How can I pray for someone in intense suffering? When I someone tells me about losing their child or having been sexually abused I know I should pray with them. There aren’t “answers” that are going to “fix” the situation. They need God’s comfort and to know His presence. But when I think about what to pray nothing seems “right.” Can you help me handle these situations better?

Resources: Here are several resources that can be useful in preparing for of following up with the conversation discussed in this VLOG post.

  • The Gospel for Sin and Suffering: Often we are more skilled at applying the gospel and Scripture to sin than we are to suffering. In videos three and four of the Summit Counseling Core Training we walk through how God speaks to sin and suffering differently. For this question, video four would be most applicable.
  • Article: SUFFERING_GOSPEL_article_Hambrick Here is an article that walks through Psalm 102 as an example of how God gives us words to pray back to Him in the midst of our suffering.
  • Outline of key points in this video
    1. Use the person’s name several times as you pray.
    2. Acknowledge this prayer comes with unpleasant emotions by mentioning the specific emotions this person shared with you in prayer (i.e., fear, anger, confusion, etc…)
    3. Thank God that we can come to him with these honest, raw emotions in prayer.
    4. Affirm the courage of this person to God in prayer.
    5. Thank God for allowing this person to  have a safe place to talk and seek help.
    6. Pray for protection over this person’s thoughts and emotions in the coming days.
    7. Pray that God would give them the strength to continue on their journey towards restoration.

To review the other questions addressed in this VLOG series click here.

Note: The VLOG (video-blog) Q&A is a regular series on my blog. If you would like to submit a question, it can be e-mailed to Summit’s admin over counseling at counseling@summitrdu.com (please note this is an administrative account; no individual or family counsel is provided through e-mail). Please limit your questions to 3-7 sentences. This is not a forum for to request or receive counseling. No responses will be sent to questions other than those selected for a video response.

If this post was beneficial for you, then considering reading other blogs from my “Favorite Posts on Suffering” post which address other facets of this subject.