There is a spiritual dimension to illness and well-being. May these writings and our visits assist you in the care of your spirit and body. At the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, we are interested in caring for your spirit as well as your body.
Daily Prayers
This is another day, O God. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, God, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it peacefully. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words. Amen
From the heart and spirit within:
Give thanks in the four directions.
Give thanks for the beauties and glories of the day.
Give thanks for the peace and harmony that is God.
Before an Operation
O God, I commit myself into your loving hands. Bless and guide the hands and minds of my surgeons, that through their efforts your healing power may enter to restore me to health and strength. Bless the nurses and all others who care for me as I return to consciousness. Calm my relatives as they wait for my recovery. Grant me the strength sufficient for whatever I may face. Amen
Prayers of Faith
O God, you are always mindful of your children. Help me to more clearly understand that you are my Creator. Take from me any spirits of uneasiness and anxiety. Help me to realize that greater than all forces that would put me down are your forces that would lift me up. Amen
O God, you are the giver of peace; grant that I may have that peace which the world cannot give. Perform within my heart those silent miracles which only you can perform. Amen
Words of Hope
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed;…So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. -2 Corinthians 4:8-9,16
Everywhere we know the wonder of restoration, when the soil lies fallow and then blooms richly again, when food and sleep revive our weary beings, when children renew the race with freshness in life. The passion of nature moves within each of us. Death alters only the shape, not the passion, not the singing of the universe. – Kenneth Patton
Prayer for Serenity
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
When we lose the rhythm of the drum beat of God we are lost from the peace and the rhythm of life. – Cheyenne proverb
For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. – Ephesians 2:8
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
Our Spiritual nature may include, but is more than religion. It is the foundation of one’s existence. It is the reason and power for living.
