If you feel like a lost sheep, here’s a prayer for you.There may be times in our lives when we feel lost or abandoned, not knowing where we should go in life or how we could ever get out of the mess we are in. It is a difficult feeling to endure and during those times we feel like God is most distant from us.
The good news is that God is already searching for you. As Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:12-14).
God is there with us in our hour of desperation and is ready to lead us back to the road that leads back to him. It is up to us to follow him, letting him take us by the hand out of the hole we find ourselves in.
Here is a beautiful prayer by Thomas Merton, one that expresses that feeling of being lost, but at the same time, places a filial trust in God to lead us along the right path.
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Looking for more prayers? Check out our page of “Prayers for a Particular Need.”
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