Five short prayers for anxious days

When you wake up already braced

Before your feet touch the floor.

God, I am awake and already afraid, and I do not know exactly of what. Before this day tells me anything about itself, let me hear something true from you. I do not have the strength to argue my way out of this feeling. I am asking you to be the first voice today, and to stay past the point where my own voice gets loud. Amen.

Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

Salmo 143:8, BSB

Before the thing you are dreading

The appointment, the call, the meeting, the message you have to send.

Lord, I have been rehearsing this for days and none of the rehearsals helped. I am walking into it anyway. Go in with me. Hold the part of me that wants to run. If it goes badly, be there afterwards; if it goes well, keep me from thinking I only got that because I prayed correctly. Either way, I am not doing this alone. Amen.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

Isaiah 41:10, BSB

When you cannot say what is wrong

For the mornings when the dread has no subject.

God, I have nothing to report. There is no crisis I can point to and no words that fit what this is. Paul wrote that your Spirit prays underneath our weakness when we do not know what to ask for, and today that is all I have got. Take the noise in me and make something out of it that I cannot make. I will sit here for a minute either way. Amen.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

Romans 8:26, BSB

At three in the morning

For the hour when the house is quiet and your head is not.

Lord, it is the middle of the night and my mind is going over the same ground for the fortieth time. Nothing is being solved here. Let me put it down until morning, when there will be light and other people and something I can actually do. Keep watch over this house and over me. Let me sleep. Amen.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Salmo 4:8, BSB

For someone else who is struggling

When you are the one watching, and cannot fix it.

God, I love someone who is frightened and I cannot reach the place where it hurts. Keep me from making it about my own helplessness. Give me the patience to stay near without pushing, and the sense to say the useful thing instead of the impressive one. Send them a doctor, a friend, a night of real sleep. Carry the part of this that neither of us can. Amen.

Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2, BSB

Please read this part too

Prayer is not medical or psychological treatment, and this page is not medical, psychological or pastoral advice. Praying and getting professional help are not alternatives to weigh against each other; for many people they run side by side for years.

If anxiety is disrupting your sleep, your eating, your work or your relationships, or if it has not lifted in weeks, please tell a doctor or a therapist. If you are thinking about harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or crisis line now. You have not prayed badly. You are a person with a body and a nervous system, and asking for help with them is an ordinary, faithful thing to do.