"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one."
John 17:15
Emma starts kindergarten tomorrow and I have been praying this verse over her for many months now. Tomorrow our whole family will enter a new phase of life. To me, it seems like I'm sending my first born child into the mean, scary world. As someone much more wise than I pointed out, "it is not the grown up real world, it is the kindergarten world." So true, yet she will be exposed to more things than she ever has before. She will be choosing friends at school that I know nothing about.
Emma is ready. She is excited and I am excited for her. She is eager to learn and I am so excited to watch her learn things like reading. She will do great.
I have prayed for many months that God would place her with the teacher that she will learn best from and connect with best. She has her teacher and she is excited about Mrs. Norris. Emma and I have prayed that God would bring a friend that loves Jesus into her life. The friend that I thanked God for during JumpStart is not in her class. I don't understand why right now, but I know it is for a reason and I'm praying that there will be another little girl in her class that she connects with easily and loves Jesus. I also pray that the strong friendships that she has with kids she has spent the last 5 years with will stay strong.
Emma is memorizing James 4:8: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
At dinner tonight, Emma prayed an amazing prayer completely unprompted from us:
Dear God, please draw near to me tomorrow at school. Please help me meet new friends so that I can tell them about you. Amen.
She is a pretty sweet gal and I'm going to miss her during the days more than I can really imagine right now. Brooklyn is going to miss her even more. That is my rant for today. I will be back tomorrow with updates and pictures!
4 comments:
Oh Al.
I know we emailed about this earlier, but I am not going to lie. I am a little bit sick to my stomach right now and it isn't even my girl.
She will do beautifully. I have no doubts about that. As will you. And she will ALWAYS be your little baby.
Can't wait to see pics!
What an incredible prayer! And what a special little girl she is. Good luck tomorrow!
What an amazing prayer! You have taught her well. It's so wonderful that she knows that He is always with her, even in a new place. Sweet girl. I know she'll have a great year!
the fact that emma would be prompted by the holy spirit to say that prayer says a lot about the way that you and john have brought her up in the truth. i cried thinking about madeleine (who just turned 2) going to kindergarten so i can only imagine what it feels like when it actually happens.
that said, "train up a child in the way (s)he should go and when (s)he is old (s)he will not depart from it." you've trained her up well and now she will be a light to those around her and a blessing to her parents!
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