Healing Prayers from Africa

Thank you Marilyn for suggesting that I purchase and read the book, Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems, & Meditations from Around the World early in my time of distress. There are some gems in there that I'm still discovering.

As Dr. Larry Dossey said in the foreward to Prayers for Healing, "Prayer helps us contact sources of inspiration and wisdom that transcend the rational, analytical side of the mind. Prayer provides a sense of hope and meaning--the certainty that we are part of a pattern that is purposeful and intelligent. Without this awareness, life is not just unsatisfying, in can be unendurable." (Prayer is supernatural).

Here are two of my favorites from the book:

Dinka Prayer

Now that the sun has set,
I sit and rest, and think of you.
Give my weary body peace.
Let my legs and arms stop aching.
Let my nose stop [bleeding],
Let my head stop thinking.
Let me sleep in your arms.

African Prayer

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.

Amen. And Amen.