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A Prayer for Raising Resilient Children

Raising resilient children is one of my top priorities as a mother. In the trenches of motherhood, though, our go-to response to our children, may not be a tool for teaching resiliency. It may just be a tool for survival because life comes at you fast throughout all the stages of parenting!

A Prayer for Raising Resilient Children | A Fill-in-the-Blank Prayer for #Raisingresilientchildren filled with motivation and determination

Raising Resilient Children

Twenty minutes into the day and meltdown number five was in full swing. And twenty minutes into the day I was already wishing I had a rewind button to take me right back to my comfy warm bed.

My only prayer in the moment was a quick but desperate, “Lord, how about a re-do until we get it right?”

Do you ever feel like a Mama living some version of an Adam Sandler movie? Like each day is a repeat version of yesterday’s issues? (and the day before … and the day before that?)

I think every Mama struggles with repeating herself 1,792,369 times. Like will the dishes ever make it to the dishwasher two feet to the left of the sink? But I also know that for many Mamas of children with special needs, there is an added depth to the repetition of struggle. For the child with special needs, getting unstuck often borders the impossible.

It’s not fun and in real life, there is no “rewind” button. It only takes one tricky shirt sleeve and we find ourselves wading through the shattered eggshells upon which we had ever so carefully been tiptoeing. We try to keep her world predictable and our mornings free of open-ended situations. Sticking to the same routine, we have everything ready and in its place.

How do we prepare our children for the difficult times in life? How do we raise resilient children? Click To Tweet
But life happens.

And it happens to all our children whether typical or with special needs.

The difficulty comes. Pain demands its space in hearts and bodies. Obstacles both big and small appear along the journey. So, how will our children do when these moments or seasons of life appear?

A Prayer for Raising Resilient Children | A Fill-in-the-Blank Prayer for #Raisingresilientchildren filled with motivation and determination

What is a Resilient Child?

It’s at the heart of our hope, right? First and foremost to love God and follow Him with passion which in and of itself aligns much of their lives. However, we want to raise resilient children. Children who get back up when life hurts and knocks them down. Who fail forward and never allow the enemy to convince them to give up. Children who keep their hope alive.

There are many strategies for raising resilient children. But today I’m here to remind you of the most important strategy.

The strategy of prayer.

Mamas, pray for resiliency, determination, and motivation. Pray fervently. Pray with a prayerfully expectant heart.

Mamas, pray with a prayerfully expectant heart as you intercede for your children's resiliency: A Prayer for Raising Resilient Children Click To Tweet

Not sure where to start? Maybe you need some fresh thoughts about resiliency to ask on behalf of your children.  Or even some new scripture to pray you hadn’t thought of before? Below is my prayer. One, in various versions, I pray over and over again on behalf of all my children, but at a deeper level of fervency for our daughter with special needs. I’ve left blanks where you can fill in your child’s name.

May this prayer be another tool as you raise resilient children.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I am in awe of the way in which You have so intricately and uniquely formed each of our minds, abilities, strengths… as well as our weaknesses. I thank You for filling each of Your children with a gift to use and a fulfilling joy when that gift is discovered and put into action.

However, I’m aware that the sin of our world selfishly inflicts pain into the minds and souls of the most innocent of Your children. This pain disrupts Your perfect design, and these precious children are left with wounds. Wounds that create apathy. An inability to see the future. And a void where determination and motivation may have flourished.

In the face of that Lord, I pray for a spirit of resiliency to fill my child. I know the enemy desires to see ___________(child’s name) sitting back, failing to reap all the harvest that is his/hers to be had. But, Lord, Your Word says  “For __________(child’s name) is God’s masterpiece. He has created ___________(child’s name)  anew in Christ Jesus, so he/she can do the good things He planned for him/her long ago.” (Eph 2:10).

The mountains before ___________ (child’s name) are huge with much to overcome. But with You he/she will overcome them. I claim Your promise that says “…despite all these things, overwhelming victory is __________’s(child’s name) through Christ, who loved him/her.” (Rom 8:37)  With You as his/her strength, the struggles become a bridge to living out a life with significant impact for Your kingdom.

I ask, Father, that the gifts You have given ____________(child’s name) are not wasted, but instead awaken in his/her spirit creating a deep awareness of the plan You have for his/her life. I ask that he/she no longer back down, give up, or rebel against challenges, but instead receive each challenge and step forth as a resilient child – as a child of the One true King. And may You pour Your blessings and favor upon his/her efforts.

And for myself, Lord, may I witness my precious child living a life fully embodied by the gifts You have given him/her. May I see the fruits of his/her efforts evident in his/her daily life.  And may I see joy dance across ___________’s (child’s name) face and settle in his/her heart.

In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.

A Prayer for Raising Resilient Children | A Fill-in-the-blank Prayer for raising resilient children filled with determination and motivation

**Find this PDF Printable in the Library of Hope

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12 Comments

  1. Love this, Lori. Resilience is what I pray for all my children (both typical and special needs)…and for myself too.

  2. Thanks for beautiful words — and for sharing Elizabeth’s writing home.
    Resilience is such an important thing to be praying for our kids — and to be facilitating. As my sons have gotten older, it’s been really painful to let them struggle with some things, so this has been an occasion for me to pray for resolve to keep hands off when I shouldn’t interfere or rescue.

  3. Such an important prayer for both us all. Resiliency, the ability to bounce back from difficulties rather than letting them keep us down. May God grow us all in this area!

  4. I call this season. the thick of it, and when you’re in the thick of it prayer is what will get you through. Praying lets you know when to act and when to sit back; it strengthens your faith and this is what your children see. This builds resilience in children. Keep praying.

  5. Lori, You post pulled at my heart strings today. Yes, I need to pray for resilience in my children especially those with special needs. Your prayer was beautiful. I will be praying that exact prayer over and over again.

    It also brought a huge dose of gratitude for God giving my children resilience this year. Our losses have been huge in 2017 and the pain intense. I have seen amazing resilience in all 3 of my children in-spite of their special needs. God is good.

    In our home sticking to the plan is essential with the special needs we have. Yet, I have seen growth and flexibility in this area. One prayer or request I just had to mention would be that maybe those around could understand how important sticking to the plan is when you have special needs. It is so hard when others don’t understand if the plan test changed it will be difficult. A little understanding is always nice.

  6. Resiliency is so, so important. I recently read Grit, which is just another word for resiliency, and the author really stressed the difference it can make in a person’s life. Thanks for the encouragement, Lori!

  7. Hey Lori! I want to thank you today for opening up my eyes to an area of prayer that I have not yet given thought to. OMGoodness??? Is there a list I can consult on areas of prayer to pray for my children? Why didn’t I already know this?! I especially loved when you said to pray that our children: “…fail forward and never allow the enemy to convince them to give up. Children who keep their hope alive.” Thank you my sister! For this is a new area for me to pray for them, so thank you for the prayer, too. Blessings!

  8. Those quick prayers for redo’s are often breathed by me too…so thankful He hears us in desperate moments! Thankful He hears our prayers for our children and helps us raise them to be resilient!

  9. What a beautiful prayer! I don’t have children but I can certainly pray this for my nephews and other children in my life. God bless!