almighty,
it’s a different world,
coming into hospital.
Give me the strength to adjust
to being here;
give me patience with strange procedures;
give me love for those around me;
give me some sense of your presence here.
Make me certain that nothing can separate
me from your love –
neither death nor life
nor anything that happens to me here –
because your love keeps me day by day
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Trevor Lloyd
*
My loins are filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my flesh.
I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I roar aloud because of the disquiet
of my heart.
O Lord, you know all my desires
and my sighing is not hidden from you.
My heart is pounding, my strength
has failed me;
the light of my eyes is gone from me.
Forsake me not, O Lord;
be not far from me, O my God.
Make haste to help me,
O Lord of my salvation.
Psalm 38.710,21,22
*
The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
Common Worship
*
Lord I can’t go to sleep and there is nothing I want more.
I want to escape from my difficulties and yet know that with your strength the waking time can be most precious, your God-given time to pray for all those who in the hours of the night are lost in darkness. Take this darkness from them so that they may know your light.
Michael Hollings and Etta Gullick
*
Thank you, Lord, for being here
as I wake up.
My eyes are shut, but I can hear
a clatter of dishes: breakfast already?
A murmur of talking: has someone gone
in the night?
The scrape of a chair: surely not visitors?
A footstep down the ward: coming to me?
Give me peace.
Help me to hang on to you despite the
distractions.
Open my eyes to face what lies ahead
in the strength of Jesus.
Trevor Lloyd
*
Dear Jesus,
When I woke up this morning my body
ached all over.
I felt miserable and low in spirit,
Trying to cope with the pain and
sleeplessness of the night.
I asked you, Jesus, to help me through
another day.
Thank you that once more, Jesus, you
heard and answered my prayer.
Diocese of Monmouth Mothers’ Union
*
Is there still a real world out there?
The dawn is breaking, sky brightening,
clouds continually blown into new shapes.
A line of beeches silhouetted on
the dark hill,
people awake in houses with lights on,
the start of a normal day.
By the next bed, George’s nebulizer hums.
An exhausted nurse at the end of the night
shift takes my blood pressure.
Another approaches to jab a needle
in my stomach.
Two buzzers are going, asking for help.
Only four staff on the whole ward.
I hear the jolly tea ladies coming,
And I need space to think.
Does no one else long to stop
for a minute?
Lord, this is all your world.
These are your people.
Bless them and let them know your
care today.
Trevor Lloyd
*
I have no other helper than you,
no other father,
I pray to you.
Only you can help me.
My present misery is too great.
Despair grips me, and I am at my wit’s end.
O Lord, Creator, Ruler of the World,
Father,
I thank you that you have brought
me through.
How strong the pain was – but you were
stronger.
How deep the fall was – but you were even
deeper.
How dark the night was –but you were
the noonday sun in it.
You are our father, our mother, our brother,
and our friend.
African prayer
*
Thank you, O God, for all the people who have looked after me today; for all those who visited today; for all the letters and the get-well cards; for the flowers and gifts friends have sent.
I know that sleep is one of the best medicines for both the body and the mind. Help me to sleep tonight.
Into your strong hands I place all the patients in this ward; the night staff on duty tonight; my loved ones, whose names I now mention; myself, with my fears, my worries and my hopes.
Help me to sleep, thinking of you and your promises.
Author unknown
*
The light of God surrounds me,
The love of God enfolds me,
The power of God protects me,
The presence of God watches over me,
Wherever I am, God is.
James Dillet Freeman
*
At even, ere the sun was set,
the sick, O Lord, around thee lay;
O