I have an overwhelming desire as a mother, to see my children develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I don’t mean when they ask Jesus to save them. I mean an intentional walk with God. I do not want them to have a relationship with Mommy’s God. I want Him to be their own. The one they love and serve because He is their God. I pray passionately for this.
I remember the Bible story of when God asked Abraham to take and sacrifice his son Isaac. God had no intention of asking one human to sacrifice another but he was testing Abraham to see how far he would trust him. I guess, if you are about to make a man the father of a great nation, then the test of obedience and faithfulness might be a little greater than the average guy. Side note: Abraham did not know that so he was truly a man of faith! However, I don’t think Abraham was the only life that a work was being done in that day. I think God was working in Isaac.
Isaac followed his earthly father in complete trust up the side of that mountain. He did not struggle when he was being bound and laid on the altar. We have no record that he cried out in fear as Abraham raised the knife above his head and was going to follow in obedience the whole way. When God spoke and told Abraham to stop, and then revealed that this was a test of faith, Abraham was not the only one who learned something. I think the transition was made that day in Isaac’s life. God became very personal to Isaac that day. You see, God had rescued Isaac. God made a difference in Isaac’s life and Isaac had a new view of God. He was his Redeemer now – not just his father’s.
This leads me back to my children and praying that God will be their God. I desire that. I pray for that. But do I really want it? Do I really understand and accept what this may mean? I think to my own childhood. I remember my mother passionately praying for my siblings and I that we would also serve our God. Would you like to know something? All of my siblings are in church and serving God. My sister, Niki, is married to a pastor. I am married to a pastor. My brother, Nathan, is a faithful and strong leader in his local church. My brother, Nevin, pastors a church he started in the far northwest. My brother, Asher, has surrendered his life to serving God in ministry and is faithfully involved in his church. My two younger siblings, Cierra and John, still live at home with my parents and they love their church also.
Now allow me to share something else. My sister, Niki, and her husband went through 11 painful years of barrenness. The Lord did not give them children the way they thought He would. I became paralyzed and face the rest of my life in a wheelchair. My brother, Nathan, went through a divorce. My brother, Nevin, has faced loneliness and financial hardship as they have stepped out to live a life of faith far away from all their family. My three younger siblings are all adopted and have their own issues they will still face in life.
I am telling you that the awful things that have happened in our lives are in answer to our mother’s prayers. Did she pray that my sister would not bear children? Did she pray that I would become paralyzed? Did she pray that my brother’s marriage would not make it? Did she pray for my brother and her grandchildren to live far away from her? No. But she prayed that we would have a real relationship with God. These things have made each of us to seek for our God – not the God of our mother. We needed His help. We needed His redemption. We needed Him to be real and to show Himself to us. We all faced a place where we were at the end of ourselves and that is where we found Him.
When we pray for our children, we must realize that God will also write their story. They may face some terribly hard times and as a mother, it will be very hard to watch our children go through these things. We must keep our focus right where it needs to be though. We must keep praying for them and be encouraged! God is working in their lives to bring them to the very place we prayed they would be!
As the child of a praying mother, I am very thankful for God’s work in my own life. God keeps me in a place where I cling to Him and I am so overwhelmed with gratitude that He is my God!!
As a praying mother for my children, I am preparing myself. Because God desires them even more than I do, He will work in there lives to draw them to the place where He is their God. I am already praying for them that they will respond in running to the Lord and not away from Him.
May God bless all praying Momma’s and give us the courage to face the days when God makes Himself real to our children in answer to our prayers.
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