A Prayer for My Daughter

Father, thank You for my daughter. You could have given her to anyone, and You gave her to us. I still catch myself watching her the way I did when she was small — amazed, and praying without words. Today I'll use the words.

Protect her, Lord. Guard her body everywhere she goes and her heart in every room she enters. This world is not always kind to girls; be her shield where I can't be, and teach her to be wise without becoming hard.

Grow her brave and kind at the same time — brave enough to speak the truth, kind enough to say it with grace. Let her know, bone-deep, that her worth was decided by You before anyone else got a vote — not by mirrors, not by numbers on a screen, not by anyone who fails to see what she is.

Give her friendships that are safe and true, work that means something to her, and in Your time, if it's Your will, a love that honors her completely. Anyone who gets her heart, Lord — let them prove worthy of it.

Where I've made mistakes with her, mend them. Let her remember being delighted in, because she was. She is.

Above all, keep her close to You. When I can't reach her, You can. When my prayers run out of words, You still hear everything I mean.

She was Yours first. She's Yours always. Thank You for every day I get to be hers. Watch over my girl.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this on her birthday, before her big days, or any night after you've hung up the phone and miss her. Fathers and mothers alike have prayed it word for word — it belongs to both.

A Verse to Hold On To

"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty... he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love." — Zephaniah 3:17 (KJV)