Avoidance doesn’t always look like denial

Sometimes it’s staying busy. Sometimes it’s shutting down. Sometimes it’s convincing yourself that if you don’t say it out loud, maybe it’ll hurt less.

But God is not afraid of what you’ve been avoiding. He’s not surprised by it. He’s not disappointed in it. He is not distant from it. He’s just waiting to meet you there — in the part of your life you’ve been too afraid to face, in the part of your life you’re trying to outrun.

Find the prayer that speaks to whatever you’ve been carrying quietly, and let it be your first step towards healing. Let that prayer be your turning point.

If you’ve been avoiding a conversation you know needs to happen

“God, give me the courage to speak the truth in love — not to control the outcome, but to honor the peace I’ve been sacrificing in silence.”

You don’t have to keep swallowing your voice just to keep the peace. There is wisdom in timing, but there is also grace in honesty. God sees what you’ve been holding in, and he will help you release it with gentleness, with clarity, and with compassion — for them and for yourself.

If you’ve been avoiding grief that still lives quietly inside you

“God, meet me in the grief I’ve tried to bury — and remind me that feeling it won’t destroy me.”

You’ve been strong for so long that the idea of grieving feels like a weakening. But grief is not the enemy, it’s a pathway to deeper healing. God won’t rush you. He just wants to sit with you in it. He wants to hold you through it. He wants to remind you that what you lost mattered — and that you do, too.

If you’ve been avoiding a decision that feels heavy or unclear

“God, I don’t need all the answers — just enough light for the next step.”

When the weight of indecision hangs heavy in your mind, you don’t need to figure out the whole story at once. You just need to trust the author. God isn’t asking you to know everything. He’s asking you to trust that he will guide you in the small, steady ways that matter most. He’s asking you to have faith in what he has already written for you.

If you’ve been avoiding rest because slowing down feels like failure

“God, teach me to believe that I am also worthy when I am still.”

You’ve been tying your worth to how much you can carry, to how much you can accomplish. But rest is not laziness. Rest is worship. It’s trust. It’s an act of saying, “God, you are in control, even when I am not producing anything.” You are allowed to lean into softness. You were designed for it.

If you’ve been avoiding God because shame has made you feel unworthy

“God, remind me that nothing I have done makes me too far gone for you to love me.”

Shame tells you to run. Grace tells you to come home. You don’t have to fix yourself in order to be welcomed into God’s arms again. You don’t have to explain yourself, or say the right words. You just have to be honest. God is not keeping score — he’s keeping the door open. Still. Always.