Where we do we start praying for our girls?

The first time I held my oldest daughter, I felt completely overwhelmed with wonder. I was finally holding, in the flesh, my long awaited answer to prayer! For years, I had been praying for her. For months, I had been praying about her. Now that she was here —I prayed for myself!!

That first night in the hospital holding my daughter, my husband and I prayed, praising God for bringing us through the day safely. We were so thankful for this gift! She was perfect. Why would I need to pray for such a perfect, little creature? Me, on the other hand? I became instantly aware that I could quite easily fall short of tending this precious gift.

Fast forward a couple of years … We are at the hospital again expecting not 1 bundle of joy, but three. Yes, you heard me — THREE!!!

These babies were also covered in prayer. These babies heard me praying for them long before I laid my eyes on them. We were blessed with healthy, almost full-term babies — “exceedingly, abundantly, more than I could think or imagine.”  But let me tell you, when we got all 3 of them home, my prayers changed pretty quickly from praying for them to praying for me!

The Only Way to Survive

The ONLY way I was going to survive parenting a 2-year old and triplet newborns was God’s strength filling me through prayer.

Gone were the days (at least for a few years) of quiet solitude in lengthy Bible study and lengthy prayer. Instead, my prayers became desperate cries of the heart to get through a single moment in time. As I lay down at night not knowing what the dark hours would hold, my prayer would be “God, give me what I need for this night.”  He was always faithful. The nights I breathed that bedtime prayer, I was able to get up and do what needed to be done with strength and with a good attitude. But, the nights I didn’t mention that prayer I would often be grumpy and resentful for not getting the sleep I desperately needed.

Again, my prayers were more often were me so that I could take care of them. Here’s what I would often pray:

Lord, give me wisdom.

Lord, give me discernment.

Lord, give me what I need for this moment.

Lord, give me strength.

We are past those baby years of diapers, formula, and sleepless nights. I miss my children being little, holding them and smelling the tops of their heads, but, I don’t miss those long, hard days. Still, I find myself praying I would be the mother they need me to be so I can be the best I can for them.

Where do we start with praying for our girls?

As we begin this journey together at Prayers for Girls, there are so many things to pray for our girls. They face so much in this world. Their little lives need to be covered and saturated in prayer. I know I need to do a better job of it!  But, if I’m honest, I have to say praying for ourselves is the first place to start.

Sometimes the best start to praying for our girls is praying for ourselves. #prayersforgirls Click To Tweet

A Mother’s Prayer

Father, thank you for the precious gift of my girl(s). You have shared her with me for a few, short years. I confess in my own power I cannot raise her effectively. Father, give me the wisdom, strength, and endurance to raise her to be a reflection of You. And, in the process, may I become a reflection of You as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.