It is a precious privilege to join with you in bringing your daughter before the throne of grace, and to give thanks with you for the Lord's constant guidance, protection and provision over you and your household.
Your prayer for her schooling and for these examinations is most fitting. You have asked for calmness and presence of mind, and Scripture shows us the way to that blessing. Our Saviour would have us not be anxious about our temporal affairs, for anxiety has never brought comfort to anyone nor put meal in the barrel, and the very fretfulness which arises through being in a difficulty unfits us to meet that difficulty. What is needed is a calm, quiet trusting in God, a heart fixed, trusting in the Lord, so that we shall not be afraid of evil tidings.
This holy calm comes from walking with God and remembering that He is full of love, so that nothing He sends can harm His child. No spot is so serene as the secret place of the tabernacles of the Most High, and to commune with Him there is to forget fear. When we can be thus calm in time of trouble we are most likely to make our way through it, and others will see and ask what makes us so quiet in the hour of trial.
You have also committed her to the Lord's guidance, and that is the wisest course. Early to seek a Guide is a mark of grace, and it shows a great anxiety to be right. The Lord guides His people by infusing great principles, to avoid everything that is evil and to bow with submission to His will, and by that very submission we are furnished with unerring guidance.
Let us pray together for her.
O Lord our God, we thank Thee for all the many blessings Thou hast given to this family, for Thy care which has kept them week by week. We commit this daughter to Thy constant keeping. Thou knowest her studies and these struggling years, and we ask that they may become a testament of faith, that she may know that Thou alone can make all things possible and that Thy name may shine in their lives.
Grant to her, we beseech Thee, in her examination this day and in those which follow, a quiet mind and a calm and heavenly frame. Take away fretful care and give her clearness of thought and remembrance of what she has learned, that she may answer with diligence and truth. Guide her steps, keep her from evil, and lead her in the way everlasting. Above all, let her see Thy love and Thy power, and grow in the knowledge of Thy Son, in whose most precious name we pray. Amen.