What do you lack? What do you need God to make up for? Maybe you aren’t really sure. That too, God can provide for you.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

Romans 8:26 NRSV

When we are struggling, hurting and hoping for relief, the last thing we want to do is have to stop and think about what we need step by step. In hard times the only thing we want is for relief to come, and that without too much thinking. “Make it stop” and “get me out of here” are insufficient and ineloquent for the real, deep pain we feel.

But the Spirit steps in and translates the sighing of our souls into communication that goes beyond words and we can count on God to bring relief for those unspoken prayers.

Ethan Kirl