shape your worries into prayers....

Last night as I was tucking Anna into bed, her little brow was furrowed.  

I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that she was trying to let God carry her burdens and to take her worries, but it was hard. She told me that she had felt stressed that night about getting her math done for her homework because she had been at a friend's house all afternoon and for dinner too which did not leave much time for her to do homework by the time we got home before it was time for her to go to bed.    

We talked more about it and then I reminded her that God gives us some things to hold on to when we are worried and feeling overwhelmed.  I shared my favorite translation of Philippains 4:6-7 from the Message: 

6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Gratitude is not just a good idea or a suggestion to employ when we feel like it. God gives it to us as a tool and a weapon to fight off some of our worries.  We started talking about some of the things she was grateful for that day.  We also talked about the worries as I told her that I did not want her to brush those under the rug, but to name them in prayer, to ask for help, and put them in God's hands.  

I then drew a cross on her forehead like I do every night when I give her a blessing before bed. As I drew the cross,  it was sweet to see her brow become unfurrowed.  The sign of the cross indeed helps us remember that we belong to Him, that we are loved, that we are not alone.  It has the power to bring peace to our burdens and to smooth out the furrows of our hearts and minds.  

I am so thankful for the amazing grace it is get to walk alongside Anna through life and for us to learn together to shape our worries into prayers.