I know I’m asking you to do scary and sacrificial work. But I promise the Spirit will meet you in those tender places. He is gracious, patient, faithful, and He longs for us to know as we are known.

We’re in the middle of a series on Rest, and I was asked to teach on Psalm 116, with an emphasis on prayer. God gave me a four-part framework that, from what I hear, is already helping people move through the tensions that come with prayer, hope, death, and disappointment.

It’s true that the good we are seeking doesn’t often come on our timetable, but Scripture tells us we can believe anything is possible because Jesus’s resurrection power brings certainty, a certainty that overcomes every fear, anxiety, and pain, including death.

It took me a while to realize I was missing Paul’s big point. I wanted the peace—don’t we all!— but I didn’t want to actually release my cares, worries, or anxieties to God. Letting go felt risky and foolish. I wanted to hedge my bets.

When you feel anxious or ill-equipped this week, pull out the paper and pray through these words, receiving them as your own. Take a few deep breaths as you ask the One who searches and knows all things to guide you forward.

Unforgiveness keeps us from knowing what to pray, and it causes our relationship with God to devolve into bitterness and disappointment. But as we exhale forgiveness, a spaciousness is formed in us, and we find the capacity to move through conflicts and concerns.

Take a quick inventory of your experience with people who “know everything,” the ones who make it their mission to prove how right they are and how wrong everyone else is. They are some of the most unloving and divisive people, right? Have you been that person before? (I know I have.)

We cannot give what we do not have, so I promise you, if you rest in His sufficiency, God will teach you His healing sound.

As we move into Easter, I want to challenge you to be real with God. Don’t just skip ahead to what happens on Sunday. If you feel abandoned by Him, pray into Jesus’s journey to the Cross. Of course, be humble before your God but for heaven’s sake be honest. He already knows your thoughts and can handle your words. Never forget that Jesus’s holiness creates space for your humanity.

Prayer is the pathway into and through the void. It’s also our source of power and promise, calming our minds and hearts, releasing us from anxiety’s grip. The void is dark and mysterious, for it represents every undiscovered part of us, but prayer is the light that reveals what’s always been true, truth that remains hidden until we are ready to receive it as a gift.