Do you ever pray for your children? Do you pray for your children everyday? Well, I do...wait until your little ones become teenagers and you will find yourself praying 2, 3, 4 times a day...or more. I have the pleasure of featuring Carla McDougal, founder of Reflective Life Ministries, who writes about praying for our children as the new school year starts.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 6:5,7
Excitement is in the air! Anticipation rises. It’s that time of year when the kids go back to school.
Who can forget watching your child go to "big school" for the first time? I remember those bittersweet moments as each of my four children kissed me good-bye. I always knew that day would arrive, but nothing prepared me for the moment.
Elementary school seemed to fly by and almost overnight they were in junior high and then high school. And in a blink of an eye, they were off to college. Where did the years go?
I learned early on that when my children were away from home, praying for them comforted me. By turning them over to God, I experienced a calm peace. Year after year my prayers intensified, yet remained the same…
- Elementary School – Will he make a friend? Will he eat all his lunch or just the cookies and chips? God help him to love You with all his heart.
- Junior/Senior High –Will he make the right friends? Is he paying attention to the teacher? God, help him love You with all his soul.
- College - Will he make some forever friends? Is he making the right life decisions? God, help him to love You with all his strength.
- To pray over our children no matter where they are in life.
- To be on our knees for those God entrusted to us.
- To ultimately pray for each child to love Jesus with all his heart, soul, and mind!
- Finally, to let them know we are praying for them each day! What a blessing it is to pray for our children.
I ask you to take advantage of this new season too. Do you need a fresh start? Where are you in your relationship with God? In my Bible study, Reflecting Him – Living for Jesus and Loving It, I encourage you to find Jesus in your everyday activities. He is there for us 24 hours a day, and He wants to hear our everyday prayers!
CARLA MCDOUGAL is founder of Reflective Life Ministries headquartered in the Houston, Texas area. Her true passion for her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, shines brightly, whether she is speaking or writing. She shares experiences from her own life to encourage women to live every day for Him. God is sending Carla around the world to speak to women from all walks of life—those living in the best of circumstances to those who have hit rock bottom.
Carla’s book, Reflecting Him: Living for Jesus and Loving It, is a 10-week study that encourages you to open your eyes to God’s daily life lessons. The more you ask God to be in your life, the more you will recognize His hand on everything you do. For more information on a growing number of products from Reflective Life Ministries, and to see about booking Carla for an event or interview, go to http://www.reflectivelifeministries.org/.
12 comments:
Hi, I'm a new follower from the VB Hop mania. Please follow my blog. http://www.kristy-s-place.blogspot.com/
I love this post -- great advice. I have a high schooler, middle schooler and first grader. My oldest heads to college next year. My prayers are definitely getting more specific.
One thing I would add is "Do you pray WITH your kids?" Every single day, before the kids head out the door, we pray together. For our kids, their teachers, their relationships and even safe travel. My first grader LOVES prayer time -- she's got a sweet heart!!!! She even comes home some days and says, "So and so got in trouble or cried or something... I closed my eyes and prayed for him/her, mommy."
Training them up! To send them out!
Wonderful post. The prayers change a little through the years, but we still pray for the same things for our kids.
I love this post, I think praying with the kids is important and help unite the family.
This was a really great post. My eldest son turned 13 this year and I pray daily that he will have the knowledge and confidence to know who he is in Christ, and that he won't succumb to peer pressure. I agree w/ Karen as my children grow, my prayers are beginning to get more specific. I pray with the boys individually before they leave for school/preschool and I pray for them throughout the day.
Prayer is so important!
Wow such a lovely and inspiring post! I pray but not every moment, thank you for this reminder. I wish to grow and improve my relationship with Jesus! What great blessings it would be to have God-fearing and loving children.
Kate
http://mommygrowingup.blogspot.com/
Hi, I'm passing by and following you via the GFC Blog Hop on VoiceBoks. I would love to add you to my blog followers too. http://toughcookiemommy.com
I pray constantly for my kids and they are all grown and married. I'm proud of how they turned out and I want them to always stay on the right path. Teenage years wasn't always a bed of roses that's for sure. This is a really great post.
I love the idea of praying for my children, especially as the start their new year in school. Thank you for a perfect post for me to read today since all three of my babies go back tomorrow!!
This is such great advice. My girls are still young, with only one of them just starting 1st grade but every day I pray for her to have friends and joy throughout her day and to have a lifelong love of learning. I also pray for her teacher to be encouraging, patient, and good with each and every child who crosses her path. I also think it's important to pray with our kids before they leave for school and even at night when they say bedtime prayers. They learn from our example.
Blessings,
Rosann
http://christiansupermom.com/blog-2
What a beautiful post. I must admit that I need to be reminded to pray for my children often. I don't do it enough... and I should make it more of a priority. I was not raised a Christian, so prayer was never something that was "built-in" to my day as a natural part of events, so as an adult, I find myself struggling to set aside time to pray, and then when I do, I find my mind wandering. I know that's no excuse, though!
I know I need to be more disciplined in my prayer life, and I really appreciate your blog post about it. And as I am writing this, I am suddenly moved to ask you if you will take a moment and say a prayer for my dear son Evan (4-years-old) and his Daddy, with whom he has a very volatile relationship. They fight constantly, and we do not have much peace in our home.
I worry about the aggression worsening between the two of them as my son grows, and I have tried everything I can think of to help my husband handle situations better with Evan.
Everything, that is, except prayer. How silly of me to forget. I will be praying tonight that God will soften both of their hearts and lead them along the path of love and respect, rather than anger and resentment. At so young an age, I don't know why my son is so resentful of his daddy. Maybe because his dad travels a lot for work? I don't know. But there is definitely anger there, and I wish it could be healed.
We are even considering family therapy, but reading your blog post has just made a huge light bulb go on in my brain... and I thought... AHA!! Why haven't I lifted this up to God yet?
I feel like I can be so dense sometimes. But anyway, I stopped by from voiceBoks to share some comment love, and here I am hogging your comment space and totally pouring my heart out!
Thanks for reading all of this, and have a blessed week!
Smiles, Jenn
www.misadventuresinmotherhood.com
I believe every mother prays for her children to be fine and have a good life. Every single day mothers are their for their children even if children sometimes talk bad to their mother.
Post a Comment