Father, I thank you that you are full of compassion and love,
So that even in my weakness
You want me to come to you.
I thank you because you are omnipotent.
You hold all things in your hands,
You are the only One who is capable or wise enough to do this.
I pray that when OCD tries to tell me that I am responsible
For preventing any harm to my loved ones by completing rituals,
That I can push back against it
Knowing that I do not have the ultimate power to prevent harm.
Rather help me to trust you and find rest in knowing
That everything that happens is ordained by you,
Rather than trying to control things myself,
And bearing that awful weight of responsibility
I was never meant to carry.
I thank you because you are omniscient.
You alone know all things.
When OCD tries to convince me i need absolute certainty,
That i will know for sure just by doing my ritual ‘one more time’,
I pray that you will help me to live with uncertainty,
Know that life is uncertain and only You need to know all things.
I thank you because you are wise, yet loving.
Lord, how often OCD tries to rob me of current joy
Because it wants me to focus on future fears.
I pray that you will help me to live beyond my fears
And constant catastrophizing,
Because I know that you are Sovereign.
Whatever will happen to me is part of your plan,
I know that you intend to use it for my good and your glory.
Pray that you will help me to live in the present,
And serve you well in it, not fretting over tomorrow’s possible worries.
I thank you because you call all those who are weary to find rest in you.
When so few around me understand the sheer exhaustion of living with OCD,
I thank you that Jesus is my perfect mediator
Who sympathises with my weakness.
I thank you that you know my fatigue.
I pray that i will always come to you for rest,
rather than trying to find rest in endless cycles of rituals
Which only serves to exhaust me further.
In you alone is true rest.
I thank you because in Christ,
You have taken away my shame.
The shame that i feel with struggling with OCD,
Believing the lie that I suffer because I’m not resilient.
You took shame away on the cross,
And I pray you will help me to focus on truth,
When my OCD tries to make me feel pathetic.
The truth that I am your child,
Fearfully and wonderfully made.
I thank you for the gift of the people who you provide
In my life to support me through the weariness of OCD.
They make life a little easier, a little more colorful
And I thank you for that.
Pray that i would not try to find salvation
In their reassurances,
Only trust in you, and your promises.
And Father i pray that you will give me grace
To deal with well meaning christians who belittle my OCD,
Or offer overly simplistic trite comments which leave me feeling hurt.
I pray that you will remind me of how you
Lavished grace on me whilst i hated you,
So that i can overlook the hurt
And be gracious to them.
I pray that today you will give me strength
to expose myself to my triggers and to stop avoiding situations.
I need your strength to take the steps to manage and recover from OCD.
Pray that I will draw near to you each hour of this day
And I thank you that you give more grace.
Father, thank you that you are stronger than OCD,
That you sent your Son to die so that all evilness,
All suffering and mental health disorders will come to an end.
I thank you that OCD has an expiration date.
I thank you that one day you will take me to a place
Where there will be no fears, no rituals, no obsessions,
No hierarchy of feared situations,
No Exposure Response Prevention, no CBT,
Only joy in your presence.
