The more people I get to know, and the deeper I get to know them, the more I realize I’m surrounded by people who have been sexually assaulted. The more I learn about it, the more I get worried about how I’m supposed to be able to protect my little humans from this plague. Some days feel more hopeless and terrifying than others do, but I believe in the power of prayer. I look back at my own life, and I can think of a couple of different situations where I was protected and I deeply, deeply believe that it was because of the prayers of my mother and the action she was guided to take. 

“There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother.” -Boyd K. Packer

And so, in these times when I feel a little despaired about how to continuously protect the kids I love (without creating a toxic, overbearing bubble around them all the time) I pray. Sometimes, when I really feel the need to get something across to my Heavenly Father, I write my prayers down, and for some reason, the prayers feel more solid. I share the following prayer because as I’ve come to learn about more and more of my loved ones who have been hurt, I have also come to learn more and more that there are far too many parents who are unaware of how crucial it is to be aware, to learn, proactively defend, and pray about how to protect their kids.

Spoiler alert. The biological development of your child depends on being protected from sexual predators.

Don’t use this an excuse to smother them and never let them learn because that can be debilitating to them as well. DO use this as an excuse to pray and find out what kind of action your specific children need because what your child needs is going to be different than what my child needs.

So here’s a prayer I wrote today.

I pray for the spiritual gift of discernment for both Conner and myself. It would be nice to have this gift all of the time, but I plead that we will always have it in the situations where it will serve us in protecting our children from sexual predators. That we will walk in at the right moments or overhear vital information or any other kind of information we may need. That we will be quick to observe those we trust with our children. That Conner and I will be unified in these feelings and believe them and recognize them and be wise and adept at maneuvering our kids to safety. That we will always be placed in positions to protect them and that we won’t be out of reach when they need us. We may fail and make mistakes, but prompt us to repent at appropriate times to have this crucial gift at crucial times. Help them trust us enough to come to us when they feel like they’re in danger before it’s too late. Help us to react appropriately when they do come to us.

You prayer may be different than mine, but please remember to pray for your children. It’s everywhere now, but we don’t have to fear. Prayer can make a difference if we use it.