Prayers that are hard to pray

It's easy to pray for your neighbor's cousin's uncle who is in the hospital for gall bladder. He'll probably get out well, whether or not you pray.

Or to pray that someone else will step up to help a mom who needs babysitting.

But to pray blessings on someone whose plan is to go far away? To pray that God will be more revealed in their life? Preparing a place, far far away?

To pray that someone who hurt you will prosper, that is a hard prayer. That God will reveal Himself to her, that she will feel His prescence, when she is still so far away from you, that is not an easy prayer. But it comes easier.

And praying these hard prayers is easier than not praying them, where they would fester. Because if I don't pray them, I hold onto them, and I can't. Go west, young man! Go east, young woman!

We prayed for families, and for our own wretched hungry hearts. We prayed and we prayed and we prayed. We read from the Psalms, from James, and from John.

We prayed for unity in the mess of ego. We prayed for the brokenhearted. We listened to (or read aloud) Leonard Cohen's poetry.

We labored in prayer. May our labor bear fruit. May we continue to pray...