I want to be a praying parent. I want my children to be full of God's hope and promises and love. I have implemented a few practical ways to intentionally pray for our kids.
1. Choose a Bible verse for her life.
While I was still pregnant, we decided that we wanted to have a verse from God's Word to speak over Tater's life. We chose Luke 2:40, and inserted her name:
While I was still pregnant, we decided that we wanted to have a verse from God's Word to speak over Tater's life. We chose Luke 2:40, and inserted her name:
"Taters grew in Him and became strong in spirit,
filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon her."
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| Taters' verse is painted on a pallet and hung on the wall in her room. |
2. Making Phone Wallpapers
Monthly, I stop and decide what I am hoping for in Tater's life that month. I then choose a verse to support that idea. I take the verse and use a photopublishing app (I personally like Photofy), and I put the verse over a picture. I then set it as my phone's wallpaper.
Every time I turn my phone on, I get a reminder to stop and pray for her. I find that it's also a reminder to me as a parent to help encourage her in a specific area of life. When I was praying for her to be courageous (Deut 31:6), I found that I gave her more opportunities to try on her own, and pushed her to go just one step farther on her own. During the Christmas season, I found her verse (Romans 5:9) helped us to constantly remember the reason for the celebration. Such a simple idea has significantly molded and shaped our daily lives.
4. Prayer Journals
I keep a prayer journal for each child (I am starting them for our hopefully soon-to-be foster kids, too!). Every other month, I take 20 minutes and write in the journal. I write down my hopes and dreams for her, the verses that I have been praying over her, the things I love about her, any milestones she's reached... Anything that is on my heart! It is a way for her to be able to hold onto the foundation of prayer that was set for her, and it is a way for me to spend intentional time focusing prayer solely on her. I bought a simple composition notebook, and it sits on my end table for the nights when I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for my sweet potato.
4. Praying Aloud
I want Tater to hear our prayers and see our faith lived out. Whether it is praying for healing over her scraped knee, or praying for her on the way to school, we look for opportunities to demonstrate prayer because we want our kids to have an daily relationship with Jesus. We thank God for his love and resurrection, and for our family and friends, and we pray that our girl grows to follow our example and develop her own personal prayer life.
I really find that these are practical ways to be intentional about praying for my girl. Prayer is such a powerful tool in parenting. We all struggle at times, but our prayers allow God to fill the gaps.
Prayers gives hope.
It gives peace.
Prayer gives abundant life. (John 10:10)
