Sometimes our emotions hold us captive or take us hostage, leaving us without words to pray. Linda Evans Shepherd has certainly had her share of life’s difficulties. Through her journey, she discovered the peace of God can transform pain. The prayer of trust is the secret to emotional peace and relief for shattered emotions.

I recently chatted with Linda Evans Shepherd on an episode of Your Hope Filled Perspective about what we do with our emotions and how do we pray through them. If you missed it, be sure to check it out here (How to Use Scripture to Pray through Difficult Emotions – Episode 122.)

Read to the end for a book giveaway!

 

Prayer of Trust: The Secret to Emotional Peace
Linda Evans Shepherd

From the window of my daughter’s hospital room, I could see the figure of a young boy huddled on the roof of his white clapboard house. His body language told me he was trying to hide from the trauma beneath the shingles. How I longed to join him and hide from my own trauma.

I turned to look at my peaceful twenty-one-month-old daughter. She was in a sleep so deep that no one could wake her, even though three months had transpired since the car crash altered the course of our lives.

This tragedy was my first dive into desperate emotions, the beginning of what I think of as my P.H.D. (pervasive and harmful distress.) And one thing I learned is that difficult emotions can often result from trauma, self-pity, tragedy, anger, grief, lack of sleep, hunger, hormones, mood disorders, and bad moods.

The Secret to Emotional Peace

But through my journey, I’ve learned the peace of God can transform my pain.

My discovery came after a team of healthcare professionals surrounded me with their prognosis of my daughter’s future. “There’s no hope,” they declared. “Your daughter will be a vegetable until she’s eighty.”

That night, as I sat in the shadows of my daughter’s hospital room, my eyes fell on my bottle of pain reliever. If I swallowed the pills and unplugged my daughter’s ventilator, we could escape our living hell. Why not? God hadn’t intervened in these three long months and the weight of my hopelessness was too much to carry.

But it was Job who stopped me from ending our lives. Yes, Job, the biblical great who lost it all: his possessions, livelihood, and even his children. To make matters worse, his best friends denounced him as a sinner while his wife told him to ‘curse God and die.’

But despite his despair, Job prayed, “Lord, even if you slay me, yet I will trust in You.”

In my own dark night, Job’s prayer inspired me to call to God.

I prayed, “Lord, I’m going to trust You and give You this terrible mess to see what You can do with it.”

It was the prayer of trust that first brought me relief in my shattered emotions. From there, I began to experiment with turning over my problems to God, and the results were marvelous. In fact, the more I trusted God, the more peace I felt and the more miracles I experienced. In fact, my daughter woke up from coma despite the doctor’s prognosis of hopelessness. It happened the moment we put her newborn brother into her arms.

I’ll be honest, emotions like loss, anxiety, grief, stress, disappointments, anger, depression, are still a part of my life. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have victory over these emotions.

When my daughter breathed her last breath only a few years ago, I grieved for her. Yes, I miss my sweet girl who had grown into a lovely young woman with multiple disabilities; disabilities that made no difference in my love for her.

I’ve learned to trust God, even in Laura’s death.

My latest book, Praying Through Every Emotion, Experiencing God’s Peace No Matter What, is based on paraphrased Scripture prayers that helped bring me back to life; despite my darkest circumstances.

Here’s a sample prayer that reflects my own journey called Suicidal.

Suicidal

Dear Lord,
In this dark and painful night, You are with me.
The enemy whispers lies of death, but You whisper
words of life. You ask me to choose life so that my descendants
and I will live.

You created my life and call me to live because You have a
purpose for me that I have yet to fulfill. If I trust that my times
are in Your hands, I will live to find that purpose because You
are the God who loves me.

Even in my despair, You tell me that Your grace is enough.
You promise to give me Your power in my weakness, so please
give me Your power now.

I give my heart to You and know that even my body belongs to
You. May Your Spirit fill my heart and empower me to choose life.
The enemy tempts me to shut the door to my future. But I
reject his lies, knowing You hold my future, a future filled with
hope. I will trust You and give You the broken pieces of my life
if only to watch what You can do with them.

So I will wait for You, Lord, as You move on my behalf. Be with
me while I wait, for You are my help and my shield. You will help
me to find joy as I learn how to trust You in every circumstance.
May Your mercy rest on me as I wait in hope for You.
In the name of Jesus, amen.

How do you pray when you’re struggling with your emotions? We’d love to hear in the comments below.

 

About Linda Evans Shepherd

Linda Evans Shepherd is a speaker and bestselling author of over 36 books including Praying Through Your Every Emotion, Praying God’s Promises, and When You Need to Move a Mountain. She founded Right to the Heart Ministries, Arise Esther, the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Leading Hearts Magazine, and the Arise Daily devotional.

Connect with Linda Evans Shepherd: Got To Pray / Arise Esther / Leading Hearts / Arise Daily / AWSA / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest

 

 

Book Giveaway

In conjunction with this post and the podcast interview, How to Use Scripture to Pray through Difficult Emotions – Episode 122, Linda Evans Shepherd is giving away a free copy of her book, Praying Through Every Emotion, Experiencing God’s Peace No Matter What.

Leave a comment below sharing with us one thing you’ve learned about prayer that relieves shattered emotions and you will be entered into the contest for your chance to win a copy of her book.

You could also share this blog post on Facebook or Twitter then comment here to tell us where you shared it and you’ll also be entered into the drawing.

The winner will be selected at random and announced next Monday, August 23, 2021. Continental United States only.