One morning I had an hour to kill between appointments. Thankfully, I had a good book so I sat back and relaxed in my car. I celebrated the forced retreat, unable to hear the call of my messy house, dirty laundry, and tall grass. While reading in Ephesians, I found a unique passage to pray for each of my daughters. I spotlighted a phrase for each of them and wrote out the verses to later place on their pillows. Each of their verses would be my summer prayer for them.
For my firstborn 16-year-old with college decisions looming, and yet the usual teen self image questions and balancing the temporal and eternal, I wrote out Ephesians 1:16-19, and spotlighted, “The eyes of the heart.”
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
And for my 14-year-old who recently went through confirmation at church and will begin high school in September as an officer in student government, I wrote out Ephesians 3:14-19 “Filled to the Measure.” My prayer for her included,
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
This treasure hunt through the Bible invigorated my quiet time, and even better, my daughters will be blessed by my prayers and the knowledge that His Word is a unique gift for them.
Ann Stewart
Reading God’s Story Schedule today, 6/18/13: 1 Kings 15:1-24, 2 Chronicles 13-16.
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About Ann Stewart
Ann just won the Christy Award for Best Debut Novel of 2017 with Stars in the Grass, originated AMG’s Preparing My Heart series, and writes “Ann’s Lovin’ Ewe” for The Country Register. When she's not writing, she's waving her arms directing musicals, teaching middle schoolers, or watching UVA Basketball, This is Us, or Madam Secretary. In her free time she hangs out with her husband, raising two lovely daughters and a whole flock of fuzzy sheep on Skye Moor Farm, in Virginia--where unscripted drama provides plenty of entertaining material.
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