“Prayer for Children”

Father, hear us, we are praying;

Hear the words our hearts are saying.

We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil,

From the secret, hidden peril,

From the whirlpool that would suck them,

From the treacherous quicksand pluck them.

From the worldling’s hollow gladness,

From the sting of faithless sadness,

Holy Father, save our children.

Through life’s troubled waters steer them;

Through life’s bitter battle cheer them.

Father, Father, be thou near them.

Read the language of our longing;

Read the wordless pleadings thronging,

Holy Father, for our children.

And wherever they may bide,

Lead them home at eventide.

[Amy Carmichael’s 19th century prayer for children in the Dohnavur Fellowship in India]