Just a girl...trying to trust

As I listened to a discussion on gun control in the wake of the Parkland, Florida school shooting, I couldn’t help but be afraid for the world I have brought my baby girl into. It makes me want to lock her up in our home and never let her out where predators are waiting to steal her innocence and other seemingly innocent kids are scheming to negatively influence her and lead her down the wrong path. I was gently reminded that I did not alone bring my curly-haired, sassy princess into this world, but she is a child of the King and was created by Him for such a time as this. He has placed in her what she needs to not only survive in her world, but to influence and change it. It’s my job to speak and to live Jesus in front of her so she knows Who’s she is and how to love the world around her. It’s my struggle releasing her into His hands and not trying to overprotect her and keep her from adventure because of fear. This is not the world I grew up in, but mine was not the world my parents grew up in either. My parents did an amazing job of leaving my tether so long that I learned to be independent, but also tethering me to Jesus so that when I found myself in questionable circumstances, I was never alone and He would give me the words to say and guide my steps away from where I didn’t need to be. They covered me in prayers and trusted Him with my life. He has called me to be Milla’s Mommy. It’s an overwhelming responsibility if I take my eyes off of Him and look around at the circumstances in our world. It requires trust. It requires daily covering her in prayer and placing her in His hands and throwing up mine in surrender. I have been reading a book called “She is Yours: Trusting God as You Raise The Girl He Gave You.” In it’s pages is the most beautiful and yet the most challenging prayer I have ever prayed:

Dear God, 

I release my daughter into your care.

I surrender my desire to control her.

I surrender my desire to manipulate her future.

I surrender my tendency to overprotect, shelter, and suffocate her.

I surrender my desire to be her best friend, first.

I surrender my own dreams for her.

I surrender my need to be her source.

She is Yours.

I’m totally open to you, dependent on you, and desperate for you to be in control as I let go.

I’m relying on the fact that You are God and that You have created my daughter for your purpose and for this time.

I pray that You will draw her to Yourself.

I pray that she will delight in You.

I pray that You will be patient with her.

I pray that You will provide for her.

I pray that You will bless her.

I pray that You will use her to be a blessing to others.

I pray that You will mature her.

And ultimately, I pray that she will show Jesus in her very being.

I trust in Your sovereignty. I wait in expectation for Your providence.

Lord, she is Yours, and I trust You with her.

Amen

This is the difficult and necessary cry of my heart. I want to hold her and never let go, but if I do that I hold her back from who God has created her to be. So I must trust.

Britt