I remember like it was yesterday. The myriad of emotions that overwhelmed my heart the first day of school. First, it was elementary school. Then middle school. Then high school. Now, my Lauren is married … no more school. And, my sweet Bo is entering his last year of college. He leaves Monday.
Ya’ll I don’t feel that old!
It seems only yesterday, I was pushing them around Target in the shopping cart … Lauren in her Belle gown and sparkly shoes. Bo with his Bob the Builder tools strapped around his waist.
A few days ago, I shared one of the hardest parts about being a mama with a few friends. A divided heart. Joy filling one half for the good things that lie ahead. The other aching for that which will never be again.
But, I reminded them, and myself, this is God’s plan. His way. Mama’s sending their babies off is the way it’s supposed to be. Whether it’s college or to make their way in this world, God loans them to us for a time, and then they’re His.
It’s a never-ending cycle. Whether it’s kindergarten, middle school, high school, college, weddings or grand babies.
And, times have changed too. It’s scary to send your children out into the world. Schools and workplaces are not the safe places they used to be. My son’s school had an active shooter last spring that took the lives of two students and injured several others (one a manager on his basketball team). It’s frightening.
What brings me peace is knowing God, their Abba Father, is watching over them. His Word tell us that He is El Roi, the God who sees them (we find this name of God in the story of Hagar in Genesis 16:13). His eye is always upon our children. Our heavenly Father promises He will never leave them or forsake them (Romans 8:35-39). He promises He will be with them every minute of every day…
He knows when they sit and when they rise
He perceives their thoughts from afar
He discerns their going out and their lying down
He is familiar with all their ways.
Before a word is on their tongue He knows it completely …
Where can they go from His Spirit
Where can they flee from His Presence? (Psalm 139)
He is with them.
I read further in Psalm 139…
All the days ordained for them were written in His book before one of them came to be!
Sweet sister, God is in control. Our God, the Author of Life, the Blessed Controller of All Things, the Sovereign God of the Universe, is in complete control of our babies. Hallelujah!
Below, please find a prayer I wrote and have shared on my blog before. I thought I’d share it again. Please personalize it for you and your family to make it your own.
Heavenly Father, I praise You as the Creator of every good and perfect gift … the greatest of those gifts are my children, Lauren and Bo. Thank You for Your promises in Psalm 139. Keep my mind fixed on those promises as I send my precious ones out into this world to live the plans You have for them this next year. Father, please hide Your Word in their hearts so that when they need to recall a Truth, it will be there. Make it their greatest desire to please and obey You in all they say and do? Teach them in the midst of the pressure of being on their own, whether school or work, to trust in You with all their hearts and lean NOT on their own understanding and to acknowledge You in all their ways so You direct their paths. Keep my children pure by leading them to live according to Your Word. Clothe them in humility and teach them to put others first. Father, as You did with Your own Son, grow them in wisdom, and stature, and favor with You and with man? Teach them to wake up each day with gratitude filling their hearts. Living this verse, “This is the day the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it,” no matter what their day may hold. I ask this all in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
If this spoke to your heart, come back for my next post. I’ll share specific verses to pay over our children and link them together in a prayer. It’s a prayer my friends and I prayed each week to close our Bible study time last year. God moved in mighty ways as we prayed His living and active Word.
If you want another prayer resource, click here for a more comprehensive prayer I’ve written for our children and our schools.
Finally, please share your favorite verse to pray as you send your kids off, whether to school or for their next steps after high school. Let’s fill the comments with God’s Word to encourage one another as we unite our hearts to pray for our children.
Blessings,
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