SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE
Proverbs 16:24 The prayer life of a Christian can sometimes become tiresome, especially if you don’t feel like praying. We hope our simple prayers centered around everyday life will provide some guidance and help you grow in your prayer life.
How Can You Help Your Friend with Depression?
Those moments when a conversation does NOT go the way we expect it to.
“Hey! How are you?!” “Not great” “Why? What’s up?” “…Do you want the honest answer?”
30 minutes later, it’s clear your friend is wrestling with some deep stuff, and then they admit, “I think I’m struggling with depression.” What do we say next?! It’s actually pretty cool that they were willing to be vulnerable and share what’s really going on. That’s rare. Super rare.
In fact, it’s even more likely they won’t recognize (or admit) this in themselves. It might take months or years of spending time with them for us to realize there’s something deeper going on. But we still want to encourage them, right!?—to have the right words that will ease their suffering and not make things worse? If there even are “right” words for this.
Luckily, the Holy Spirit is our Advocate and Helper, and doesn’t leave us on our own to figure it out. Here’s a prayer we’ve found helpful when we want to support a friend who’s struggling with depression…
A Prayer for a Friend with Depression
Wise Counselor, who knows the thoughts, emotions, and discouragements of my friend better than I do, please give me the words to be your agent of love and comfort to _________ (name). Help me be a peaceful presence and an instrument of your healing. May my words not make things worse, and when necessary, may I be quiet over being quick to offer advice. Help _________ (name) to know how much you care about them, and may you free them of depression. Amen.
Everyone feels at some point that they don’t know how to pray, feel free to visit this page for more everyday prayers to explore how you can connect with God in the ordinary, extraordinary, everyday moments of life!
