Prayers

Lord Jesus, before we ever hoped to become someone’s mother and father, You called us to become husband and wife. Before the pregnancy tests, appointments, diagnoses, treatments, paperwork, profiles, waiting lists, and unanswered telephone calls, there was us. There was a promise. There was a covenant. There was the day we stood before You and gave ourselves to one another for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death. We did not know then…

Lord Jesus, our family has welcomed a baby. A new little life has arrived, and everything about this child is a gift. Tiny fingers curl around ours. A newborn sleeps against someone’s chest. Grandparents hold their grandchild for the first time. Aunts and uncles gather around. Pictures fill our phones. Everyone marvels at the miracle of someone so small changing an entire family simply by being here. We are grateful, Lord. Truly grateful. And yet, hidden beneath the joy, there…

Lord Jesus, someone else is having a baby. And I really am happy for them. But I am hurting too. Sometimes those two truths live inside my heart at exactly the same time, and I do not know what to do with them. I see the announcement. I hear the words, “We’re pregnant.” I see the ultrasound picture, the tiny shoes, the clever announcement, the growing belly, or the joy spreading across someone’s face. And for a moment my heart…

Lord Jesus, I do not understand. Sometimes I see what happens to babies and children in this world, and something inside me cries out against You. A newborn abandoned. A baby found in a dumpster. A little child beaten, neglected, starved, exploited, abused, or killed. A child frightened of the very people whose arms should have been the safest place in the world. And then I look at our empty arms. I look at the years of infertility. I look…

Prayer Title: A Prayer for Children Suffering Abuse, Violence, War, Exploitation, and Trafficking Lord Jesus, today we bring before You the children whose suffering is hidden from most of the world. The child who is afraid to go home. The child who is afraid of someone already inside the home. The child who has learned to listen for footsteps. The child who flinches when someone raises a hand. The child who has been told to keep a terrible secret. The…

Lord Jesus, today we bring before You every child living in foster care, every child entering it tonight, every child waiting to know what comes next, and every child carrying belongings in a bag while adults make decisions about where home will be. You know every one of them by name. You know the baby too young to understand why familiar arms are gone. You know the toddler who cries for Mommy or Daddy. You know the child who has…

Lord Jesus, there is a child we have loved in our hearts who may never exist anywhere except within our longing and Your eternal knowledge. That is difficult even to say. We have imagined you. We have wondered whether you would have your mother’s eyes or your father’s smile. We have thought about names. We have imagined holding you for the first time, counting your fingers and toes, hearing your first cry, watching you sleep, carrying you to the baptismal…

Lord Jesus, somewhere within Your Providence is the child we hope one day to call our own. We do not know when we will meet. We do not know how old this child will be, what circumstances will bring our lives together, or whether this little one has even been conceived yet. We cannot see the path from where we stand today. But You can. And so, before we can tuck this child into bed, make breakfast, kiss a scraped…

Lord Jesus, today we pray for the mother and father whose lives may one day become forever connected to ours through the life of a child. Perhaps we already know their names. Perhaps we have met them. Perhaps somewhere right now there is a mother carrying a baby who may someday become part of our family, and we do not yet know that either of them exists. But You know them, Lord. Before we ever pray that they might choose…

Lord Jesus, when pregnancy brings questions about prenatal testing, uncertainty about a baby’s health, or news that something may be different from what we hoped or expected, come very close. Before any test is performed, before any image appears on an ultrasound screen, before any diagnosis is spoken, and before anyone begins describing probabilities, disabilities, treatments, or outcomes, help us remember the first and most important truth: This is a child. This little one is not a diagnosis. Not a…