A Prayer to Encourage and Strengthen Nurses

I’m not a nurse. I can’t even claim to play one on TV. But I’ve spent a significant part of the last 15 years hanging out with nurses. They’re some of my favorite people, and they’ve stepped in more times than I can count to save my son—figuratively and literally.

Kyle was diagnosed with leukemia at age 10, relapsed at 19, and is still dealing with the collateral damage of years of aggressive treatment at 25.

Without our nurses, we would be lost. They’re a crucial part of our medical team. They get us information when we’re confused, hold our hands when we cry, give us hope when we’re hopeless, and never hesitate to jump into the deepest trenches when our world falls apart. I’m grateful for every one of them.

A Beautiful Prayer for Nurses

Lord,

In Galatians 5:13 you tell us to “serve one another humbly in love.” It’s not even a question that caring for others can be tough. Even more so for those who have chosen to become nurses.

Grow and water their servant hearts. Take their burdens. Bless them as they bless others. Remind them they don’t have to face the day’s challenges without You. You’ve put them on this path. You’re not going to make them walk it alone.     

You’ve told us “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”(Galatians 5:22). Nurses have bad days just like everyone else. As they walk into work to care for others, would You help them leave those bad days at the door? Let Your smile shine through. Replace their patience with Yours. Protect their feelings and emotional health when people or situations become difficult.

When your job is working with people—especially people struggling with issues of their own—it’s easy to get frustrated and feel taken for granted. Prompt them with the right responses, even when they’re treated poorly. Show them how You see those You’ve put in their care.   

Jesus, keep our nurses healthy and strong in all areas of their lives. Protect their families, their marriages, their children, their incomes, their futures. Provide them with physical and emotional and spiritual rest. Help them not to “grow weary in doing good”(Galatians 6:9) and build them up when they’re breaking down. Bless them with so much compassion that it spills effortlessly into their patients’ lives. Be their backbone, their living water, and the one who continually fills them before they even come close to running on empty.

We often think of prayer as a hail-Mary, out-of-options, last-ditch-effort. Remind nurses to pray for their patients not last but first. After all, they have direct access to the Great Healer. Where medicine fails, You can still prevail. You are the only one capable of performing miracles and the only one who can soothe hearts when miracles don’t appear.

Help nurses to be at peace with how You want to work in the lives of their patients. Help them accept Your will and see it as goodness even when it doesn’t feel like anything close to being good. Thank you, Lord, for bringing Kyle’s nurses into our life. Thank you for all those you’ve called to serve in this way. We need each and every one of them.

Amen.    

READ THE REST ON CROSSWALK.COM:  A PRAYER TO ENCOURAGE AND STRENGTHEN NURSES