Praying for our children.

I briefly mentioned last week that I've been working through an incredible parenting series called 'A Biblical Roadmap for Parenting Children'.  I'm not quite finished with it yet, so I can't really post on it in it's entirety, but just listening to a brief portion of it today really stuck with me.


For a few brief minutes, Mr. Whitling talked about how silly he used to think his Mom was for praying for for him.  For example, when him and his brother were teenagers, his Mom used to pray for their future wives.  Being teenage boys, of course, they thought this was ridiculous.  But looking back, he could see that his Mom was praying for specific needs, desires, and struggles for her children.  

His point was this: we need to be not only actively praying for our children, but actively praying for specific things for our children.


This really hit home with me, because even though I've been having particular struggles with Georgia, I haven't addressed those same specific things in prayer.


For example: Lord, please give me patience for when Georgia is extra needy in the afternoon.  Lord, please grant me the confidence I need to spank and direct during this particularly influential time.  Lord, please grant me grace as I help prepare her heart to love you by being diligent in prayer with her after her discipline.  Lord, please bless me with great amounts of energy during this physically draining time that I might still attend to Georgia well.  Lord, please help me to be attentive to Georgia during mealtimes to avoid disobedience.  Lord, please help me teach her how to share properly so she doesn't become 'that kid'.


I'm sure, in a few years, I'll be praying for her future husband as well - that the Lord might be setting apart a Godly man for her.  


But at the moment, poopy diapers and potty training are closer to my heart.


I just thought this was a great reminder for us parents - not only should we be submitting our children to the Lord for His purpose, but we should also be willing (and bold!) in asking the Lord to grant us great strength, grace, and patience in the specifics of our day to day lives with our children.


So if bedtime is a real struggle for you, pray boldly that the Lord would be at work in this.


Or if mealtimes are a time of great disobedience, pray the Lord would grant you wisdom in correcting the behaviors.


Even though I'm only a third of the way through this series, I've already been greatly impacted by it's wonderful directions.  It is completely focused around how the Lord teaches, loves, and disciplines His children.  


Now doesn't that make wonderful sense?  To teach our children the same way the Lord teaches his?


Doy.