3 Quick Prayers for High-Stress Moments (and other Tough Times)
1. The Name of Jesus
I will never forget my friend Mariana’s story about almost losing her baby girl. Her firstborn child was only a matter of days old when she, for no apparent reason, stopped breathing. Holding the baby in her arms, Mariana prayed, “Jesus. In the name of Jesus, please let my baby live.” Within moments little “Gabriella” was breathing again. Today she is a happy, healthy 18-year-old young woman.
Mariana’s story was the first I had ever heard about the power of Jesus’ name. It makes perfect sense to me now; I had just never heard about using His name – just His name – as a prayer, and a powerful one at that! If Jesus is our Lord and God, the Word of God made flesh and the same Word that spoke all things into existence, one Person of our triune “I am Who Am,” His name is essentially another name for ultimate Being and thus closely linked with life (earthly being), salvation (eternal being), and all that matters in between.
There is a lot of history behind our faith’s reverence for the name of Jesus, but I will just cite a few passages from Sacred Scripture that shed light on this great tradition:
“On the morrow their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set [Peter and John] in the midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:5-12)
“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14)
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” (Phil. 2:9-10)
So Scripture says that Jesus’ name has power. Mariana has testified to the power of His name. And I can add my own testimony to Mariana’s… I too have experienced powerful grace from simply speaking His name. Jesus. When I say “Jesus,” calling to mind His presence with me… to be honest, it always puts a smile on my face! And this smile often comes, mind you, in the midst of chaos, stress and even feelings of desperation. Speaking His name gives me peace and, in addition to that smile, causes me to take a deep, refreshing breath. It resets me and re-grounds me in the Person who is my ultimate anchor. If speaking Jesus’ name simply, intentionally and by itself is not a habit of yours, I cannot recommend enough that you try it out!
2. The Glory Be
Here’s a lesson I learned as a young adult in my faith journey: Scripture tells us to “rejoice always.” (1 Thes 5:16, Phil 4:4) I don’t know about you, but I have certainly heard a homily or two about this exhortation… And I think it was when I first started to “rejoice” or praise God even when I didn’t feel like it that I realized how good this “command” truly is. Like speaking Jesus’ name, I find that praying a Glory Be when I would rather be cursing someone or something automatically helps me to take a deep breath and regain some peace and perspective. We believe that God does not allow anything that cannot work for our good, or out of which He cannot bring good. It follows, then, that anything occurring in our life is allowed, if not willed, by God and is for our good (at least if we don’t completely shut grace out!). Ultimately then, rain or shine, happiness or depression, sickness or health… are all reasons to rejoice and praise God for His will in our lives! (Yes, it is easier said than done. And you don’t have to feel happy in order to praise; you just have to mean it –even a little bit!)
3. Jesus, I Trust in You
Telling Jesus that you trust Him is another one of those things that doesn’t come naturally to many of us, especially when the storms of life (or family travails) are raging. I can’t help thinking, though, of St. Peter walking on water, as he kept his eyes on Jesus. A storm raged around him. Plus, the way physics usually works, people sink in water; they do not walk on it. In a purely human, earthly sense, Peter had no reason to trust that he could walk on water. But walk he did, because Christ willed it!
Jesus is all-powerful and always in control. He really and truly is. He doesn’t often intervene in our lives in the dramatic and tangible ways we would like Him to. However, I have found that receiving His grace and being aware of His presence with me during tough times leaves me wondering whether the way I wanted things really would have been better… And that is why I try to tell Jesus that I trust Him even when a storm is raging and I can’t imagine how I’m going to get out of it—or even how Jesus is going to get me out of it! Just like praising God for the circumstances we don’t particularly care for, telling Jesus that we trust in Him is the act of trust. We don’t have to feel it; it’s a choice and one that aligns us better with the Truth of our lives. It doesn’t make the hard times easy but, in my experience, it does make them a little less hard.
Acknowledging Jesus’ presence by saying His name, praising Him even when I don’t feel happy, and choosing to trust Him even when it’s scary have all brought me closer to God and helped me to live life more freely and fully. Try adding to your spiritual practices praying one or two of these short prayers in precisely the moments you feel least like saying them. God will bless you lots for making those acts of faith! While I have been trying to make these prayers habit, I still often forget or fail to pray them when life gets tough… so know too that if you try to adopt these practices, I will be struggling right along with you!
A native of the DC area, Teresa Swick is a wife and mother of two boys. She serves as a member of the Life-Giving Wounds traveling team and is passionate about helping others along their journey toward emotional and spiritual wellbeing. She also loves gathering people together to enjoy each other’s company, jogging, playing softball and whiffle ball, and stopping to smell the roses.