Praying the Armor of God Over My Girls

This August hit differently. One of my girls is stepping into high school for the very first time — new hallways, new faces, a whole new world opening up. And the other is walking into her final year, the last lap, the one that makes a mama's heart squeeze because you can feel time moving under your hands.

When they were little I could hold them, fix it, shield them. Now they are walking into rooms I can't follow them into, and the only thing I can send with them that will truly hold is prayer.

So I've been doing what a mama does — I've been suiting them up. Every morning, sometimes out loud, sometimes in a whisper over my coffee, I pray the armor of God over my girls.

I buckle the belt of truth around their waist — that in a world full of lies about who they are, God's Word would be the thing that holds them together.

I place the breastplate of righteousness over their heart — that their worth and identity would be protected by what Jesus has done, not by what anyone in those hallways says about them.

I fit their feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace — that wherever they walk, they would carry peace with them and be ready to share the hope that lives inside them.

I lift up the shield of faith — to extinguish every flaming arrow the enemy tries to throw: the comparison, the insecurity, the fear of not being enough.

I place the helmet of salvation on their head — to guard their minds, their thoughts, the way they see themselves in the mirror.

And I hand them the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God — that they would know it, speak it, and stand on it when the hard moments come.

Mama, you can't walk into that school with them. You can't sit beside them in that classroom or stand at that locker when the unkind words come. But you can dress them in armor every single morning from your kitchen table, and the God who loves them even more than you do will go with them.

Suit them up. Pray it loud, pray it quiet, pray it in tears if you need to. The armor is real, the enemy is real, and the God who goes before your girls is more real than any of it.