In January I resolved to pray more, out of a desire to draw near to God’s compassionate heart and let that radiate into my life and into the hope-parched, love-starved world around me.

As part of my new year’s resolution, I decided to publish a prayer a month on lifelived. So here I am, with a prayer to publish.

This one is personal, heart-felt and one I feel privileged to be in the position to write.

It’s for our daughter, who has her birthday this month.

Dear Lord,
Let her know that you can calm any storm in her life.
Let her know that you can put bread in her hands and a song in her heart.
Let her know that she can cast her anxieties on you, bring her failings to your feet and her successes to your heart.
Let her know that she can be free, fierce and determined and still be kind, loving and compassionate.
Let her know that life might not be what she expects or hopes, but it will be beautiful, and all the more so with you in it.
Let her know that wisdom isn’t always what the world tells us it is.
Let her know how much she is loved.
Let her know our hearts as her parents.
Let her know her own worth.
And most of all, let her know you.
You, the Author, the Gardener, the Shepherd, the Friend. You, the Counsellor, the Saviour, the Creator.
You, the Father.
Thank you Lord for her, and thank you that you are a God of hope and redemption and love.
Amen