Dear Lord ...

Things I pray for my daughter ...

• That she will always be fair, honest and real.

• That she will not ever look down at another person because of what they don't have. And that she will always look up to the Lord Our God.

• That she will love, care for and have compassion for the lowly and see them as He sees them.

• That the things of this world and materialism will not be a part of her, and that she will see that those things are fleeting and meaningless.

• That she will adore the simple things in life, like beautiful weather, the cheap seats, expression of art, family, children's laughter and the occasional apple.

• That she will not hate me when I won't let her date until she's 17. I don't know why 17. 16 just seemed too young for me.

• That she will find a job that she loves without money being a factor of influence.

• That she will get excited when she sees the used car sitting out in the driveway when she turns 16 and will be grateful. Then learns about hard work, good stewardship and taking care of what you've been given.

• That she will love her family so much it will hurt when they pass away, and she will be proud of the legacy they've left behind ... and tear up and laugh at old stories.

• That she will always lend a helping hand when no one else will.

• That she will not be anxious or fret about things she cannot control, and put her trust in God.

• That she will experience true salvation at an early age and never let Satan "pffff" blow it out. I pray her little light shines!!!!

• That she will lead older generations in joyful worship.

• That she will have an unnatural desire to stay pure, be modest and think that it's cool to be that way.

• That she loves hard, even it it hurts most times.

• That her spirit will be free and she will be OLIVIA.

• That she will take up for herself when needed. Cool girls wear glasses.

• That her heart will be tender like her daddy's.

• That she will be expressive like her mama.

• That she will be smart like her Aunt Leslie, cheesy like her Nana, steadfast like her "Grandbo", strong like her "Meme", funny like her "Granny", giving like her "Ga'ma", and herself-no-matter-what like her Aunt Lauren!

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.