I'm almost embarrassed to admit, wait, okay....I AM embarrassed to admit that for a long time I didn't pray with my kids. Maybe I thought they were too young, their attention spans too short and their ability to even understand what I was saying was just not present. Or maybe its just that I've always hated praying out loud in front of people. Yes, terrible reasons. But when Logan started Pre-K 4, I decided we needed to start praying every morning on the way to school. Every night, Alan started praying with them at bedtime. We've been trying to stay really consistent but sometimes we don't always say our prayers at night. But we do usually get our prayers in on the way to school. If you've never prayed with your child and had him/her pray, too, YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE. MISSING. OUT. No words ever spoken have been more precious than Logan's sweet, heartfelt prayers. He doesn't have a scripted prayer he has memorized and repeats. He prays from his precious, genuine heart.
There have been mornings when Logan and I neither one really want to pray. Close your mouth, you've been there. You know those mornings when you know you need to talk to God about your attitude but you just don't want to! Logan and I are so much alike, we butt heads in the mornings. But I have found that praying with him, even when I don't really feel like it, and encouraging him to do the same, usually makes us both a little happier and definitely improves our moods. We just had to flush the flesh out and ask the Holy Spirit to take over!
Many nights I have gone to put my babies to bed, worn out from the day, just ready to go lay down and not talk for several hours. But my little angels never let me leave their bedroom without us praying, even Ford (who still refuses to pray!) reminds us. :) Those truly are some of the most precious moments for Alan and I to witness.
One Sunday night after church we ate a quick dinner with some friends before heading home. Logan volunteered to ask the blessing and instead of "God is great, God is good..." that boy prayed an original Logan prayer. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I was of him.
Why am I sharing all of this with you? Is it to brag on myself and my husband as parents? Hardly. We fail. A lot. It is simply to share with you what can happen in your child's life when you are obedient to God as a parent. Blessings, overflowing pouring out, running over. I struggle to this day on how to pray because I was never really taught. I want to make sure my boys know how to pray to their heavenly Father, that they know that no matter where they are, what they are doing, He's always there and He's always listening. I want praying to become second nature to them. Sometimes I stop myself in the middle of stressful moment and think "Hello!! Dummy, why aren't you praying about this!?" I feel like a child in my spiritual walk in so many ways. I have lots to learn and as I do, I want to teach it to my boys. I want them to begin their journey with Christ now, so that as they get older and temptations and worldly pleasures tempt them, they will already have years of steps with Christ behind them and will recognize the dangers before they are in the middle of them.
God is good and He is faithful when we trust and obey. Trust His ways are good and obey Him. Pray with your child. Talk to them about Jesus. It doesn't matter their age. Begin right NOW!
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