About These Prayers
A Prayer for Clear Skin
Lord Jesus,
a man came to you once with a disease of the skin
and said, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”
You did not step back from him. You reached out and touched him.
I am asking you the same thing.
You know what I see in the mirror and how much it gets to me.
Heal my skin, if you will.
Bless the treatment I am using and the people helping me.
And whatever happens to my face,
do not let me forget that you have never once stepped back from me.
Amen.
A Prayer for Patience While It Heals
Skin takes weeks to respond to anything, and waiting is the hardest part. This one has been on this page from the start:
Dear God,
I know clear skin does not happen overnight,
but it is so hard to be patient.
I want to go back to doing the things I used to love
without thinking about how I look.
I want restful nights.
So I come to you and ask you to fill me with patience.
Your word says you are good to those who wait for you.
Help me to wait,
and give me a thick skin when people stare or say things about my looks.
Give me the courage to accept your will with a calm soul,
and the peace not to worry about it all the time.
In your own time, I know you will make me smile again.
Amen.
A Prayer for When People Stare
Lord, you look at the heart.
Other people look at my face, and today it felt like everyone was.
Help me not to hide.
Help me to look people in the eye, speak up, show up, and be myself,
as if the thing I am most worried about were not there —
because to you, it is not what you see first.
Keep me from being cruel to myself in the mirror.
And if I ever see someone else being stared at,
let me be the one who is kind to them.
Amen.
A Prayer Before Seeing the Doctor
Lord, bless the doctor I am seeing today.
Give them wisdom, and give me the honesty to tell them everything.
Let the treatment be the right one,
and give me the discipline to stick with it when it is slow.
I trust you to work through medicine and through the people who practise it,
as you have always done.
Amen.
Prayer and Treatment
Praying about your skin and seeing a dermatologist are not rival plans. If your skin is painful, scarring, or getting you down, talk to a parent, your doctor or a dermatologist — there is often more that can be done than you think, and you should not have to just put up with it.
The Bible says this plainly. “Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him,” says the book of Sirach, and then: “My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee … and then give place to the physician. For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary” (Sirach 38:1, 9–12). Pray, and go to the doctor. That has been the advice for more than two thousand years.
Best Times for These Prayers
- In the morning, before you look in the mirror.
- Before school, work, a date, or anywhere you are dreading being seen.
- When starting a new treatment, and when it seems not to be working.
- Before a doctor’s or dermatologist’s appointment.
- At night, when it is on your mind and you cannot sleep.
- For a friend, son or daughter who is struggling with their skin.
Scripture Connection
“And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.” — Mark 1:40–41
In the world of the Gospels, a skin disease did not just hurt — it set you apart. People kept their distance. The first thing Jesus does, before he says a word, is touch the man everyone else was avoiding. Whatever your skin is doing, that is how he sees you. And when the stares get to you, hold on to what God told Samuel: “the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Related prayers
For other worries about how you look and feel, see the Prayer for Hair Growth. If it has gone deeper than your skin and you are struggling to feel anything is worth it, the Prayer for Depression is for you, and it includes where to find help today.
