A Prayer for My Girl’s Junior Year

a prayer for my girl to stand strong as she begins her junior year of high school

We’ve entered a whole new era … I no longer drive my girl to and from school. She has a driver’s license and a vehicle. She’ll pull that little white SUV into an assigned parking place this morning and when she finishes first day of her junior year, she’ll drive herself home.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I feel about all of this and just her growing up in general. And, while there are moments when I do long for that adorable little girl who loved Polly Pockets and stacks of beaded bracelets, for the most part, I’m just incredibly thankful for where we are today.

Our move back to Alabama in 2011 has been hardest on Casiday. Last year was, without question, the most challenging year my girl has faced. Not one thing came easily — grades, friendships, nothing. Y’all, it’s hard to watch your child struggle and know there isn’t one thing you do to fix any of it.

I did the only things I knew to do: listen and pray.

Oh how I prayed!

I prayed for her friendships, for her classes, for her heart, for her mind, for wisdom and for peace, for hope and for grace. I filled up journals and notebooks with Scriptures and prayers and lots of tears.

Last year, I prayed this for her:

Watch over my baby, Lord. Because the truth is, as much as I love her and desire good things for her, You love her more and better … and Your plan for her is good. This year, my prayer for her is that she will grasp hold of the truth that You are all she really needs and that she will spend the rest of her life clinging to the hope that truth gives.

That she will grasp hold of the truth that You are all she really needs …

Did I really pray that? Did I really invite God to intervene in her life and strip away everything she’d been holding on to in order for her to learn the truth that He is not just enough, He is more than enough?

Well, yes, I suppose I did. Which means, in some bizarre way I never intended, all those tears and hard days and restless nights, were an answer to prayer. God at work in her, doing what I’d asked Him to do.

It didn’t happen the way I’d planned. And, it’s quite possible that if I’d known how it would end up, I may not have prayed the prayer to start with. Because who really wants their child to endure such a hard season?

Here I sit, another first day of school, and I’m wondering what to pray, how to pray? Because it matters … and it matters in more ways than we really can ever understand. I’m feeling the weight of what it is to mother … I get to pray for this child in a way no one else on earth ever can. And those prayers I utter, those sentences I cry through, the choked up sobs when I can’t put words together — they reach the ears of the One who created her in His image, who calls her precious, who knows her name, who loves her even more than I do.

And I want to get this right! I want to do this well — not so much the mothering part but the praying part. {I mean, I want to mother well but it pales in comparison to how I want to pray for her.}

Here I am, scared and trembly as I was the morning before she was born … but also free and bold because these prayers are important. These words I utter over her as she starts her junior year are my gift to her, my plea to God.

a prayer for my girl to stand strong as she begins her junior year of high school

Prayer for my girl as she begins her junior year of high school

A Prayer for My Girl as She Begins Her Junior Year

Father, today she’ll drive herself to school. I knew this day would come but here I sit, lump in my throat and tears threatening to fall. Her junior year is here. It sounds so grown. When I look at her, I know she’s far more woman and far less child. But still, that tenderness and innocence remains in her. Somehow, even after all the heartbreak and hurt she has experienced, it’s still there. And for that, I thank You.

High school can be a wretched place and it would be easy for her to build a wall around her heart, missing the opportunities to connect with others and to shine light into the darkness. But I pray she won’t closer herself off from those connections. Instead, Lord, I pray she will trust You to protect her heart and that she’ll choose to be vulnerable to sorrow in order to show people Your love.

When she’s tempted, may she see clearly the means of escape You promise. I pray she will remember the trials and testing aren’t intended to break her, but to build her and ultimately that You have already overcome.  May she believe she is more than a conquerer in You.

Wherever she is, may she give grace and sow peace. I pray she’ll see the hurting and reach out. May this year bring opportunities for her stand firm for You, to be strong and courageous in her faith. But may she also find the gentle whisper of Your nearness in a whole new way.

Lord, she’s truly a gift from You to her daddy and me. All those years ago when the doctor said we might never have a child of our own, we trusted You and Your plan. We leaned into Hope … and You gave her to us. May she remember the promise of her name, Hope — the confident assurance You are who You say You are and You will do what You say You will do.  May she walk in hope and may she point others to the hope we all have in You.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

P.S. Please keep her safe as she drives! That school parking lot is a beast!!

What are you praying for your child as  new school year begins?

xoxo,

Teri Lynne

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Comments

  1. Wow, so moved by this! I just graduated from college (roll tide) and found myself relating to so many of these things. Junior year is tough (school, college applications, friends, AP classes, prom) but it was my favorite year of high school by far. Good luck to your daughter!!

    Sarah | DelighttheDetails.con

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