When I don't know how to pray:

There have been times when I haven't known how to pray,

what to say,

or even had the strength to string sensible words together.

There are times when life is too much,

the crisis too huge

and no words form.

The cry is there -

"Jesus!"

"Father!"

But that's all that I can come up with.

That's when I know that He knows.

Words aren't even really needed.

Like a child before she is able to write words

can draw pictures,

my mind grabs a red crayon

and a piece of paper

and figuratively scrawls a heart.

Inside my head,

inside my heart,

I lift my sloppily drawn heart up to God.

It says "I hurt,"

and "I don't understand,"

but

"I trust You."

He takes it,

He gets it,

He knows and

thru the role of the

Holy Spirit

He understands
what my heart
is
trying to say.

Romans 8:26-27 (The Message)

 ^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. 

Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.