When I Am Worried About My Family

Devotional

Some worries are small, like whether it'll rain on your birthday.

Some worries are heavy. Those are the ones that sit on you at night after the house gets quiet.

And the heaviest ones are usually about your family.

Maybe your parents have been arguing more. Maybe you heard part of a conversation about money that you weren't supposed to hear. Maybe somebody's sick, or you're moving, or something changed and nobody really explained it to you.

So you lie there trying to figure out what happens next. And you can't. And that's one of the worst feelings there is.

Here's something I really want you to hear.

You were never supposed to carry that.

You're a kid. Fixing your family is not your job. Figuring out the future is not your job. That doesn't mean your worry is silly. It makes total sense that you're worried. It just means God isn't asking you to hold it up.

He's asking you to hand it over.

Listen to this: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea."

That's a huge picture on purpose. Mountains falling into the ocean. The ground itself moving.

And right in the middle of that, God is a refuge. A refuge is a safe place you run to when it's dangerous outside.

Notice what God doesn't promise. He doesn't say the mountains will never shake. He says when they do, he's right there.

Then there's this: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."

That second part is for nights when your brain won't stop. You don't have to understand it all. You can't. You just have to trust somebody who does.

And Jesus talked about worry directly. He said your "heavenly Father knows that you need them all."

He doesn't say your worries are dumb. He says your Father already knows about them. Before you asked. Before you even lay down tonight.

So what do you do?

You pray. And you don't have to be fancy about it.

You can literally say: "God, I'm scared about my family. I don't know what's going to happen. Please help us."

And the Bible promises this: "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds."

Guard is a soldier word. Something standing watch over you.

Now, that doesn't mean everything gets fixed by morning. Families go through hard stretches, and some of them last a while.

But God has never once walked away from his people.

And he's not going to start with yours.

If the worry comes back tonight, talk to him.

He's awake. He's listening.

And he's strong enough to hold what you can't.