A Prayer For Foster Parents

A Prayer for Foster Parents

O God who is present

In every joy and every sorrow,

We come to You as we pray for all

Whose lives have been touched by foster care.

Help us see the world

And the people in it

As You do, O Lord.

Give us compassion, grace, and understanding

When it’s easier to judge,

When we’re inclined to critique,

When we cannot imagine the hows and whys.

For the babies, for the children, for the teens

All too young to understand

The hurt and harm done

By people or by systems—

Or probably both—

We pray for those

Who have received the message

That they must grow up too soon,

Those who have had connection

And safety

And all they’ve ever known

Stolen from them.

Lord, bring wholeness

In the wake of trauma that has occurred,

In the midst of case files

And social workers and late-night calls.

We pray for eyes that have seen too much.

We pray for hearts that have been too hurt.

We pray for bodies that keep the score

Of trauma, absorbing waves of pain.

We lay every expectation at Your feet

Of what this chapter may look like.

Help us see ourselves not as saviors

But as a soft place to land.

We pray that our home would be

A place of welcome and of warmth.

We pray we would give just the right amount

Of structure and nurture

For each and every body and soul

That comes through our door.

Lord, help us live with open hands and soft hearts.

We’re afraid of the vulnerability that comes

When we throw wide the gates to love.

Help us stay soft

And forge bonds

And love with abandon.

Help us lay our protective armor at Your feet,

For we know we are not here for the whole book

But for the chapters we’re part of.

We want to be brave enough to write love

And keep writing it.

Give us strength to connect,

Even if our time together is fleeting.

We know Your presence is permanent

And Your grace is enough.

For the parents these children leave, we pray.

We know a few lines in a file,

But we can never know the full story,

For we have not lived it—

The traumas and tragedies,

The laughter and love.

It is all part of who these children are

And where they find themselves.

We pray for healing and wholeness.

What a privilege it is to love another.

Help us accept this invitation

And understand the depth of this role

As foster parents.

Go before these children,

These families,

Our family.

Go before our hearts

And the hearts of our family.

May we form connections and attachments.

May we heal when the sting of loss

Feels like too much to bear.

Give us empathy and compassion;

Give us patience and humility

As we enter into brokenness.

May we see our own brokenness

And need for You, O Lord.

May our home be a place for respite and rest.

May our time together be marked by

Healing in the hard places.

May the heaviness

Of what has brought us together not overshadow

Laughter and joy and memories that last.

Lord, help us trust You,

Even when Your ways leave us confused

And our hearts battered.

You are our Protector and Provider,

And we pray that You would go with the children

Who are with us for only a season.

Give us all peace

When the wind and waves shake us.

Help us still believe that You are walking on water

And that You will never leave any of us.

Help us be consistent.

Breathe life into us for each new day,

Because healing takes time.

Give us perspective to recognize our privilege

As we enter into the pain and beauty

Of sharing life together.

Help us welcome with warmth,

And when our time together ends,

May we go with grace.

Help these children be brave enough to receive love

And courageous enough to give it too.

Be near to them in their fear.

In the inconsistencies, be a constant.

In the hard goodbyes, be a comfort.

Thank You for stories that converge

And take our hearts to new places.

Help us honor both our own stories

And the stories of these children

And their families.

We pray for the children already in our family

And the new ways they will share

Their home and the people in it.

Help them be patient and kind

And know that Your love never fails.

Help us prepare their hearts

As we prepare room,

And give us words

As we stumble through hard conversations.

O God, You are the author of life.

You write brilliant stories,

And we know that we may never see how

All these plot twists and tangles

Will come together for good.

Help us be in the messy middle of humanity.

Redeem these systems.

Make families whole.

Protect the vulnerable.

Set captives free.

Thank You for Your steadfast love

That does not come and go as the winds change.

Psalm 86:15; Ephesians 2