Praying in Pain: How to Know You're Heard When You Haven't Been Healed

Prayer is how we survive the grip of crushing pain.

Sometimes there are no words. Buried in grief and pain, we don’t know what to say, how to pray. Glenna Marshall has been there. Suffering for over a decade with chronic pain, she has spent nights exhausted, frustrated, and, at times, prayerless.

Praying in Pain is inspired by the words of the psalmists, fellow friends and saints of old, who understand loss, pain, and heartache. Taking the beautiful, honest words of the Psalms—words like, how long, hear me, heal me, help me, I trust you, I love you—Glenna composed The Sufferer’s Lament; this prayer gives words in those moments when it feels as if there are none.

As Glenna takes the reader through this rich prayer, she shares guidance on who God is, how He works in suffering, and how to pray while we wait for Him. Readers will gain understanding of why God doesn’t always heal this side of heaven, how to pray as they wait in pain, and what good purposes the Lord might bring from their ongoing suffering. This prayer serves as a springboard for learning to pray Scripture. Praying in Pain is a light in the darkness and a balm to every hurting heart.

I can think of no other place or time in my life when God has most faithfully met me. In the dark. In the night. In the crucible of my deepest and hardest physical suffering. What we pray in the dark shapes our suffering, removing the sharp, bright edges of anger and softening them with trust in God’s presence and faithfulness.