I know that there are no guarantees. I know that we can do many of the right things as parents, but our daughter may still make some bad decisions when she grows up. But we’re always looking for more ways to increase the likelihood of her growing into the beautiful, happy young lady that God wants her to be. I read Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker earlier this year, and then we read Praying Circles Around Your Children together. There are many great guidelines throughout the book, but this is my favorite principle. Check out this story from Mark:

One of my most treasured possessions is a Bible that belonged to my Grandpa Johnson. I love seeing his notes in the margins. I love seeing which verses he underlined. Sometimes I’ll even do personal devotions out of his Bible.

I want to leave a similar legacy for my children. In fact, I want to give each of my children a Bible that was prayed through specifically for them. I recently got my hands on a Bible edition inspired by an idea that comes from Jonathan Edwards, the eighteenth-century theologian and pastor. Edwards loved writing notes while he read, so he hand-stitched blank pages into his Bible. In the Bible edition I have, every other page is blank, allowing me to write prayers and record thoughts for my children. I’ll give each of them their own personal copy before they go off to college.

My friend Wayne has done the same thing for his children. He prayed through the entire Bible with each of his children in mind, starting with his oldest son, Timothy. He circled and underlined verses that were Timothy-specific. He wrote notes in the margins. He literally prayed every promise for his children.

My wife has such a Bible (with a blank every-other-page) that she’s been keeping notes in for the last couple years. But this weekend, we’re going to go buy another one dedicated to Ellie. And over the next 18+ years, we will spend time circling His promises for our little girl. We will write love notes to her for things she’s done as she grows up. And then at the appropriate milestone in her life (maybe graduating high school or college, or maybe on her wedding day), we’ll give her this book God’s promises… with some personal commentary from Mami and Papi.

Another quote from the author:

Now let’s be honest, our children don’t always appreciate what we do for them at the moment when we do it. It’s usually not until we have kids of our own that we appreciate the sacrifices our parents made. So don’t be disappointed if you feel your prayer circles aren’t making a difference. They are. They will. Or maybe you feel it’s too little too late. Listen, it’s never too late to be who you might have been. Maybe your kids are already adults and you feel like you missed your opportunity. God gives us a second chance, and it’s called becoming a grandparent. You can do for your grandchildren what you failed to do for your children.

We pray circles around our baby girl every day, and it makes me smile to think of all the wonderful ways that He is going to answer those prayers in the years ahead.