For worry, fear and sleepless nights

For the nights when your mind will not stop.

Anxiety does not respond to arguments. You cannot reason yourself calm at three in the morning, and being told not to worry has never helped anyone. What prayer offers is not an off switch but a place to put the weight down for a while, and someone to sit with while you do.

The Prayer

Lord, my mind will not be quiet.
It runs the same circle, and I cannot get out of it.

You told us not to be afraid,
and You said it to people who had every reason to be.
Say it to me now.

Take the things I cannot control —
name them, Lord, one by one, because I have carried them all night.
I hand them to You, not because I have stopped caring,
but because I cannot hold them and rest at the same time.

Give me this hour's peace.
Not the whole future, which I do not need yet;
just this hour, and the sleep that follows it. Amen.

Nada Te Turbe

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

— St. Teresa of Ávila

When Anxiety Is More Than Worry

There is no contradiction between praying and getting help. Anxiety disorders are real illnesses with real treatments, and seeking medical or psychological care is an ordinary act of stewardship over the body and mind God gave you. If anxiety is disrupting your sleep, your work or your relationships, speak to a doctor as well as to God. St. Dymphna is invoked as patroness of those with mental and emotional suffering, and many find her intercession a comfort alongside treatment.