A Prayer for the Year Ahead for My Family

Father, as this new year begins, I bring You the people I love most.

Watch over my family through every month ahead — each one by name, each one by need. You know what this year will ask of them before they have any idea. Go ahead of them into it.

Guard their health and their steps. Bless their work and their schooling, their friendships and their dreams. When they succeed, give them gratitude. When they stumble, give them grace — and a family that helps them up.

Keep our home a safe place, Lord: safe for questions, safe for tears, safe for laughter loud enough to bother the neighbors. Where there is distance between any of us, draw us gently back together this year.

Deepen our love for each other, and deepen our love for You. Whatever else changes in the months ahead — and things will change — let this stay true: as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this in the first days of January — over coffee before anyone wakes, or aloud at the first family dinner of the year. Some families print it and keep it on the fridge until spring.

A Verse to Hold On To

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." — Joshua 24:15 (KJV)