Growing up, children and adults alike marveled at my household. Three children and two parents married for decades. What I didn’t realize until later in life was that having both parents in the house was once the norm. These days, such households are the exception.
Over 20 million children in America come from fatherless homes. Depending on where you live, that number can be as high as 60%. The older I become, the clearer I see the effect of fatherless homes, and not just fatherless homes, but broken homes.
Parents who don’t get along. Children who don’t get along with their parents. There are children who don’t keep in touch with their parents, out of choice. Others who don’t like, even hate their parents. Young kids with their faces stuck on screens and chasing false identities. The divorce rate is high, and so many children are born out of wedlock that many of them don’t see a purpose to marriage.
Certainly, there’s a lot of pain and suffering going on in the world today. How much of this pain traces back to the home, to our broken families?
Hurt people hurt people, as the adage goes. The full truth is that we’re all hurting in one way or another. Each of us carries some degree of brokenness (Romans 3:23).
We will never be perfect people on this side of life, but we can strive to be better. Our families will never be immaculate, but we can work to improve them. And when we can’t control a circumstance, or a person, or many people, we can and always should pray. Here are 5 prayers for a broken family.
Prayer for an End to Conflict
Lord,
My family and I have been caught up in conflict for far too long and for so many reasons. I don’t remember when our problems started.
We can’t get together anymore without someone saying or doing something that offends another, even on holidays. I’m saddened by all of this and afraid that there will never be an end to the conflict.
So, I come before you now, eagerly asking you to soften our hearts, to help us make amends with one another. I pray that we would strive to embody the grace and forgiveness that you have toward us. Give us kind words and gentle hearts. Show us a better way to interact. Help us end the conflict.
We’ve bickered for so long, but conflict doesn’t have to last forever. I pray that it won't. Help us embrace a godly love much like the father did the prodigal son. With the hurtful past behind us, we can move forward in a healthier and united future.
Amen.
Prayer for Reconciliation
Heavenly Father,
With all that’s going on in the world, conflict within the family feels like an unnecessary problem added to all the things happening. We can, however, reconcile, but we don’t see a need. Everybody wants to be right, and at times, even me. Lord, I pray to you with a request to soften our hearts. Remind us of the importance of forgiveness. A grudge is a burden, one that we carry and remind ourselves of constantly. But when we choose forgiveness, we let go of the burden and choose to embrace your way of living instead. Please help us to see your way as the better way. Help us to trade words of cruelty for words of affirmation and trade resentment for reconciliation.
Your way is better.
Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Forgiveness
Lord,
If we could tally all of our sins over the years, the number would exceed anything that we imagine. The number would cause us to grieve and feel shame. The number would damn us to Hell, and yet you chose to forgive us.
I thank you for the forgiveness afforded to us through Jesus, but I would be a liar if I claimed to forgive just as easily.
Lord, my family is embroiled in animosity and even in the moments when we aren’t, the tension is palpable. We don’t like each other, and the reason is that we have not chosen to forgive. Too often do we act like forgiving is the end of the world. We would much rather have revenge than let something go.
I’m sorry, God. I ask that you forgive me and my family. Help us to get right with you, and then get right with one another. Forgiveness is the way to living life without the need for retaliation, to living life joyfully with family.
Help us to forgive and become more like your Son.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Prayer for Healing
God,
We can’t erase the past. I can’t. My family can’t. But we do have control over today and how we walk into our future. Lord, I ask that whatever hurt was done in the past, we would choose to forgive one another. We can’t erase the hurt, but you can heal us. Please any and all of our broken relationships. Take our family’s broken pieces and make us whole again. And as we come back together, I pray that our love will be stronger than ever before.
Thank you for hearing my prayer. Amen.
Prayer for Gratitude
Lord,
I thank you for the family that I have. Thank you for the good times and the bad, the times when I was able to serve them, and the times when I was served. I thank you for the best memory and the worst, the moments of laughter and the times when we couldn’t help but cry.
I may not always see eye to eye with my family, but I recognize the blessing in my life that is family. I recognize that not everyone has a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a cousin, and so on. And so, I am grateful for those that I do have, the moments we do share.
Thank you for being a part of our lives even when we chose not to recognize you. Even when we still do.
I pray that as we move forward into our future, day by day, you would draw us not just closer to one another but to you. And as we draw near, help us to love one another more and more in a way that you have shown.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Aaron D'Anthony Brown is a freelance writer, hip-hop dance teacher, and visual artist, living in Virginia. He currently contributes to Salem Web Network’s Crosswalk platform and supports various clients through the freelancing website Upwork. He's an outside-the-box thinker with a penchant for challenging the status quo.
Get in touch with him at aarondanthony.com and check out his debut short story anthology Honey Dreams on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
This article is part of our Prayer resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Visit our most popular prayers if you are wondering how to pray or what to pray. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.
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