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What can you when your child’s worries seem insurmountable?
About once a month, my 6-year-old becomes gripped with the kind of worry that traps his brain in a vice and throws him into a panic. It’s usually about the future.
The other night he came downstairs, terrified that someday he was going to go on a vacation and not be able to come home.
Another time he spent an hour weeping over the possibility that he and his best friend would no longer be friends.
What do you do in the midst of someone else’s overwhelming worry?
How can you keep it from attacking your child’s mind?
I am not a worrier, so it’s often hard for me to identify with him. I just want to say “well that’s silly. That probably won’t happen!” Let’s just say I learned the hard way that it doesn’t help…
During times like this, I feel so ill-equipped to be a parent. But I was reminded the other day that with God, I am enough. He chose me to be the mother of my sons.
So I prayed and asked him for ideas! And WHAMMO, I was suddenly reminded of the verse we’ve been praying over my son daily for the past 9 months.
It occurred to me that God was giving me insight into a solution for my son. Shocking! I prayed, he answered. Isn’t God cool like that?
I used this one verse:
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
I lifted him onto my lap (not an easy feat with a lanky almost-7-year-old!) and reminded him of the verse. Then we did what the verse told us to do.
First, we prayed. I prayed for him, then he prayed.
Second, we told God what he needed. He needed peace.
Third, we thanked God for all he had done.
We thanked God for the family. We named all his friends. We remembered the special toys, puzzles, and games in his life. We were thankful for his teacher, his brothers, and the food he ate.
He was still upset, so we did it all again.
First, we prayed.
Second, we told God what was needed.
Third, we thanked God for all he had done.
By this point, Cubbie had calmed down and realized how exhausted he was. Isn’t that usually the case when we let our worries burrow into our minds like that?
When we’re tired, our mental defenses go down and the worries go on the attack!
I tucked him into bed and commissioned him to keep thinking of all the things God had done for him until he fell asleep.
He said, “but there’s so many!”
Yes, my child, God has done great things for you. There are so many.
As he burrowed himself into his blanket, I prayed God’s peace for him.
I watched his face as he exchanged his worries for wisdom, his panic for peace, and his exhaustion for sleep.
You can help your anxious child too
This verse isn’t a magic spell or an incantation to chant over an anxious child. Rather, what it does is redirect our child’s mind onto what is good, helping them to relax.
If you’d like to print this poster for your child’s room, you can find it in this package of verses to pray over your anxious child.
An, if you’re ready to really dig deep on helping your child fight their anxiety, take the free 10-day anxiety prayer challenge. Check it out here or enter your email below to get started!
This is so true – even for adults.
Oh yes, absolutely!!