Please don’t let me get attached to what’s not meant for me anymore. Don’t let me hold onto what I need to let go of. Don’t let me fight for what I need to release. Don’t let me desire what will eventually destroy and don’t let me love those who will break my heart.
As I have followed God I have found this to be true: God will ask you to let go things you will not want to let go. There is something so humbling and hard about putting your life in the hands of someone you can not see and do not know if you can trust. My life of following Christ and becoming a Christian has been as much one of letting go as one of blessing and learning.
These are some of the prayers I have learned to say:
Dear God, help me to let go of the picture I had in my head
We all have a picture in our head of what we think our life should look like. The family, the job, the house with the white walls and big closets. We all have these pictures of our futures. God asks us to lay these down. He says to us, forget about the big picture in your head, I will give you my picture for you. Many times we don’t want God’s picture, but once we surrender, let go and go with it, we discover that His picture is always better than our own.
Dear God help me to let go of the person who I want to make stay
One of the hardest things in life is letting go of the person you want to make stay. Maybe it’s your sibling moving out of the house. Maybe it’s the boy you liked but knew wasn’t right for you. Maybe it’s your family. Or a close friend. Letting go of people is a huge part of life, but a difficult part of life. You’ll find, during your journey, you’ll have to learn to let people go with grace and dignity.
Dear God help me to let go of the temporary for the eternal
It’s human nature to want to build things here on earth. To create towers made of sand. What really matters isn’t what you build on earth, but what matters is what you build in Heaven. In Heaven what counts are kindness, love, mercy and forgiveness. God has to help us to let go of our natural desire to build things here and instead focus on building the things of God, which are rich and worthwhile.
Dear God help to let go the pain, bitterness and disappointment
Nobody has a perfect life. Not you, me or anyone else. Even if it looks like they do. All of us have ample opportunities to pick up bitterness and disappointment. What makes someone strong and wise is their ability to let go of these things and stop them from clogging up their heart. If you think you have these things in your heart then pray to God and ask Him to help you to let them go.
Dear God help me to let go my timing, for yours
God’s timing isn’t our timing. Many times we have deadlines and expectations of God which cause us to become frustrated and annoyed. God does things in His own time and in His own way. He is complex and outside of time. You can’t force God to do things before He wants to, no matter how hard you try.
Instead, relax. Take the time you are trying to use to make things happen and use it on something else. Trust God to help you with the things you need and to bring them about when He decides it is right.