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Japanese A short prayer for your daughter: “Lord, [name] is your child before she is mine. Keep her safe today, in body and in mind. Hold her close to you, give her wisdom in every choice she makes, and bring her home to us in peace. Amen.”
Prayers for a daughter’s mental health
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church includes a family prayer “For Those in Mental Darkness,” which asks God to restore “strength of mind and cheerfulness of spirit.” It is written for everyone who suffers in this way, so a parent can pray it for one daughter by saying her name.
O Heavenly Father, we beseech thee to have mercy upon all thy children who are living in mental darkness. Restore them to strength of mind and cheerfulness of spirit, and give them health and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Family Prayer, “For Those in Mental Darkness,” p. 598
When she is anxious
Lord, my daughter’s mind will not rest. She lies awake going over every worry, and I cannot talk her out of them. Quiet her thoughts. Your word says, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Give her that sound mind, and sleep tonight. Amen.
When she is depressed or has withdrawn
God, my daughter has gone quiet. She stays in her room, stops seeing her friends and says she is fine when she is not. You are “nigh unto them that are of a broken heart” (Psalm 34:18). Come near to her where I cannot reach. Help her to tell someone how she feels, and to let them help. Amen.
While she is in treatment
Father, thank you for the doctor and the counselor who are caring for my daughter. Give them insight into what she needs. Let the right medicine work and the right words reach her, and give her patience on the days when getting better feels slow. Amen.
When she will not talk to me
Lord, my daughter keeps her troubles from me, and I do not know how to reach her without pushing her away. Teach me to listen more than I speak. If she will not open up to me, send her someone she will open up to. Amen.
If your daughter talks about ending her life or harming herself, do not keep it to yourself. In the US, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which also helps people who are worried about someone else, and call 911 if she is in immediate danger. In the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans free on 116 123. There are also more Christian and crisis lines.
Traditional blessings and prayers for a daughter
In Numbers 6, God tells Moses to have Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in these words. Parents can say them over a daughter, at bedtime or when she leaves the house.
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Numbers 6:24–26
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer has a short prayer “For a Birthday” that asks God to guard a child through every year of life. The book prints it for a son; for a daughter, say “her” in place of “him” and “his.”
Watch over thy child, O Lord, as his days increase; bless and guide him wherever he may be, keeping him unspotted from the world. Strengthen him when he stands; comfort him when discouraged or sorrowful; raise him up if he fall; and in his heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of his life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Family Prayer, “For a Birthday,” pp. 597–598
A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, a Catholic prayer book published in 1888 by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, prints this prayer under the heading “Prayers of Parents, for themselves and for their Children.” A parent praying for one daughter can say “my daughter” and “her.”
O Heavenly Father, I commend my children unto Thee. Be Thou their God and Father; and mercifully supply whatever is wanting in me through frailty or negligence. Strengthen them to overcome the corruptions of the world, to resist all solicitations to evil, whether from within or without; and deliver them from the secret snares of the enemy. Pour Thy grace into their hearts, and confirm and multiply in them the gifts of Thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; and so, faithfully serving Thee here, may come to rejoice in Thy presence hereafter.
A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity (1888), p. 173
An Orthodox prayer for children, printed in English as “A Prayerful Sighing of Parents for Their Children,” asks Christ, “for the sake of the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother,” to “govern in mercy my children,” to bless them “at home, at school, in their journeys,” to heal them from sickness, and, if it pleases God, to grant them marriage and children. It ends with the parent asking for “a parental blessing for my children.” Catholics and Orthodox Christians ask Mary and the saints to pray for them; most Protestants pray to God alone.
Prayers for her health and safety
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer gives this short prayer for a sick child:
O Heavenly Father, watch with us, we pray thee, over the sick child for whom our prayers are offered, and grant that he may be restored to that perfect health which it is thine alone to give; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Prayers, “For a Sick Child,” p. 45
When a grown daughter is ill
Lord Jesus, my daughter is sick, and I am not the one caring for her now. Be with her in the appointments and the tests, give her doctors a clear judgment, and let the treatment do its work. Jairus came to you and said, “My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed” (Mark 5:23). I ask the same for mine. Amen.
For her recovery
Father, the worst has passed, but my daughter is still weak. Give her body time to heal and her spirit patience with the slow days. Bring back her strength, her appetite and her laugh. Amen.
For her safety
God, I cannot be with my daughter everywhere she goes. Keep her safe on the road, at night and among strangers. Give her the sense to notice danger and the nerve to walk away from it. “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalm 91:11). Amen.
When she travels or moves away
Lord, my daughter is leaving, and the house will be quiet without her. Go with her on the journey and bring her safely to where she is going. Give her good neighbors, honest friends and a church where she is known, and let her call home when she needs us. Amen.
Prayers for particular times in her life
For a newborn daughter
Lord, thank you for this little girl. You knew her before we did, and she is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Keep her healthy, help us to raise her well, and let her grow up knowing she is loved by you and by us. Amen.
For a teenage daughter
God, my daughter is growing up fast, and the pressure on her is heavy: how she looks, what her friends think, what she sees on her phone. Show her that her worth does not depend on any of it. “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30). Give her friends who make her better, as “iron sharpeneth iron” (Proverbs 27:17). Amen.
For her studies and exams
Lord, my daughter has an exam coming, and she is afraid of failing. Help her to study well, to remember what she has learned and to stay calm when the paper is in front of her. Your word promises wisdom to anyone who asks: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally” (James 1:5). Give her yours. Amen.
For her work and her future
Father, my daughter is looking for her place in the world. Open the right door for her work, give her employers who treat her fairly, and help her to do her job “heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23). Where her plans fail, give her the courage to try again, and let her dreams be the ones you have for her. Amen.
For her marriage
Lord, you know whether my daughter will marry and whom. If she marries, give her a husband who loves you and treats her with kindness and respect. Keep her from anyone who would harm her, and bless her home with patience, faithfulness and peace. Amen.
When she is expecting a baby
God, my daughter is carrying a child. Keep them both safe through the months ahead and through the birth. Give her rest when she is tired and calm when she is afraid, and bless the midwife and doctors who care for her. Amen.
Prayer goes alongside the care of her midwife or doctor, and never replaces it.
When she is going through a hard time
Lord, my daughter is struggling, with money, work, a relationship or something she has not told me about. Be her “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Show me how to help without taking over, and let her know she can always come home. Amen.
When she has left the faith
Father, my daughter was raised to know you, and now she wants nothing to do with church. I cannot argue her back. Keep calling her by name, and send people into her life whose faith she respects. Remember your promise: “All thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13). Amen.
For a happy life
Lord, I want my daughter to be happy, but more than that I want her to be good and to be yours. Give her work she enjoys, people who love her, and joy that does not depend on everything going well. Let her grow, as Jesus did, “in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Amen.
For her character
God, make my daughter kind to people who cannot repay her, brave when doing right costs her something, and honest when a lie would be easier. Let faith, hope and love grow in her, and the greatest of these, love, most of all (1 Corinthians 13:13). Amen.
A prayer for the parent
Parents who worry about a daughter can pray this short prayer from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, which hands her over to God’s care:
Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come; knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Family Prayer, “For Those We Love,” p. 597
Parents who prayed for their daughters in the Bible
Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, fell at Jesus’ feet and “besought him greatly,” saying that his “little daughter” was dying (Mark 5:22–23). While Jesus was on the way, messengers came to say the girl had died. Jesus told Jairus, “Be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). He took her by the hand and said, “Talitha cumi,” which Mark translates “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” She “arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years” (Mark 5:41–42).
A Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon followed Jesus crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil” (Matthew 15:22). At first Jesus did not answer her, and the disciples asked him to send her away. She kept asking: “Lord, help me” (Matthew 15:25). Jesus said to her, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” (Matthew 15:28).
