A Prayer for Protection from Harm

Father, something in me has gone on alert. My shoulders are tight, my jaw is set, and I keep glancing over my shoulder at a threat I can sense more than see. I come to You because I do not feel safe right now.

I confess I have been carrying this dread alone, scanning every shadow, sleeping with one eye open, exhausting myself trying to anticipate every blow before it lands. I am so tired of bracing.

So I ask You plainly to keep me from harm. Put distance between me and what would hurt me. Still the hand that means me ill, and where I cannot see the danger, see it for me and turn it aside before it ever reaches me.

You said You are a shield around me, the One who lifts my head when I cannot lift it myself, and I let that promise stand guard over my fear tonight instead of the dread I have been feeding.

Loosen the tension in my shoulders and my chest. Let me lie down tonight without flinching at every sound, certain that the One who never sleeps is keeping watch over the door, the dark, and me. Amen.