Persistent in prayer. Not until I had my daughter did I know what that meant, to spend nearly every waking moment with my heart at the foot of the cross while my brain and body did the day-to-day ordinary. It started from the very beginning, a heart broken by loss praying while I carried her that she would be healthy and strong.

Praise God, she is.

Praying while she was a newborn that she would sleep, rollover, smile, laugh, eat solid food, sit up, stay healthy, meet all the milestones.

Praise God, she did.

Praying while we sent her to daycare that our time away from one another would be redeemed. Trusting that God had called me to be a full-time working mama and praying that our daughter would learn, play, grow and be loved.

Praise God, she has thrived.

Praying in this toddler season, that she would learn to be kind, helpful, generous, independent, obedient. That she would continue to be healthy, strong, safe, and chase wildly after Jesus.

Praise God, He is faithful even when I can’t see a final outcome in the thick of it.

These are the prayers of my heart now as I drink coffee in the morning, as we read stories at night. These are the prayers that go up the Father when I don’t know who else to turn to or how to say it out loud. Sometimes it’s simply a cry of “Jesus” from a frustrated mama heart that doesn’t know how to make it all work.

My daughter? She is, herself, an answer to prayer. And as parents, God continues to respond as He moves us from strength to strength, glory to glory. Each phase we enter comes as equal parts challenge and answer to prayer, in God’s perfect timing. It is in the previous seasons that we have been prepared for the next step, and it is in remembering the answers to the prayers of our past that we have hope.

• Hope that God hears.
• Hope that God knows.
• Hope that God answers.
• Hope that His timing, His plan is perfect.

And so we’ll celebrate in the hope of answered prayer; stand firm through the challenges; and pray persistently as mothers of daughters, daughters of the King, and sisters in Christ.

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