Dear Linda:

I am so sorry to hear about your daughter, and your dad and father-in-law. You are carrying a heavy load. God understands that and He loves you. Cast your cares upon Him for His burden is light.

God wants us to cry out to Him in our distress. We have many instances of that in the Bible, in the book of Psalms, for example. Cry out to your Father in heaven and tell him your thoughts and your desires. Pour out your heart to Him. There is nothing wrong with that at all.

The part that is harder to do is to accept God's answer to our pleas when that answer is not what we desired.

We must remember God's promises. Since God does not lie, we can trust Him to keep His promises. There are two promises that apply here:

The first promise is recorded in Romans 8:28:  "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose."

God is not promising that everything will be good or that we will never experience bad things. Rather, God is promising that He will take all things, the good and the bad, and bring something good from it. The old cliché applies: "God can make sweet lemonade out of lemons."

Trust in that. Through all this heartache, and even in your exhaustion, God can and will bring something positive out of it if you let him.

The second promise is recorded in 1 Corinthians 10:13:  "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

This is one of the most comforting passages in the Bible. We can know for sure, because God does not lie, that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist that temptation; that God will always provide us a way to escape.

Right now you are tempted by feelings caused by emotional exhaustion, and perhaps physical exhaustion. You can know that you can resist these temptations because God would not have allowed them into your life if you couldn't endure it.

With all that said, the direct answer to your question is that it is okay to pray for healing, for relief to suffering, and even for a break. God understands. You can be confident that God is the perfect Father. If He answers your prayer in way that you do not want, He has a reason, a reason that is in your best interest, and the best interest of your daughter and family.

Prepare yourself. That is, fall into our Father's arms, cry on His shoulder, tell Him how you feel. Then listen carefully to Him and accept His answer no matter what it is.

I recommend to people our pamphlet, Christian Resignation as a Prerequisite Freedom. This spiritual exercise will help you to attain the Christian Resignation that we need before God, to give everything we have and are to Him.

But there is something else I suggest you do. I would like you to pray the 23rd Psalm at least once per day. Pray it more often if you want. Pray it when you are feeling overwhelmed.

I am prescribing the 23rd Psalm to you like a medicine. We have found that when people pray the 23rd Psalm as a spiritual medicine, there is a healing effect to the heart and to the soul.

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 paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest 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 for ever.

We will certainly be praying for you, your daughter, you father, and father-in-law, and all the rest of your family.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary