A Prayer for My Daughter
Today my little bean, my firstborn, turns five! Where did the time go? When she was a baby, she was baptized in our church, which practices infant baptism. One of the traditions I love in our church is that the parents are asked to write and pray a blessing over their baby. Here is the blessing I wrote: my on-going prayer for my little lady.
Sweet C, you are an incredible blessing and treasure to your daddy and me. You truly are my sunshine-it is difficult to remain sad and forget my blessings when I hear your sweet little giggles and see your precious smile with every new morning.
I am beginning to understand the Lord’s love in a deeper way since He gave you to us. Little One, He loves you so much-much more than your daddy and I could ever love you, which is hard to believe, but it’s true. His love is perfect and we pray that you will grow up knowing He loves you deeply-far more than you can imagine.
I always tell you what a good baby you are-and it’s true. We hit the jackpot with you. But, I pray you will know that you are loved NOT because you are good. Mommy and Daddy simply love you because you are ours and because God loves you. God loves you because He is love. The truth is, like all people, you are not really good. You will make mistakes. You will do bad things on purpose. I pray you will understand that what you do does not define who you are, but that Christ defines who you are if you trust Him. I pray that you will know that we and even more so, God, will always love you-and that no matter how far you go, you can always come home.
We pray that you will not hide in those moments-neither from Mommy nor Daddy, but more importantly, I pray that you will not hide from God. I pray that you will know that you are forgiven and accepted because of Christ and his work on the cross-if you put your faith in Him. He is good, and loving, and merciful and I pray that you will grow up experiencing life in Him.
We also pray that you will know that you are a beautiful soul. Do not let the standards of the culture define you and your beauty. God created you carefully and He thinks you are wonderful. His opinion is all that matters. As your little personality develops, We pray that you will know who you are and who you are in Christ and why your life matters.
Know, little one, that you are never alone. Your Daddy and I will always be there for you to the best of our ability, but God will always be there period. Life is difficult and circumstances will not always be happy and safe, but we pray that you will know the deep joy that goes beyond happiness-the joy that is found in knowing Christ and being deeply known, and yet loved, by Him.
We acknowledge that you are not ours. You belong to the Lord and we are blessed to be entrusted with you for a little while. We pray He will give us wisdom to raise you well and we pray that you will grow to live a life that glorifies Him and makes Him known on this earth.
I will end with this verse, which is my daily prayer for you:
Ephesians 3:14-21
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory"
Happy Birthday, sweet girl! It's a joy being your mommy.
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