Imagine you are living in a kingdom where the king has ultimate control over your child’s life. He will decide who your child will be, where she will go, who she will associate with. And, because He is a good, kind, wise king, he allows you 24 hour access to his chamber, where you can come to tell him everything that you would like to see happen in your child’s life. You can ask for all kinds of crazy, unlikely, wild, and wonderful things for your child, and the king will listen to your requests.
Wouldn’t you run to his chamber a lot? Wouldn’t you practically be a fixture there, asking him to help your child, to guide her, to grow her, to keep her on the right path?
The truth is that this is the kingdom we live in. Only our king is also our loving Father, who adores our children more than we do. I wonder why we are so slow to come to Him on their behalf?
Why do we fret and worry and pace and cry and moan instead of running to the King’s chamber? Why do we scheme and try to figure out ways that we can fix our kids or ways that we can change their situation? Why do we endlessly wish for good things for our children, forgetting that we have free, unfettered access to the One who told us that if we ask according to his will, we will receive?
There’s a difference between wishing and praying. There’s a difference between crossing your fingers, hoping everything turns out and turning to the God of the Universe, praying that He will move. We can want plenty of good things for our children. We can long to see them rescued by God. We can be desperate to see them change and grow and know Him more. But, when we don’t take the time to earnestly pray about these things, we are wasting the precious privilege of crying out to God on behalf of our children.
Our children will face a lot of uncertainties in this life. They will be unsure of many things. But, when they are old and bent, looking back over a long, sometimes troubled, sometimes glorious life, may they be able to say with all certainty, One thing I always knew: my mama was praying for me.
We have no way of estimating what kind of eternal echoes that prayers for our children can create. How many Christian people have been carried through on the prayers of their dear mothers? Only God knows. Let’s be praying mamas, and one day when we are standing there in front of our King, we’ll feel right at home, having run to His chamber so many times before, and we’ll continue a long and sweet conversation with our good Father.
Love this! I’m going to read it at my Moms in Prayer Group this morning. It’s a group for College and Beyond, and some of us have been meeting for 20 yrs.
So cool, Diane! Your kids are blessed!
So true. This made me cry! Thank you
My mom passed the prayer baton to me 8 years ago when she left for heaven. I love your thoughts. I now have my own grandson to pray for, also!
I love this so much because I know how true it is. I am seventy-one years young. I am thankful that my mom and dad prayed for me. Praying is one of the most important things I do for my four sons, my daughter, grand children and I am blessed to still be here praying for my great-grands as well. I am saddened when I hear someone say that they’ve never heard their mother pray.
Prayer is so important. We’re struggling with this right now as my wife and I prayed faithfully for our daughter since before she was even born. We prayed many things, among them for her safety and protection.
We just found out that, my wife’s father, a pastor for over 40 years, our daughter’s grandfather, molested her repeatedly for a period of 6 years, from age 6 – 11. SIX YEARS OLD. By her “godly” grandfather.
We know God is good, we believe and trust him. We’re all in. But we’re struggling with this hard. Where was her protection. How could this happen. She wants nothing to do with God now, as you can imagine. We’re devastated.
I am so very sorry to hear this. Praying for y’all.