Prayer of Protection Over Your Family

Lord, I hold before You the people whose names are written on my heart. I name them one by one, the ones near and the ones far, the ones who are easy to love and the ones who are not. You know each of them better than I do: their fears they have not told me, the battles they fight in silence, the goodness in them that I sometimes fail to see. Protect them in body: on the road, in their work, in their sleep. Protect them in mind: from despair, from lies about their worth, from the slow corrosion of shame. Protect them in spirit: keep them reachable by grace, however far they wander. Where there is distance between us, give me the first move. Where there is silence, give me the right word. Where I can help, make me generous; where I cannot, make me prayerful instead of anxious. I cannot be everywhere for them, but You can. I cannot guard them through the night, but You do not sleep. I place them, one by one, into hands stronger and gentler than mine. Watch over them, Lord, until we are all safely home. Amen.