Day Six: That her beauty would be found in the Lord

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30 (ESV)

” Pink! Pink! Pink! Why is everything Barbie so pink!?!”

I can still picture our youngest daughter who, at age five, spoke these words with such comical earnestness that my husband and I still chuckle when we repeat her words–now some twenty years later. Why, indeed, is everything Barbie so over-the-top pink and frilly and ridiculously “feminine”? And how is it that at least three generations of American girls have had their ideas of beauty so universally influenced by an eleven inch molded piece of plastic? Young women compare themselves to Photoshopped images of celebrities with personal trainers, and mature women wince at their HD images when they take that FaceTime call from their grandchildren.  May our daughters be set free from such things as they grow in godly beauty from the inside outward.

Heavenly Father, you made all things with beauty in mind. Today, I pray that my daughter would know and accept that her true beauty comes from knowing you. Lord Jesus, remind her even now that youth and outward beauty may fade with time, but true beauty only grows as the years pass. Encourage her to cultivate that beauty, to spend time in your Word, in prayer, and with other spiritually beautiful women. May she compare herself only to the standard of your holy Word, and may the only thing she finds repulsive be the ugliness of sin. Lord, grant her grace to develop the true loveliness that comes only from you.

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Joan Hartley is a member of Grace Presbyterian, OPC in northern Ohio – wife, mother of four, and “Mimi” to two grandsons. She is the founder of Winsome Arrows Educational Services which exists to nurture special needs learners in home and private school settings and is training two therapy dogs, Justice and Mercy, for ministry.

Day Five: That her hands would serve

Colossians 3.24b “You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Language is beautiful. We often use language to create images that catch our attention or communicate in a vivid way. For instance, in this prayer we focus on our daughter’s hands. Those hands represent the whole posture of her life. We want to see our daughters serve Christ.

Every time I look at my daughter’s little hands I am reminded of Christ. When she whispers to her brother, “Let me do that for you.” Or when she giggles as she gets a utensil for mommy out of the kitchen door, I rejoice as I watch her little hands serve. Though she is young and only beginning to understand the posture of service, she delights in the Lord’s work.

Lord, I pray that my daughter will not serve to get served in return. I pray that she will discover that she serves others as she serves Christ. Fill her heart with eagerness to serve. Ready her hands for selfless effort. May those little hands get most excited about embracing You, her Father in Heaven, with the same fierceness that they embrace her Daddy on earth.

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Joey Cochran is the father of Chloe and Adalie. He is the Church Planting Intern at Redeemer Fellowship St. Charles and blogs at jtcochran.com. Follow @joeycochran on twitter.

Day Four: That she would learn to decrease.

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

As our daughters grow, their hearts will attempt to lead them astray and turn their attention and affection onto themselves. They will struggle with the urge to keep their eyes locked on Christ, wanting to receive glory instead of give it. Yet God tells us that our joy is complete in Christ. When we’ve loosened our grip on all that we are and all that we have, we will find the love and identity that we once sought by trying to raise ourselves to higher heights. Decreasing gives way for Christ to enter in. Let us pray that our daughters will become less.

Lord, thank you that our glory is not dependent upon ourselves. I pray that my daughter would know that she doesn’t need to look to herself for joy, but that all she searches for has been purchased for her by your sacrifice. Help me to model this joy that is found in giving all to you and in dying to myself. May she desire your glory more than this world, and find her life in you alone. Keep her eyes fixed on you. Thank you for chasing after her heart. Amen.

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Sarah Van Beveren is a wife and mother raising her three girls in Ontario, Canada. She’s a book and coffee lover who is currently in recovery for knowing it all. She’s also rocked by grace.