Praying with Kids
When I first met one of my nearest and dearest friends, Lolly, I very quickly noticed the way she talked about, and talked to, Jesus - all. the. time. I think pretty much anyone who has met her has noticed this sweet little truth about her, she talks like he is her best friend, because he is. Many, many times I would be hanging with her and she'd just start talking with the Lord like He's sitting right there with us. I think she'd say, "And why not? He is, isn't he?" I loved this about Lol. So I started doing it too. And the more I talked with Jesus the more I realized he's not a "One bff" kind of guy, and he became my best friend too.
Jesus and I talk all the time, all day long, into the night. We talk a lot because I am a lousy mommy on my own, but with a constant spirit of prayer I get to pull from God's love and strength. It is painfully obvious when I am acting of my own accord. I pray out loud so frequently that my kids will sometimes do it too, which I love. When we get a nice parking spot Addison will say, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus for this great parking spot!" One of the many great things about praying out loud around my kids is they get to hear me casting my cares to the Lord (1 Peter 5:1) and they learn to go to Him with any and every thought or concern.
Not too long ago Mia had been out of sorts for what felt like days, crying and screaming all the time. At one point I had the kids in the car driving somewhere and she was just crying and crying and crying - and I was about to join her. I stopped the car and we all prayed for her. We prayed that if she was in pain that the Lord would heal her, that God would give me wisdom to know what's bothering her so I could more accurately help her, and that - should His will be for her to continue crying- we all would have the grace to endure with patience and love. And I kid you not, as soon as I said amen she stopped crying. Just like that! The look on Ben and Addison and Troy's face was priceless! It was the sweetest gift from the Lord, not just that Mia stopped screaming and we could hear our own thoughts again, but that it was SO OBVIOUS it was nothing any of us did but only an immediate, favorable answer from the Lord! So then we got to pray again, praising Him for blessing us in such a cool way. The kids were giddy, I was giddy, it was a sight to behold. And I think if I had prayed quietly to myself, or not at all, how differently the tone in the car would've been. It was so neat to share that moment with them. I bet if you asked any of them about it they'd remember how God answered our prayers for Mia that day.
They might also remember the day we didn't a get blowup pool at a store because it was too expensive, so we prayed that God would bless our decision to be good stewards of our money. Just a few days later Ben found the exact same pool at a garage sale (new, still in the box) for a 1/3 the price of the one at the store! It was another great opportunity for us to see how God hears our prayers and sometimes we get the answer we were hoping for. (And that God loves to give good gifts to his children, for no special reason except that he loves us.)
Sometimes we don't get the answer we were hoping for though. In those times I love praying with the kids that instead of giving us what we want, we would want what God wants, and that He'd give us peace and patience and grace while we work through the answer of no. Learning to accept a "no" is not as fun as receiving the blessing of a discounted blowup pool, but I'm pretty sure it's of equal, or greater, importance.
I'd love to hear how you incorporate prayer into your everyday life...
Jesus and I talk all the time, all day long, into the night. We talk a lot because I am a lousy mommy on my own, but with a constant spirit of prayer I get to pull from God's love and strength. It is painfully obvious when I am acting of my own accord. I pray out loud so frequently that my kids will sometimes do it too, which I love. When we get a nice parking spot Addison will say, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus for this great parking spot!" One of the many great things about praying out loud around my kids is they get to hear me casting my cares to the Lord (1 Peter 5:1) and they learn to go to Him with any and every thought or concern.
Not too long ago Mia had been out of sorts for what felt like days, crying and screaming all the time. At one point I had the kids in the car driving somewhere and she was just crying and crying and crying - and I was about to join her. I stopped the car and we all prayed for her. We prayed that if she was in pain that the Lord would heal her, that God would give me wisdom to know what's bothering her so I could more accurately help her, and that - should His will be for her to continue crying- we all would have the grace to endure with patience and love. And I kid you not, as soon as I said amen she stopped crying. Just like that! The look on Ben and Addison and Troy's face was priceless! It was the sweetest gift from the Lord, not just that Mia stopped screaming and we could hear our own thoughts again, but that it was SO OBVIOUS it was nothing any of us did but only an immediate, favorable answer from the Lord! So then we got to pray again, praising Him for blessing us in such a cool way. The kids were giddy, I was giddy, it was a sight to behold. And I think if I had prayed quietly to myself, or not at all, how differently the tone in the car would've been. It was so neat to share that moment with them. I bet if you asked any of them about it they'd remember how God answered our prayers for Mia that day.
They might also remember the day we didn't a get blowup pool at a store because it was too expensive, so we prayed that God would bless our decision to be good stewards of our money. Just a few days later Ben found the exact same pool at a garage sale (new, still in the box) for a 1/3 the price of the one at the store! It was another great opportunity for us to see how God hears our prayers and sometimes we get the answer we were hoping for. (And that God loves to give good gifts to his children, for no special reason except that he loves us.)
Sometimes we don't get the answer we were hoping for though. In those times I love praying with the kids that instead of giving us what we want, we would want what God wants, and that He'd give us peace and patience and grace while we work through the answer of no. Learning to accept a "no" is not as fun as receiving the blessing of a discounted blowup pool, but I'm pretty sure it's of equal, or greater, importance.
I'd love to hear how you incorporate prayer into your everyday life...
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