Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children by Jodie Berndt

About the Book:
As parents of adult children, we often wonder: Will my children make good choices when they’re on their own? How can I let them go when I’ve held them for so long?

Parent and author Jodie Berndt understands what it’s like to release children into the world and still care deeply about them and everything they will face in life from relationships to career decisions and everything in between. In Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children, Jodie continues her Praying the Scriptures series with biblical prayers for your adult children, whether they are just leaving the nest, flying well on their own, or struggling to take off at all.

Each section focuses on a different aspect of adulthood, with encouraging stories from experienced parents who are praying their children through rocky marriages, health concerns, financial challenges and other real-life issues. At the end of each chapter, you’ll find personalized prayers for your children taken straight from Scripture. Each chapter also includes verses for you to pray for yourself as you take the challenging step of trusting God to care for your children in ways that you can’t.

With grace and wisdom, Jodie addresses cultural trends such as couples living together before marriage and young adults leaving the church, as well as the painful realities of loneliness, addiction, and mental health issues. With hope-filled words for the parents of the prodigal, she is particularly sensitive to the long-term prayers we offer, even as we doubt ourselves and grieve over our children’s choices.


Whatever you are praying for, you will find confidence and peace in these powerful prayers for your kids. Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children guides you to the bedrock of God’s promises as you release your children to God’s shepherding care.

My Thoughts:

“Our adult children have different needs, but all of them can use the prayer of blessing.” (p. 27)

Jodie Berndt has ministered to me in profound ways as I read through her book, Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children. She had been faithful to share what God has taught her in her own parenting journey, as well as sharing the painful struggles that appear as our children grow up and leave our homes.  This book was very much a gentle hug from God, because it came to me during the beginning of my own empty nest season. 

There are many, many things that I love about this book, but chief among those is the honesty and transparency with which it is written.  Berndt tells readers from the first pages that God uses the lives of our children to draw us closer to Him, teaching us to trust Him, and only Him, with the lives of our children.  EVERYTHING regarding the lives of our adult children belongs to God.  As much as we love our children, their choices are their own as are the consequences of those choices.  That’s a very hard truth. That is why God gave us His word.  HIS words are LIFE and TRUTH, and His words are the only constant, unchanging foundation upon which we can walk the road of parenting throughout our lifetime.

Berndt divides the book into specific needs, and she encourages readers to go directly to that specific need.  She also encourages readers to read the entire book.  I will add a hearty AMEN to that, because even if you aren’t fighting that particular battle, I bet you know someone who is fighting, and you can come alongside them and strengthen them in the fight before them.  This is a book that will quickly be worn and dog-eared with use.  I’m already on my second time through!  What a gift this is for me!!


This book is a rich resource!  Dive it!  Share it!  Ask God to use it to strengthen your daily walk!  Thank you Jodie Berndt for this amazing resource!

About the Author:
Jodie Berndt is the author or co-author of nine books, including the popular Praying the Scriptures series, Generous Living, and a funny and touching memoir called The Undertaker's Wife. A speaker and Bible teacher, Jodie encourages people to pursue joy, celebrate grace, and live on purpose. Jodie and her husband, Robert, have four grown children and two sons-in-law. They live in Virginia Beach but can often be found up the road in Charlottesville, Virginia, cheering for their beloved U.Va. Cavaliers. Find Jodie writing at JodieBerndt.com, or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.