It happened. My daughter, a recent college graduate,  moved in to her apartment an hour away from home and started her first career job.

My, how time flies. My, how God provided. And, oh my, how many of my worries throughout her life were unnecessary — and still are.

Dana, now 21, hates when I worry. Not only because she’s now an adult and has to keep reminding me that she’s perfectly capable of doing things on her own. But also because she doesn’t want to have to worry about me worrying.

And I’m pretty sure God hates my worrying, too.

God’s Word tells us:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6, NLT).

And what happens when we follow God’s instruction to pray, instead of worry? Verse 7 tells us: “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand….”

I’ve recently come to see how many of my fears and worries, throughout my daughter’s  childhood and now into her adulthood,  were unfounded because I know and love a trustworthy God. Because God hears our prayers and answers them according to His infinite knowledge about what’s best for our children, we don’t’ need to waste our time worrying. Praying? Of course.  But worrying? Never.

Let me encourage your heart with the first two of five things you and I never need to worry about as a mom:

1. Your Child’s Friendships – I used to worry about Dana, an only child, being able to make friends once she started school. Yet the same God who helped me form lifelong friendships while I was in elementary school did the same for her. And while I have constantly prayed that my daughter would find and choose friends who would be a positive influence on her, spiritually, she had some friends I wouldn’t have chosen for her. But, Dana ended up having a positive impact on them and leading them to a better understanding of Who God is. He wanted His best — for her and her friend — rather than what I considered “best.”

2. Your Child’s Spouse  – I also worried about my daughter finding Mr. Right. I felt guilt for not praying for her spouse from the time she was born. (I heard a friend of mine say she had been doing that for her daughter and that made me feel like a total loser of a mom for having never thought about my daughter’s marital status until that conversation. I worried that I’d only started praying for Dana’s spouse, and sporadically at best, after Dana was already 9 years old.)

Then, I feared that Dana’s  chances of meeting a husband would decrease substantially once she graduated from college. Yet, in my own life, meeting  my husband had nothing to do with where I went to college and whom I met there. But it had everything to do with a God who engineered the circumstances and the relationships  in our lives through whom my husband and I met.  If God was sovereign over the details of when and how I met my husband, certainly He is sovereign over the details of my daughter finding her spouse, as well.

Do you worry about your child’s relationships? You don’t need to. God has their hearts in His hands and He cares about them even more than you do.

Next week: Part 2…..the other three things you never have to worry about as a mom. Can you guess what they are?