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It was the most honest prayer request I’ve ever heard voiced in church.

Marcelle and Oscar were an elderly couple in my church back in Chandler, Arizona. Their story was storybook. They met and married overseas during World War 2. Marcelle, a singer and performer in the USO, entertaining the troops with Bob Hope. Oscar, an Air Force man. To look through their scrapbook is to see a glimpse of the honor and service that defined “the greatest generation”.

When I met them they were married for about 50 years. Marcelle would laugh and hug your face. Oscar would lean up against a light pole in the church parking lot, hooked up to an oxygen tank, and smoke a cigarette. “Oscar, you’re going to blow yourself up.” He’d smile a “you’re probably right, but I’m not changing” smile and shake your hand. They were delightful people and dearly loved.

On this particular Sunday, Pastor Duane Cross asked the congregation to share any prayer requests. Marcelle labored to her feet. In her French accent, she said…

“Please pray that I will stop bitching at Oscar.”

From my position on stage behind the drums, I watched the expressions of the crowd. “Did someone just say “bitching” in church?”

Then everyone there who’d been married longer than 20 minutes nodded with a quiet, “Yes and Amen!”

Marcelle was just keeping it real. Happily married for five decades, they were still two imperfect human beings dealing daily with one another’s quirks and idiosyncrasies.

I loved Marcelle’s prayer request. It was honest. Some may argue there was a better way to say it. A kinder, gentler way. Maybe a “please pray that I will be more patient in my marriage”.

That communicates.

Kind of.

Sort of.

Maybe.

But…“Pray that I will stop bitching at my husband”?

That preaches.

Honest prayer. What does it look like? If we take our finger off the edit key and really pray our heart, does it have any resemblance to what we hear in church on a Sunday morning?

Is there such a thing as being too honest in prayer? Where’s the line between remembering we are talking to a perfect, holy God and pouring out our hearts?

Or could it be that because He is the perfect, holy God, there’s no line to worry about?

Jeremiah, the Lamenter, penned one of the most visceral lines in all of Scripture when he cried, “He (God) has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, “My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:16-18)

At that moment, Jeremiah is not singing “all of God is more than enough for all of me.” He’s saying, “I feel like God’s pushed my face in the dirt and I’ve come up with a mouth full of rocks. I’m miserable. I’ve got nothing left in the tank. I’m done hoping God will help me.”

Ever feel that way? Better question, ever feel that way and tell God you feel that way?

What’s your prayer request?

Whatever it is, remember Marcelle’s example.

Be honest and keep it real.