Three Powerful Verses to Pray Over Your Anxious Child

By Christie Thomas, wife and mother of 3 boys.

He screamed and clutched me as if monsters were trying to drag him away.
Maybe that’s how he felt.
The first day of kindergarten can be rather rough on a child, but I wasn’t expecting the teachers to have to PEEL my son off me.

This parenting gig is hard on the soul.

I find it extra hard to help my eldest. He’s a sensitive and creative fellow with an anxious streak a mile long.

The anxiety was real, and it bled into his entire kindergarten year.

Dropping him off at school was a nightmare, and he cried every.single.morning. His teacher reported that he refused to participate in gym class and he didn’t seem to be making many friends.

What do you do in the midst of someone else’s overwhelming worry? How can you keep worry from attacking your child’s mind?

Praying the same Scripture verse every night invites Christ into our messy lives, where we can transform our hearts and minds. 

⁶ Don’t worry about anything. No matter what happens, tell God about everything. Ask and pray, and give thanks to him. ⁷ Then God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds. He will do this because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood. Philippians 4:6-7. (NIRV)

Here are two other verses that we have used to pray over our children:

¹⁷ Then Christ will live in your hearts because you believe in him. And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. ¹⁸ May you have power together with all the Lord’s holy people to understand Christ’s love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. ¹⁹ And may you know his love, even though it can’t be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you. Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIRV)

¹⁶ May the Lord who gives peace give you peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with all of you. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NIRV)

I started praying this verse over him nightly.

In June, it occurred to me that he wasn’t freaking out about attending school anymore. No more tears, no more gym class freak-outs. And as I thought and prayed about it, I realized that he had started changing in April…when I started praying this blessing over him. 

I still pray this verse over him. Though he continues to struggle in some areas, I can see the difference praying this verse over him every night has done for him.

What does praying over him look like.

Some nights we have to go through the verse together, line by line, in order to calm him. 

First, we pray. I pray for him, and then he prays.

Second, we tell God what he needs. He needs peace.

Third, we thank God for all He has done. 

We thank God for family. We name all his friends. We remember the special toys, puzzles, and games in his life. We are thankful for his teacher, his brothers, and the food he eats.

Sometimes he is still upset, so we do it all again.

First, we pray. 

Second, we tell God what is needed. 

Third, we thank God for all he has done. 

After one such marathon prayer session a few years ago, 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 yawned and said, “But there’s so many!”  As he burrowed himself into his blanket, I prayed God’s peace for him.

It can be hard to help a child with anxiety. Sometimes a child needs clinical help, but we can’t ever underestimate the power of Jesus to help our child’s heart.