{re}building family: praying for our children

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One of the keys to building a strong family is praying for our children. This is our unseen labor, sometimes in the wee hours –many times through tears — as we seek God not just for us in our parenting, but for our children.

I’ve always gone to God for the hard stuff. The days when parenting saps everything from me and I need His strength. Or the times when I have no idea how to deal with an issue. And especially I’ve prayed all those times that I needed God to guide me in making decisions with my kids.

But there are the even harder days. The days when the only thing we can do is lift our children to God and ask Him to fix it.

I cannot fix seven broken hearts. In all of my parenting, I will never be able to repair the gaping hole left from their dad’s death. I can love them, cry with them, listen to them, but ultimately, I cannot fix it. I feel like I’m at the Red Sea and we want to cross it and get every single one of us safely to the other side of grief and there is an enemy who would like nothing better than to take us down right here and the only thing I can do is pray and trust a good and loving God.

So as I work intentionally to {re}build family, one of my foundations is prayer for my children. For me it’s been two-fold. First, I have to daily turn those things over to God in prayer that I cannot fix and trust Him.

And second, proactively, I pray scripture for my children. In the last three years, I have written our name and date beside many verses in the Bible that I’ve prayed for our family and for my children.

From Psalm 60 (5.4.2012) ~

You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
You have shown your people desperate times;
You have given us wine that makes us stagger.
But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.
Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.

And from Jeremiah 17:7-8 (on 7.21.2011) ~

But blessed is the man who
trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.

That will lift your head!

When you are utterly dependent on God to fix what you as a parent cannot, scripture gives us hope. What are your children struggling with? What do you want to pray for them in expectancy? As you’re reading through the Bible, use scripture to pray over and for your children.

Jesus told us to “always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1. Only eternity will reveal how God uses our prayers offered in trust and hope on behalf of our children.

To see the entire 31 Days to {re}building family click here.