A Prayer Before Surgery

And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
— Deuteronomy 31:8

The night before is the hardest. The body is ready — or as ready as it's going to get — but the mind won't stop running through it. The paperwork is signed, the bag is packed, the alarm is set for some ungodly hour, and all that's left is the fear. There's no shame in that. A body about to be opened up has earned the right to be afraid. But the verse says something worth hearing: he goes before us. Before the surgeon, before the anesthesia, before we even get to the parking lot. He's already in that room.

Lord, I am afraid of what tomorrow holds.
I am putting my body in the hands of people I may have only just met, and I need to know your hands are there too.
Go before me into that room. Steady the surgeon's hands. Guide every decision.
Be with the ones who love me and are waiting, and give them peace that I may not be able to give them myself.
Bring me through this. And whatever I wake up to on the other side, be there.
Amen.

There's a particular kind of letting go that happens right before surgery — the moment they say to start counting and the world begins to blur. We can't take anything in with us. Not our worry, not our plans, not even our prayers. It is, in the plainest possible sense, a handing of ourselves over. And I've come to think that's not so different from any honest prayer: here I am, I can't carry this, I'm giving it to you. The surgery just makes it literal.

Print this one out, or save it to your phone — for the night before or the morning of. And if a quiet word each day would help in the days that follow, Ruby writes a short devotional every morning: a verse, and something plain to steady the day. You can subscribe — it's free, or stay a while and read more of her writing.