Prayer for Anxiety and Worry
An Original Prayer
Lord, my mind is racing and I don’t know how to make it stop. You said do not be anxious about tomorrow, but tomorrow is loud in me right now.
I don’t ask You to take the worry away all at once. I ask You to sit with me in it. Steady what I cannot steady myself. Give me enough peace for this hour, and trust that You will give me enough for the next one when it comes.
I am not asking to see the whole road. Just the next step. Amen.
About this prayer
This isn’t a centuries-old prayer, it’s an original one, written for the many ordinary moments anxiety shows up uninvited. It draws on two familiar passages: St. Paul’s instruction to “have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Philippians 4:6), and Christ’s own words not to worry about tomorrow, since today has troubles enough of its own (Matthew 6:34).
Anxiety rarely responds to being told to simply stop. This prayer doesn’t ask for that. It asks for company in the middle of it, and just enough peace to take the next step.
When to pray it
In the actual moment your chest tightens, before a hard conversation, in the middle of a sleepless night, or anytime your mind is looping faster than you can slow it down.