A Prayer for a Marriage in Crisis

Father, everything is on fire at once and I can barely breathe. The thing I thought was solid ground has split open under me, and I am standing here shaking, not knowing if my marriage survives this week, let alone this year.

I confess I am scared in a way that is making me cruel, lashing out because the panic has nowhere else to go. I do not want to wound my way through this crisis. Steady me before I make the worst of it worse.

So I run to You, my refuge, the only shelter that does not shake when everything else does. I do not need You to explain it all right now. I just need You to be near, to be a wall at my back while the storm screams.

Give us both the grace to slow down, to not torch in one night what took years to build. Send wise people into this. Keep us from decisions made entirely out of fear.

You are a refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble, so we will not fear though the earth gives way. The earth is giving way, Lord. Be present.

I cannot see past this hour, so I will trust You with it. Hold us in the crisis we did not choose. Whatever comes, do not let go of either of us. Amen.