The Serenity Prayer Revisited

Welcome to another beautiful Sunday morning in the Blogosphere! In lieu of my usual Sunday Bible Study post, I want to revisit the Serenity Prayer today. We will pick up our ongoing study of the Gospel of Matthew next Sunday.

Prayer is very important to me. One of the first prayers I learned about thirty years ago is known as The Serenity Prayer. It’s one I’ve written about before in some previous posts. In ministering to a few friends of mine a few weeks ago, the Holy Spirit brought this prayer back to my mind.

The prayer most people know is short and simple:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.”

But there’s also a longer version that has carried me through some of my deepest struggles such as living with PTSD, walking through complicated grief, and learning what true recovery really looks like.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian (1892–1971)

In my own life, I’ve had to learn that serenity doesn’t mean everything is easy or perfect. Living with PTSD has taught me the value of slowing down and taking life one day at a time. Grief and loss have humbled me with the reality that there are things I cannot change—wounds I can’t heal on my own, people I cannot bring back.

But surrendering those things into God’s hands has given me courage to keep walking and wisdom to know when to rest.

This prayer is more than a set of words for me—it’s a lifeline. It has been a way to breathe again when grief suffocates, a way to stand when trauma knocks me down, and a way to trust when life feels uncertain.

Scripture reminds me of the same truth:

Psalm 34:18 NIV

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

This is part of my continuing story of grace: that in the midst of pain, loss, and brokenness, God’s presence is real. His peace is possible. His love still heals.

Until my next post…

Be salty, stay lit.

Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™

You can now find my articles in The Christian Grandfather Magazine.

---

Please hit me up if you have questions or drop a comment below. And please subscribe to my blog!

---

#bgbg2#BibleGateway

The Stigma Stops Here.🛑

#mentalhealthmatters

© 2025 Rainer Bantau | The Devotional Guy™ | All Rights Reserved