WORDS THAT BREATHE

A prayer for a child facing open heart surgery, asking God to guide the surgeons and to hold the parents and grandparents who wait with aching hearts.

A prayer before back surgery for anyone facing the operating room with hope and fear, asking God to guide the healers and steady those who wait.

A prayer for the days before a double mastectomy: for courage, tenderness toward a changing body, and the love of those who hold us through surgery.

Mi Shebeirach for someone living with dementia: a prayer for comfort and dignity for the one who forgets, and strength for the one who remembers.

A prayer for anyone awaiting further medical tests — for calm, strength, and a sense of God's steady presence through this unsettling, uncertain wait.

A prayer written for a friend fighting cancer, offered here for anyone walking that same fight. Holy One of Healing, I’ve got this. Because I know You’ve got me. Draw near now, steady my spirit, strengthen me for what lies ahead. Cancer may have entered my body, but it does not get to claim my spirit. I am more than this diagnosis, more than my fear. I am fierce. I am fighting. I am here. When I feel strong, let me seize that strength. When fear finds me, hold me. Fill me wit

A prayer for when you are caring for someone with dementia: patience in loss, love that outlasts memory, and grace to cherish what remains.

Lessons learned while taking their last breaths. Reflections on bikkur cholim (visiting the sick) with David and Jerry. A Yom Kippur sermon.