by Kathy (Stilesville Indiana)
Dear Lord, Please forgive me my sins and transgressions. Please, if it is your will, let the love that is in my heart shine down upon Carey and let it guide him back home to our family and to me. Let us grow and mend together in love and faith and rebuild our family, as it should be. I ask only for the chance to set this to rights, as I know it is a long and hard journey to healing, but one I will gladly and humbly undertake. I shall never take for granted the blessing that his love is and the blessing our family is ever again.
Free him from his transgressions and drug usage, shine a light to guide him back to faith and back to the place of love and healing that is our family. It is my one wish, O Lord, to live my live with him and grow old with him and raise our children together. That our children can rest at night knowing that their father is asleep with them and will wake with them. Please Blessed Mother, Saint Jude and all the saints, hear my most earnest and humble prayer. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Relationships can be difficult, but when it comes to family they can be heartbreaking if things go astray. Having an estranged family member, whether it be a sibling, child, parent or someone in your extended family, comes with stress and frustration. God wants us to look past these negative feelings and turn to him in our time of need. It does not matter whose fault the broken relationship is, what stage of grief you are in, or if you plan to reconnect with the family member. God wants us to be open and communicate our feelings and anxiety with him – God will listen! God has a plan in motion for the future relationship for you and your estranged loved one. Trusting in God will help you get through the difficult times, such as the holidays. Here are six prayers to help you get through the pain of having an estranged family member.
Prayer of Safety: Lord, I miss my family member dearly and I worry about their safety, happiness and health daily. I don’t know the simplest of things, like if their basic necessities are being met. Lord please watch over them! Please provide them with the tools they need to live and lead a successful, peaceful and joyful life. I want nothing more than for them to be safe, despite all of my grief and anger. My personal anguish shall not triumph what your Son taught us – to love all. I love my family member no matter what, and I pray for their safety during this time. Please continue to push me in the correct direction and put my own ideals and selfishness aside as I move forward. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Prayer for Reconciliation: Heavenly Father, I do not know where to begin to start rebuilding a relationship with my estranged family member. I miss them dearly, but I know the damage of the past bears down on them and our relationship. I fear being able to reach out to them and fear rejection. I pray for guidance to say the right things and courage to take the high road. Father, I know you want our family to be together and to show each other love, support and positivity. I know I have failed you in the past. Today I begin to take the steps forward to fix this broken relationship and I only ask that you help wrap your loving arms around me during this time. Amen.
Prayer for Forgiveness: Our Holy Father, I have made mistakes in this relationship and I ask for forgiveness and repentance of my sins. I have disobeyed you and broken the trust you had in me. I have left a family member out of my life and have not shown them the love and kindness all of your children deserve. I know that they have made mistakes too, and I pray for continued forgiveness of their sins. I work hard to forgive them daily as you would want me to do. At the end of the day I shall always love them for being a part of the beautiful family You have provided me with. No matter the mistakes, negative feelings, and evil that comes into my heart I will forgive my family member and ask for forgiveness with you. Please continue to guide me during this time. Amen.
Prayer for Peace: Lord, I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that my family member will no longer be a part of my life and it is something I have to accept. While I do not wish to lose someone near and dear to me, I will work towards moving forward and providing those in my life with the love and blessings they still deserve. I will not show anger, fear or frustrations to others. I pray you help me remain positive and peaceful. During this difficult time when things all look bleak, I ask that you wrap your arms around me and support my broken heart. I love my family members and only wish the best for them. Guide me to the path they are supposed to take in life. Grant me the peace, strength and serenity to get through this time. Amen.
Prayer for Shrinking the Distance: Heavenly Father, The distance between me and my estranged family member is almost too much to bear anymore. I don’t want to live a life of grief and despair. I have realized my faults and want to shrink the distance between us, but I do not know how or where to begin. Please grant me the knowledge and skills to learn! I want to reach out to them and show them the love and care they deserve. The love and care that I should have already been granting towards them. I apologize for my failure and cause in this situation. Please bring them back closer to me – please let them see how I want to help slowly build a bridge back to a strong and positive relationship. Amen.
Prayer of Thanks: Lord Above, I thank you for my family member, even if they are not with me now. The time we had together holds many memories that I will keep in my heart forever. I know they have made this choice without me, but I forgive them and will wait patiently for their return if they choose to do so. During this time of waiting, I will appreciate what we had together and thank YOU for blessing me with their presence. Please bless me with peace and serenity during the times of darkness and sadness. Amen.
Losing a loved one due to an estrangement can be difficult for all those involved. Praying to the Lord for guidance, knowledge and strength will help you get through the most difficult of times. When feeling lost or confused, remember Proverbs 3:5 which states “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”.
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Here are 5 prayers for reconciliation in relationships between spouses.
Table of contents
Prayer of Forgiveness
Righteous Father,
I know that You seek to have us always be in a right relationship with You and sometimes I do things that grieve You. I know that I do and say things that grieve my spouse too so I am asking You to give me the right words to say to be reconciled to my spouse. I know I have made many mistakes and have asked for forgiveness from them but it seems that it hasn’t restored our marriage to where we’re both in a right relationship with one another and I know You desire us to be in one. I need Your help. Please send me Your Spirit to show me what I might have done wrong that I was not even aware of and soften my spouse’s heart to accept my faults and extend forgiveness to me so that we can worship You together in the way that is pleasing to You and in the way You intended a husband and a wife to be joined together in offering You thanksgiving, praise, and honor. I know that in my own inadequacies I cannot fully understand how to always say the right words or do the right things but it is my desire to be reconciled with my beloved mate and it is in the strong name of and for the glory of the name above all names, Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Prayer of Blessing
Great God in heaven,
I am asking You for Your forgiveness for things that I have done to You that are clearly sinful for I am surely not sinless (1 John 1:8-10) and forgive me for those things that I have obviously done wrong to my spouse to hurt them and cause them pain. I am asking You to bless my spouse and help them to understand how far I fall short of the perfect spouse and I pray for Your help in knowing how I can help to restore this relationship and make it more of the way You originally intended for us to have a right relationship with one another and with You. I know that my prayers have sometimes been hindered because of my own stubborn heart and unwillingness to be a greater servant of my spouse and to love them in the way that You have loved me, even dying for me while I was Your enemy (Rom 5:10) and a sinner (Rom 5:9). Please extend to me Your mercy and grace and allow me to treat my spouse in the way that You love me unconditionally and not treat them the way that I often do. I need Your help in doing these things and again, bless my spouse and I thank You for my spouse and for Your forgiveness, love, and grace and in the precious name of the Savior, Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.
Prayer of Reconciliation
Father in heaven,
You have reconciled me to Yourself through Your Son’s precious blood and so I am begging You to help me be reconciled to my beloved spouse. Only You can change the human heart (Prov 21:1) so I ask You to change my heart to be one that seeks to humble myself and seek reconciliation in my relationship with my mate. Too often I speak without thinking and I know my words hurt my spouse but this is no excuse for the things that I speak to them. I ask for Your Spirit to be sent to help us be reconciled with one another as Your Son’s precious blood was shed for our being reconciled to You (2 Cor 5:18; Col 1:20). This I pray for Your Son’s most holy name and for His glory, Amen.
Prayer of Restoration
God,
You are in the restoration business; restoring me by giving me Your Spirit. You have made me into a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and I am pleading with You to help me restore this marital relationship with my beloved spouse. How often have I done things out of pure selfish ambition and gain? I cannot count the times where I was only looking out for my own interests and not that of my spouse. Please forgive me for my selfishness and help our relationship be restored to the way it previously was. I need Your help in doing this because I don’t always know the right thing to say or do and I lack Your wisdom in acting out of a sincere and genuine heart that is motivated only by serving my spouse and loving them in the way that You love me. What more can I do to help in restoring this relationship to where You would have it be? Help me to think, act, and speak in ways that would reflect Your own love and for this I pray in the precious name of the Great Son of God, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Prayer of Repentance
Father,
I repent of my sins and my sins against my spouse. I am so sorry and I need to tell You and my spouse that I have sinned. Let me be humble in approaching them by telling them that I have sinned against them by the way that I have acted or by the words that I have used. I know that I don’t always treat my spouse in the way that I am supposed to because there are many times that I am still more concerned about myself more than I am my spouse. I need to esteem my spouse, to cherish my spouse, and to extend to them the same grace and mercy that You extended to me, even though I didn’t deserve it. Help me to understand that I cannot fix relationships on my own. Only Your Spirit can give me a tenderer heart and please soften my spouses heart too so that they can accept my apologies and to let them know that I often act out of impulse and pride. Help me to know the right words to say to them so that I can show them that I have a repentant heart and seek to be reconciled to them in our relationship because the relationship between a husband and wife is supposed to reflect that of the relationship that Jesus Christ has with me and with the church. For this I pray for the Son of God’s glory and in His name, Amen.
Final Thoughts
Maybe you’ve prayed such a prayer before. I know I have and I also know that I’ll need to again being I am a fallen creature. I need God’s help in knowing how to pray and how to seek forgiveness and to love my spouse in a way that shows her that I do and not just depend on words alone. Can you comment by giving us your own prayer so that we might know what to pray and how to pray it?
Take a look at some Bible verses about marriage: Bible Verses About Marriage
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Gracious and merciful God, the problems facing our human family are very grave and we are no longer isolated from one another. We are confronted daily with our addiction to violence, our hatred and our greed. We are heartbroken. The media are relentless in their presentation and critique and we all long for some good news. It is so easy to forget that your Son, Jesus, is always the good news and that he has given us the remedy for our brokenness. “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” He spoke so clearly. We ask your Holy Spirit to remind us of this again and again. We ask you for the gift of hope in our lives and know that we need to turn to one another for the confidence and assurance that we will emerge from situations, that, in the short term seem hopeless. Banish fear and anxiety from our hearts.
Tonight we gather to affirm one another and to remove the barriers that seem to sour our relationships and keep us at a distance. Heal the short tempers, the crabbiness and the grudges we hold, against one another, against our political system, against our Church, against our financial institutions. We could go on and on. Prompt us to be beacons in the present darkness, and especially beacons to one another. We are all guilty of some selfishness, many of us have lived beyond our means and we become angry and irrational and embrace ideologies that protect our acquisitions. We need your help to stop contributing to the larger greed that tears at our world. We believe in the power of your grace to change our lives and we promise tonight to be once again open to that grace. Bless us with a peaceful spirit and a desire to be reconciled with one another.
Amen.
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