A Prayer for Anxiety as a Parent

God, I love these children so much it frightens me. I lie awake imagining everything that could harm them, replaying every choice I have made, certain I am somehow failing them. The weight of keeping them safe and whole feels far too big for my two hands.

I confess I have tried to be their savior instead of their parent. I have carried guilt for things I cannot control and fear over a future that is not mine to script.

So I bring these little ones, and my own trembling heart, to You. You loved them before I ever did. You knew them before they were born and You will be with them in every room I cannot enter.

Help me parent from trust instead of terror. Let me give them roots and then loosen my grip enough to let them grow. Cover the gaps in my parenting with Your grace, and protect them where I cannot reach.

You promised that You would contend for my children and that they are held in hands far stronger than mine. Let that quiet the fear that I am all that stands between them and the world.

I place my children into Your keeping tonight. You are the better parent. Guard them while they sleep, guide them when they wander, and let me rest in the truth that they were always Yours first. Amen.