. By day I pour out my heartbreak to You. By night I give you my racing thoughts. In You I take refuge. In You I will not be afraid. For you hold me strong, You hold me safe. Calm my fearful heart O God. Still my anxious mind O Lord. 
For all my life is found in You. All my being is given to You . All my hope begins in You. 
Amen

A Prayer for Personal Loss
    Lord, thank you for being my rock and my strength. I don't know why this happened. I know you have a plan for each of us. But right now I'm hurting, and that hurt runs deep. Lord, I know that you are a comfort for me, and I pray that you continue to be by my side through this time. It feels right now like this hurt will never go away. It feels right now like I'll never come out of this pain. Everyone keeps saying that time will ease what I'm going through. I feel angry. I feel hurt. I feel alone. I don't know if time will help me, but I know you will. I cannot imagine going through this without you holding me up.
    Sometimes, Lord, it's just hard to look at tomorrow, and I just don't know how I will get through the day without my loved one in my life. Lord, I just ask for you to be here for me. I pray for you to give me strength to take another step. I need you to help me cope with the loneliness and to move forward in my life. Please, Lord, help make each day a little easier. Continue to provide me with hope for tomorrow. I know I will never stop missing my loved one, but I hope that you are holding them closely. Thank you, Lord for always being here for me. In Your Name, Amen.

A Prayer for the Loss of Others
    Lord, I come to you know for my friend. I come to you to ask that you provide them strength and comfort in this time of deep need. Their hurt and grief run so deep. I feel so much pain for them, but I can only imagine how hard this time must be for them. I pray that you help them maintain their faith in you during this difficult time.
    I know you can be our greatest shoulder, but I also ask that you remain their biggest provider. It is a time when daily life can be so burdensome. Please provide patience from others as they work through their grief. Surround them with understanding so that they can work through all the emotions this loss brought up. In this time when so many things get lost - bills need to be paid, homework needs to be done, etc. - allow those around them to help keep regular life on track.
    And Lord, allow me to be a comfort to my friend. Help me be what they need during this time. Provide me with the comforting words, the kindness in my heart, the patience to allow the grief to take its course. Let me be part of your light and comfort during this time.
    I pray these things in your holy name. Amen.

Prayer for a Miscarriage
"God who gives and takes away, please comfort [insert mom's name] and her family in the loss of their baby. Hold [insert mom's name] in Your loving arms, let her know that she is loved, and be with her and all who love her on this journey through darkness seeking light. Amen."

Prayer For A Sudden Death
    Dear God, Heart of My Heart, Joy of My Joy, Love of My Love, out of the depths I cry unto You, O Lord.
    Hear my voice.  I am shaken to my core. If I could roll back the clock and bring ____ back, look in his eyes and tell him, once more, how grateful I am that he was in my life, I would.
    Yet, though I might weep at his grave until the end of my days, he shall not return to me here.  What thought, what words have meaning for me now?  For this is unbearable, and I feel broken.
    Dear God, is there any sense to his death?  For I cannot believe he was taken from me without purpose.  I do not want to believe he has been deliberately cruel in his leaving me, for he was never cruel, never unkind.
    I know you are Pure Love, so it cannot be that you have allowed him to leave with no thought of the shock and pain that would fill me upon his leaving. Neither can I believe his passing has been whim or chance.  There is purpose in all things, all events. Yet my pain is so deep. I am so afraid. I feel so lost and so very alone.
    Give me courage to express the agony of my grief, Keep me safe as it flows through me. Hold me in Your arms as I release it to You.  Make your Presence known to me. Lift me up so I can feel Your Love; so I can understand and be comforted by Your Great Goodness.
    If there is a purpose and a meaning to my grief, open my being to your loving wisdom so I understand what You understand.  If there is a higher purpose for his leaving; if my beloved’s work here was truly done; if I can, somehow, become more loving because of this; if I can, somehow, turn this terrible grief to good, then make me an instrument of that good.
    Help me see a way to go on, for ____, for his legacy and life, and for my own.  May this loss and this pain impart sacred meaning to my life and my purpose.  May I feel this truth:  That  there is a Larger Plan, and that I am an integral part of it.
    There are other hearts that grieve in this moment, Lord. Help me send love to them.  Help me connect, in spirit, with them.  If, one day, I can comfort others and help them make peace with loss and grief, I am willing to be Your messenger of love.  Please lift me to that place of understanding.
    Help me, O Lord.  My heart is in Your Hands.  My life is in Your hands. My future is in Your hands.  My ability to love is in Your hands.
    Comfort me and raise me up. Open my heart, for it wants to close. Open my inner eyes, for my eyes are blurred with tears.
    Help me draw upon the great love ____ gave me. Help me understand that, while he is gone from this world, he is not far away.  Help me understand that, in his leaving this plane, he was not leaving me,
    But that something pressing called him, and that, no matter how impossible it is to imagine, that some good great is destined to come out of this for me
    And let ____ know that I am strong. I am brave. I will recover. I will laugh and live again.
    Yet that does not mean I will ever forget him or stop loving him. I will love him forever and ever throughout eternity.  Let him take the memory of my love with him wherever he must go, and may it bring him unending joy. Amen.