prayer – Sheila Dougal

8 Powerful Prayers To Pray Over Your Child or Teen

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As a Christian parent, my greatest desire is for my children to trust and follow Jesus. I want good things for them, but the world is full of frightening possibilities that threaten my kids’ faith and future.

Maybe like me, you find yourself overwhelmed with concern for your kids and you just don’t know where to start when it comes to prayer.

For centuries Christians have written prayers and used the prayers of others as a guide. Even the first disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and Jesus gave them what we call The Lord’s Prayer.

Sometimes we need inspiration to know how to pray. That’s why I wrote this. I hope this post will inspire and help you talk to God about your kids and the anxieties you carry for them.

Scriptures to pray over your children

Prayer is a conversation with God. When we use our Bibles to pray, God talks first, we listen and respond. If we make a practice of talking to God about what we read in our Bibles, we’ll have plenty of help with what to pray for our kids.

Here are 8 Bible verses and prayers to use as a starting place.

Prayer for your children’s protection

I am guilty of wishing I could raise my kids in a bubble.

Drugs, alcohol, sexual perversions, greed, love of money, abusive people… the options for destruction surround my kids like a pack of wolves. How should I pray?

The famous bedtime prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,” may sound childish, but the truth is, the Lord is the one who keeps our kids’ souls. He is our hope for their protection.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life- whom shall I dread? Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid; though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident.”

Psalm 27:4 CSB

Pray like this:

Lord Jesus, You died and rose to overcome everything that seeks to destroy our children. Please give (enter child’s name) eyes to see the evils they should run from. Whenever (enter child’s name) faces danger, provide him/her a safe place. Give (enter child’s name) hope in Christ when he/she faces something fearful. And provide a way of escape when he/she is tempted by his own desires that lead to sin. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayer for a child in crisis

When we get bad news about our child, or they experience trauma or loss, the overwhelming sense of helplessness is paralyzing. We want our kids to be strong and courageous, but when fear breathes down our necks we too need the anchoring truth of who God is to help us pray.

“God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil.” -Psalm 46:1-3 CSB

Pray like this:

Heavenly Father, when everything seems to be falling apart you are a strong, safe place to hide. You help in times of trouble. I come to you with my anxieties for (enter child’s name) as he/she faces these challenges. Holy Spirit, be his/her stabilizing strength. Be the Helper I cannot be for (enter child’s name) right now. And help me to know how to come alongside my child in this crisis in a way that strengthens his/her hope in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayer for children’s health

God has not promised our kids health. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.(John 16:33)” But Jesus also fulfilled the prophecy that says, “…he himself bore our sicknesses…” (Isaiah 53:4) Though our children may not be healed of mental or physical maladies, we can pray they will trust the Christ who bore their brokenness in his own body, and can raise them to new life.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will have life even if he dies. And he who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26

Pray like this:

Risen Lord Jesus! You have overcome sin and death. I pray (enter child’s name) will believe this and trust you, even if he/she has mental or physical health troubles that don’t go away. When (enter child’s name) is suffering with mental/physical pain, help him to look to Jesus for hope and healing. You are the one who heals our bodies and minds and so I ask that you would heal (enter child’s name) of (enter whatever he/she is ill with). But even if you don’t, help me to point (enter child’s name) to the hope of resurrection. In your precious name, amen.

Praying for a rebellious child or teenager

Next to the death of a child, watching a son or daughter rebel against your guidance, and especially against Christ, is heart-wrenching.

In Psalm 51, David writes a broken-hearted prayer of repentance after his sin was exposed. It was only after recognizing his own sin that he was able to teach others to turn to God. In our prayers for our children we must seek God’s wisdom to discern where our own confession of sin and repentance is needed to help our kids return to obedience.

“Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to you.” -Psalm 51:12-13

Pray like this:

Father, give me a healthy awareness of my own sin and bring back the joy of what Christ has done for me. Give me a willingness to bear with (enter child’s name)’s sin. Only when I am overjoyed with what Jesus has done for me will I be able to teach (enter child’s name) in his/her rebellion. Lord Jesus, give me the joy that may draw (enter child’s name) back to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayer for your child’s future

God knit our children together, weaving their personality, talents and number of days like a master tapestry, before their first cry. We can pray with confidence in the goodness of the God who holds their future in his hands.

“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it…For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:7,11

Pray like this:

Lord Jesus, I want (enter child’s name) to have a long and happy life. I lay down my grip on (enter child’s name) future, because you hold it in your hands. Please give (enter child’s name) satisfaction in you, no matter what his/her days hold. May (enter child’s name) seek the peace of the people in his/her life. May (enter child’s name) be a person who prays for the people in his/her community and looks to you for his/her hope and security. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayers for your child’s success

Because God’s thoughts are not like ours, the way we and our kids measure success may leave us with an insatiable thirst for more. We want our child’s ideas of success to grow out of God’s thoughts, not their own. Whatever our children set out to do, we want them to be motivated by a desire to glorify God.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

Pray like this:

Lord Jesus, Whatever (enter child’s name) does for work, at home, with friends, and family, for fun, for growth, I pray he/she would do it for your glory. Let (enter child’s name) feel the honor of being one who bears God’s image. Give (enter child’s name) a desire to honor you with his/her life. And when (enter child’s name) finds he/she is without love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control, may your mercy draw him/her to repentance. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayers for teenage relationships

Next to the “terrible twos,” the teenage years have the most notorious reputation for trouble.

Teens live in a tension between playful childhood and adult expectations. The fact that teenage relationships are between two immature and broken people means there will inevitably be trouble. We can’t keep our kids from this kind of suffering, but we can pray that in their relationships they will learn to love others well.

“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” – John 15:12 CSB

Pray like this:

Father God, you created (enter child’s name) to love you with all of his/her being and to love others as he/she loves him/herself. (Enter child’s name) has and will fail to do this, but on the cross you purchased all the ways he/she falls short. Please give (enter child’s name) eyes to see how much you love him/her. Give (enter child’s name) a desire to learn to love others well. Give (enter child’s name) a good friend, who will point him/her to you. If it is your will, at the right time, give (enter child’s name) a spouse who will help him/her follow Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayers for my daughter or son to come home

The goal of parenting is to launch our children out into the world equipped to follow Jesus. We want this to be a deliberate and happy launch. We don’t want anger, shame, and lust for the world to drive our kids away from home. When a child leaves home in rebellion, the desire for them to come home is a desire for reconciled relationships. Like the Father in the prodigal son story, we must look for restoration. Praying is how we watch for the day when God brings our child back to a right relationship with us and him.

“So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. – Luke 15:20 CSB

Pray like this:

Father God, you are a good, good Father. Your children have rebelled against you despite your faithful love. Please give (enter child’s name) a moment of coming to his/her senses. Help (enter child’s name) to see his/her own sin and your amazing love, and turn to you. Restore (enter child’s name) to a healthy relationship with his family and with you. Help me to be prepared to receive (enter child’s name) back with joy and life-giving boundaries. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Never Stop Praying

As our kids grow through the various stages of life we must never stop praying for them. Using these 8 verses and prayers we can begin praying with confidence in what God says. The Holy Spirit will help us when we’re weak and don’t know what to pray.

“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.” (1 Samuel 12:23)

And click here to get free printables of these 8 scriptures and prayers. And here for an editable word document of the same.

How to cultivate an appetite for Jesus

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Growing up in Roseburg, Oregon in 1989, all the cool kids shopped at the Gap store in Eugene. It’s an hour drive. And on some weekends, when I got to go shopping with my friends we would all plan to shop at the Gap and eat at Cinnabon. The aroma of those heavy, buttery, sweet cinnamon rolls was intoxicating then, and it still is. There really is no comparison to Cinnabon for me. I’ve tasted and I’ve seen that Cinnabon is good and there is no other cinnamon roll that will do.

That level of craving, of tasting Cinnabons and wanting more does not compare to the taste of and craving for the goodness of Jesus. I know it feels like a drop off doesn’t it. We all know the intoxicating taste of hot, melting-with-butter-and-frosting cinnamon rolls, but Jesus? How do you taste and crave Jesus?

The Bible calls us to, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8) The only way we can taste and see the goodness of the Lord is to be feeding on his word (1 Peter 2:2), joining our lives with his people (1 John 1:3), and praying fervently as we go (Psalm 69:13). And if I’m sensing my own condition and the state of many in my life correctly we’ve lost our appetite for tasting the goodness of the Lord Jesus this way.

There are times I need to push reset on my eating habbits. I need to eat clean so I can enjoy the goodnes of good things once again. When I’ve been indulging in junk food and fast food my body feels it, and I have a diminished desire for what’s actually good for me and want to eat more french fries. I’ve found my relationship with Christ to be similar. Sometimes I need to intentionally stop filling my mind with podcasts, music, my favorite movies, or busying myself with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and reading blogs or books, and fill the empty, uncomfortable space I find when I do that with God’s word and prayer. That’s the only way I can cleanse my spiritual pallete. It’s the only way I can grow my appetite and affections for Jesus.

Today in a leadership meeting at my church we talked about the need to return to our first love Jesus, to return to fervent and effective prayer, to remember the gospel and stir our affections for Jesus and all he’s done for us. It hit me that I have to repent often of not valuing what Jesus has done, and valuing something else in his place. The barrier keeping me from passionate love of God and others, fervent prayer and a worshipful heart is my constant and often unconscious tendency to think, “Yeah, Jesus is great, but I want ____________.” I’ve filled that blank with so many things over the years. They’ve all dulled my appetite for God’s word and the goodness of the Lord.

Do you have a craving for knowing Jesus more? For being with him, going where he’s going, being made like him? Do you find like me that you’re often lacking in desire or appetite for Jesus and sort of, “meh” the thought of him? Join me in repenting. Join me in turning away from the things that have dulled our appetites for Jesus. And join me in returning to a steady diet of God’s word and prayer to regain a craving for God that’s fitting. Surely he is even more wonderful than a Cinnabon.

A return to feeding on the word of God, praying as we read, talking and listening, casting cares and asking questions, chewing like cud again and again what God has revealed to us of himself in Jesus through the Bible and his church is the hard reset button we need to push on our spiritual diet.

C.S. Lewis described our condition this way:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” – The Weight of Glory

Lord, forgive me for dulling my appetite for you with “mud pies.” Thank you for your mercy and grace provided me in Christ. I want to crave you more than Cinnabon, more than spacing out, or vegging out, or detaching, or escaping, or wine, or chocolate, or surfing social media, or anything. I want to love you with all my heart and love my neighbor as myself. Let me taste and see that you’re good again and again!

thoughts from a Mother’s Day Sunday

Yesterday being Mother’s Day, me being a mom and a having a mom and knowing moms and women who long to be moms and/or grieve the loss of their children, it was a day full of thoughts turned prayers.

Yesterday also being the last Sunday in a series on marriage at my church, and me being married and knowing firsthand the unique kinds of trials marriage brings, it was a day of reflection turned worship.

About a week ago I read Psalm 27 and it grabbed me. I’ve been mulling it over ever since. One particular verse has me thinking about my one thing.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.

What’s the one thing I am asking God for and seeking after? One thing. Mostly its been for my marriage. Or my kids. The two things yesterday hit on. When I read Psalm 27 I hear the writer exclaiming that in the midst of fearful troubles and rejections, his one thing was a triune request: To be in God’s presence all his life, to see the beauty of God and to be able to talk with God and may requests of him. If I’m honest at first reading I feel like that’s just out of reach. How can I say my one thing is all about God when my kids are struggling and I’m exhausted and my marriage is so troubled? How could the Psalmist say this when danger and fears and rejection by his own parents surrounded him?

As I listened yesterday to the preaching of the message that God has ransomed us from slavery to sin and idolatry, like Hosea ransomed Gomer, the mental image of the Son of God crying out, “I buy you back! I buy you with my own life!” while I was shamefully sold-out to sin flashed through my mind. I heard 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

And then Psalm 27 started making more sense. There’s only one thing I really need in the midst of fears and suffering: Christ. If he didn’t buy me back to God I would never be able to run to him as a refuge. I wouldn’t be able be in his presence daily or see his endless beauty or talk with him and seek his answer.

In the midst of parenting trials and marriage troubles, where fears and the pain of betrayal and rejection and sins threaten to destroy, the one thing I need more than anything is Christ. And when I lift my eyes off this storm around me and believe the promise that he his with me, and dwell on the beauty of his glory, and seek his face and his counsel, everything is set right. The storm may rage, but with the psalmist I can say:

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

Let Down by God?

This past Sunday I stood in a high school theatre with dozens of people I don’t know looking up at the screen where the band was projecting the words to the songs we were singing to God:

You’re never gonna let
Never gonna let me down
You’re never gonna let
Never gonna let me down

When I get to church, the words of every song we sing confront me. And I hang on every word preached. I can’t mindlessly sing the songs. I can’t snooze through the sermon. I’m too desperate. I’m too thirsty.

So when the words to King of My Heart were on the screen Sunday, and I was singing with hot tears, “You are good.” I really meant it. I really believe Jesus is God and He is good! But when the words “You’re never gonna let, never gonna let me down,” came on the screen I stopped singing. I stood there with heart exposed to the Holy Spirit’s searching work and I knew I could not sing those words with honesty. Instead I uttered a prayer, “Father you know me. You know I can’t sing that. I confess I feel like you have let me down. But I know you are good. Help me to know you for who you really are.”

I think I have a pretty good understanding of the God of the Bible. I say that with much hesitation. What I know is a glimpse, a taste of an infinity of truth. I’ll spend eternity never exhausting knowing God. But I have been very blessed to have been taught by some great Bible teachers and mentors in the faith. I’ve spent many hours chewing on the Bible. I believe the Jesus I have never seen but love as revealed in the scriptures is the one and only God-Man, the Christ. My creed is the creed Christ’s historic and worldwide church has believed and proclaimed for thousands of years. So when I read words like the words written in the song we sang on Sunday I realize something is amiss. Either something’s wrong with me and my understanding of the God of the Bible or something’s wrong with those words cause I can think of 23 years of prayers unanswered that have left me feeling like God has let me down.

I’m not alone in my honest conflict with the words, “You’re never gonna let me down.”

Throughout the Bible God’s people have had to come face to face with the incongruence of the Sovereign God they believe in and the circumstances in their life.

Job had to reconcile the horror he was living through with the God he proclaimed. He felt the sovereignty of God in his boils and said, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.” Job 13:15

Moses questioned God when he had obediently confronted Pharaoh and was mocked and blamed for making the people he was sent by God to free work harder. “Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” – Exodus 5:22

Noemi said it was God who had emptied her. “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” Ruth 1:20-21

Even John the Baptist, who had looked at Jesus and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” found himself in prison and sent messengers to Jesus to ask if was really the Messiah they were all waiting for.

And there are many, many more examples.

Blessed are the un-offended

When John questioned Jesus’ identity, Jesus’ response was to point out all that he was doing. And then he added, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Gulp.

Was I offended at Jesus in the words, “You’re never gonna let me down?” Was I offended that Jesus had let me down by not answering my prayer the way I wanted?

The word offended sounds like scandalized in the language Jesus spoke it. skandalizō.

Blessed is the one who isn’t scandalized by me.

It means to be caused to stumble. To be caused to distrust the person you should trust.

Jesus is not a soft, yes man, who makes you feel good with positive affirmations. Jesus is the rock that many stumble over and are offended by. I stumbled over him on Sunday. And like Job, Moses, Noemi, David and John the Baptist I have a choice: leave him offended or let the mountain of truth that he is be to me a shadow in which to hide, a rock of refuge to which I flee.

Who Else Is There?

Peter and the other ragamuffin disciples of Christ tripped over him too. When Christ offered the saving truth that he had come to suffer and die broken, like bread, people were offended. Those who had thought Jesus was there to feed their appetites in the form of miraculous power couldn’t accept the idea that he had come to give life to their perishing souls in the form of a wrath-bearing substitutionary atoning sacrifice. When Jesus saw the offended folks leave he asked his chosen ones, “Are you going to leave too?” Peter- I love Peter, quick to speak and quick to trip and quick to fall Peter- opened his mouth and said words I say to Jesus not infrequently, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life. And we believe and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God”

Coming face to face with the reality of who Christ really is, is something we all must and will do. What we do with who he is is the test of who we really are.

The blessed, oh how happy ones, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, are the ones who look at his sovereignty in his willing brokenness and risen power and say with Job, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.” We feel let down, but we look up and we hope in him. We believe and have come to know he is the only one with the words of life. We know there is no where else to go. We see his scars. And we hear his risen promise to dwell in us and with us and we aren’t offended. We love him. We want him. By his good grace we won’t leave him.

Mixed feelings on 42.

As of today I’m 42.

Today is a mixed bag of emotions. The day started at 5:30 AM, which is an hour and a half sleep-in compared to the 4 AM wake up call on workdays. The baby goats are being separated from their mom’s at night to begin the weaning process, so when I walk the acre from our back door, under the stars, to the corral where they’re at, I’m greeted by 7 goat kids screaming, “MAAAAA!!”

I tiredly fed the baby girl (The 6 boys we have left I stopped bottle feeding in the morning. They seem to be getting what they need from their mom’s and will be weaned completely from milk by 2 months of age.) and then thought I’d sneak back into the house and sleep more until 7:30 and then come back and milk the momma goats, but I decided to just get the milking chores done and then nap after. The nap finally came at 12:30 after morning chores and a guy responding to our Craigslist ad for free mulch came to pick up a load… and I did some reading.

James put the boys to work yesterday and today for their first 2 days of summer break. Yesterday he had them purge every closet, cabinet and drawer in the entire house. Today he had them cleaning the back patio, garage and barn. They did good. I think they’re happier when they do hard work.

I, on the other hand, refrained from all chores and soap making today. I spent some time reading and thinking and praying about dear friends, broken relationships and people I care about with major things going on in their lives. I also decided to pull out the Jamberry gel nail kit I bought like 6 months ago and actually paint my nails. It put the nail in the coffin for me. I am not a nail person! I just don’t want to spend an hour of my life painting my fingernails. They do feel nice, but I feel a little like a cat feels when you put scotch tape on his paws.

The day started getting heavy when I got news that my grandpa Don passed away this morning. Grandpa Don has been married to my grandma Oleta since I was about 13. I was not close to him but I know he had a servant’s heart… always helping and serving my grandma and her kids and grandkids. For the last few years he’s had to live in a memory care facility due to his worsening Alzheimer’s disease. It’s been hard for my grandma Oleta not having him at home as she’s been struggling with a lung cancer diagnosis and her own health issues. I know my grandma is grieving the loss of her brother this week too. My heart is heavy for her. I wish I lived closer!

Grief is a hard thing. You don’t have to experience a physical death to experience grief. Divorce and betrayal can create the worst kind of grief… for more than just the couple and their immediate family. I tried to face that grief with vulnerability and love today in a very small way. Someone asked me why not just ignore it. I can’t. Love can’t. Forgiveness can’t. Ignoring it is just letting it fester deep inside.

Tomorrow I’ll start at 4 am and end at 9 pm with breakfast, a 12 hour shift at the hospital and a quick bite to eat in between. Repeat twice. Then I’ll be home for three days to plan the summer events with the boys, make soap and lotion orders, ship soap, hopefully sell some more bucklings, attend a Linear Appraisal from the ADGA and hopefully do a trip to the library.

I can easily fall into the trap of living under the tyranny of the urgent. I don’t want to though. Taking a day like today to rest from the normal business is a good way for me to look the Urgency Tyrant in the face and say, “God’s in charge. Not you.” I think that’s in the Bible somewhere. 🙂

Every year that passes I am becoming more and more in agreement with the heart cry in the prayer, “So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom!”

Quieted,

Sheila

Love. Suffering. And the Heart-Stream Turner.

(Old pic, boys have grown a lot in a couple years.)

Here it is approaching midnight. I so wanted to sit down and write out some thoughts from today earlier but a neighbor popping in, a child wanting to play cards, a husband not feeling well and soap to be made stood in my way.

So, here I am, printing labels for soap at the very end of this 2nd Sunday in Advent and writing out some thoughts with this very tired brain. Consider yourself forewarned.

Today’s reading was reflecting on love and today at church we heard from 1 Corinthians 6, not an apparent tie here, but there are these two questions:

Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

I remember having a Bible study with a lady once who seemed appalled at the thought that you should do something or refrain from doing something because it might cause that person to stumble in their walk with Christ. I remember the look on her face that said, “That cannot mean that! That’s co-dependency. I can do whatever I want.” I remember thinking she doesn’t get it. She still thinks Christianity is something you add like a cherry to the top your personally selected sunday life. She certainly doesn’t think Christianity is taking up your cross and following Jesus daily in dying to yourself and bearing with others, even suffering.

That section in 1 Corinthians that asks those two small questions… that’s the part that came to mind when I read this evening’s Advent reading on love.

Christ suffered wrong and was defrauded along the path to glorify the Father and bring me (and all those who would believe) back into a right relationship with God.

I will suffer wrong and be defrauded in this life as I set out to glorify my Father and point others to Christ.

That’s the price of love. But oh is it worth it!

To the one who holds tightly to all they have to uphold their worth, suffering wrong and being defrauded is to be avoided and must be avenged at all cost.

But to the one who knows all things are theirs in Christ; who knows their worth and identity are found in him, to suffer wrong and be defrauded is a light and momentary affliction on the path of Christ-like love.

Being a Timothy-Mom to two boys in a divided house is hard. It’s been really hard these last 48 hours. But God amazes me how, “The king’s heart is like a stream of water in the hand of the LORD- he turns it wherever he will.” I worried. And I took all those worries and cried and poured out my heart before the only One who can do anything about a 12 year old boy’s heart and his tired, unbelieving dad. And He turned that unbelieving heart toward wisdom. And gave him the right words for his troubled son. And I stood there in the hall and thanked God for hearing my cries and intervening.

I will trust Him! There is no one like my God!

Quieted,

Sheila

You should really try this!

So daily life is full and prayer is taking on a much greater importance and dedicated time slot in my life. (Thank God!!)

There’s also the dairy-goat life and staying in touch with good friends. This week a neighbor asked me if I’d like to join her weekly for prayer and Bible study. We got together Monday morning and prayed together for an hour. It was the most wonderful morning I’ve had in… years.

I’ve been studying first Peter on an inconsistent basis. The 12 hour shift days I work pretty much knock out everything except, eat, shower and sleep. But when I have been engaged in the study I’m amazed.

One of the things this study by Jen Wilkin is having me do is re-write the one or two verses in focus for the week in my own words. Have you ever done this? You should. I’m sure there are studies that show that comprehension is increased when we regurgitate something we’ve read in own words.

(As a side note, I have a screaming goat outside. It’s very distracting. Keeping a buck goat during the rutting season is truly a challenge. I don’t suggest you try it. Okay, back to what I was saying.)

1 Peter 1:1-25 in my own words:

From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To the people God chose as his own who have been kicked out of their homeland and are living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bythneia, just as God the Father intended ahead of time would be the case to set you apart by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ.

God is so wonderful! Because he is so extremely merciful he has caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And our new birth through Christ is a real, live guarantee that one day we will receive all that God has for us in Christ- an inheritance that can never loose value, breakdown or die. It’s kept in heaven for us by God who’s power through faith is keeping us saved until the day we get to fully see all that that salvation is!

In this amazing salvation God has worked for you through faith in the risen Christ, you rejoice. Even though for now you are suffering and are saddened by all kinds of trials. It will only be a little while though. These trials are testing and proving the genuineness of your faith which is worth much more than gold that perishes. And the genuineness of your faith is going to result in glory and honor and praise when you see Jesus fact to face… when he is revealed to the whole world. Though you have never seen him you love him and believe in him, and this is evidence of your true faith which saves you!

The Old Testament prophets prophecied about our salvation. They longed to know what time and who they were prophesying about, searching and asking for answers. Christ’s Spirit was in them prophesying about the time when he would come, but they only knew that this was for a people to come, not for themselves. They were prophesying the good news that we get to know and understand. Angels don’t even know what we know! They would love to understand what we understand!

Since then you have been so mercifully saved, prepare your minds for action! Be sober-minded! Let your only hope be all the grace and good that will be yours the day you see Jesus face to face. As children of God, be obedient, not letting yourself be molded by the passions that intoxicated you before you knew Christ! But just like God is holy- be holy in the way you live.

If you call God Father, who is the judge of all and who doesn’t play favorites in his judging, live your life in reverent awe, knowing that you were bought out of a life of meaningless living; not with money, or material treasures, but with blood- the blood of the Son of God, who is the only perfect sacrifice for your sin.

Christ has always been known in heaven. He is eternal but in these last days he has been made known to us who believe in him through God who raised him from the dead. So our belief in Christ is really belief in God.

So, since you have been totally re-born by God’s living and indwelling word and have purified your soul by believing and submitting to that word (which is the good news about Christ) so that you can genuinely love these other people in God’s family who have become your eternal brothers and sisters- love one another earnestly from a pure heart! For it is written: All flesh is like grass and all the glory of flesh is like a flower- it all dies and fades away. But the word of God never dies and never fades away! It remains healthy and perfect and vibrant and living forever! And this is why you will live forever! This is what you have been born again by!

You should really try this! Take in a few verses of God’s word. Read and re-read it over and over again. Then pray it. The re-write it in your own words as though you were trying to speak it to someone who’d never heard it before.

Quieted,

Sheila

Do you know Jochebed?

Moses in his mothers arms’ by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)

*This post was originally written in 2014. I’ve been thinking a lot about my sons and my prayers for them… this post came to mind. *

What do you do as a mom when you know your child grows up under the influence of authorities in their life who dishonor God and His Word? Who mock the Christ and the whole concept of sin and the need for a Savior? Who think of the Bible as old, out-of-date stories? Who offer the short-lived pleasures of this world as the ultimate pursuit of your child’s life over and against the foolish call of Christ to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him to a kingdom that they cannot see where true riches and never-ending pleasures abide in uninhibited relationship with the Living God?

I look to a woman named Jochebed.

The nearly 4000 year old story of Moses is not only a pivotal story in the history of the people of Israel, it’s also the heroic story of a mom who put her hope for her son in the Living God and whose influence, no doubt, was God’s means of grace to plant faith in Moses.

We only get a few short verses about Jochebed’s influence on Moses. But we get a thousand upon thousand year old legacy of faith in Christ because of her faith.

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. – Hebrews 11:24-26

Mary Elizabeth Baxter (a Christian woman long gone to glory) wrote a commentary on Jochebed that I find tremendously encouraging. Here is an excerpt:

Christian mother, does your home influence counteract the sin, the untruth, the impurity, the hollowness of the world, so that your son finds the home life a haven of rest from temptation and shame?

Is there so much of God in your life that it more than outweighs other influences which surround him? Blessed mother, if it is so!

Pharaoh’s daughter said to Jochebed: “Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.” (Exd 2:9.) This is the last we hear of Jochebed, Moses’ mother. THE RESULT OF HER LIFE’s WORK was the man Moses.

The true mother lives again in her son. There is the answer to her prayers; there is the result of her watchfulness; there is the true correction of her own faults reproduced in her son. Moses might never have been the man he was had it not been for Jochebed.

Who knows how many a leader of God’s people may be at the present time in course of training by some pious mother? Who knows but that the little James or John or William, who is playing with the kitten on the hearth, may some day become a man to whom hundreds or thousands may look for help and direction?

Oh let every mother who reads these pages understand her vocation when a higher than Pharaoh’s daughter says to her: “Take this child and nurse it for Me, and I will give thee thy wages.” But the wages of Jochebed were not to be given by the princes of this world. To be the mother of a Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, like whom there arose not since in Israel (Deu 34:10): this was an honour which none but God could give.

I often get discouraged. Almost to the point of giving up… whatever that would look like. I guess every paralyzation of indifference or hopelessness that I choose is a giving up of sorts. I let the lie that my influence means nothing, even more, that God’s word and grace is not powerful enough and God’s Sovereign goodness is not really sovereign or good, numb me into just sitting there rather than saying something.

There was a time when they nursed at my spiritual breast. There was a time when I had a captive and eager audience of two boys under 5 who fed on the truth with gladness. But that season of nursing is passed. Now they are in Pharoah’s house. Now they have the opulence of the world at their fingertips and the temporary pleasures of sin to worship the false gods of this age with.

But I remember Jochabed. I remember the God of Jochabed. My God- the God who purposed Moses’ life even when it was full of the fleeting pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt.

I often wonder how Jochebed endured those years in Egypt, knowing her son was gaining rank in the house of the ruler who enslaved her and her people. Surely it was painfully difficult to go about the laborious tasks of slavery knowing that her son was enjoying riches, entertainment and power in a house which attributed all it’s power and riches to false gods. I wonder if she thought there was no way her son Moses would remember all that she taught him at her breast. I wonder if she seriously doubted that he would ever turn his back on Pharaoh’s gods to worship the God of his enslaved kin. There must have been years of tight-throated, eyes-burning-with-tears prayers and pleas to the God of Joseph to not forget her son and let him rot in the riches of Egypt.

Even in this season, hard as it is to endure, I know my God is able to take what was (and is) planted in my sons, my ongoing prayers (feeble as they may be) and the faith (microscopic as it is) that He has given me, and make all that tempt to ensnare my boys serve the purpose of bringing them to the place where, they too, can choose the reproach of Christ as greater wealth over all that gleams and glitters (and becomes enslaving chains) in this world. And if, when, they do that, it will be a miracle! No one chooses the reproach of Christ over the fleeting pleasures of sin and the wealth of this world without a miracle!

Oh God of Jochebed! God of Moses! God over Pharaoh! My God! You who rule the universe. You who do not let a single sparrow fall from the sky without your okay. You who designed motherhood and know the heartache of sons and daughters who leave your goodness to go after the cotton-candy rot of the world. You who gave me sons and a heart to know you. You who used my sin to bring me to the knowledge of my need for a Savior. You who called me out of darkness into your wonderful light, who brought me from death to life despite my angst towards you and my wandering from you, who gave me taste buds to taste your goodness when I was intoxicated with the poison of the pleasures of sin. Oh merciful God who loves and is just and poured out all judgement against sin on your only Son to save us from what we could never endure. Hear my prayers for my sons. Let no one keep them from coming to their Savior. Give them the faith to choose the joy of You over all this world has to offer. Give me the faith to stand when I want to lay down; to believe when I’m mocked. May Christ be magnified in me! Let my life bring you glory!

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! – Psalm 90:17

Casting Cares

(The first year that he’s taller than the tree. Tummy flop.)

I have a lot on my mind. A lot of people and circumstances. I was climbing the stairs earlier, attempting to just carry on with my “normal” daily activities and the weight of all these cares brought me to my knees right there. I had let out a few exhaling prayer-sighs through the morning, but I just couldn’t take it anymore, I needed to stop, right there, and just cry and call out and cast all my cares upon the One who cares for me- the only One who can do anything about any of it.

I’m very thankful for a pastor who would teach the Word of God, and exhort us not to complain about the culture we live in but to be a light of the gospel in this seemingly ever-darkening society. I’m so glad he would recognize, and call us to recognize, the treasure and responsibility God has given us in our children and in teaching them His word.

I went to a dinner last night with some families from Pathway and my burden to pray was enlarged. A husband and wife are separated across the world from their young child due to an illness. The hearts of moms and dads confessed worry over our children and the choices they’ll make in the pressures of the world they live.

A niece writes a public cry of a teenage girl’s heart on Facebook- a teenage girl tired of hanging in there.

My sons grow up in a divided house and I chose this road.

I find resistance and the toying with the thought of vengeance at the bottom of my wife-well rather than a calm and confident spirit that hopes in God. And just when I cry out, “Oh God! I’m empty and all I find is this anger in me…” I hear a spring of calm and quiet trust bubbling up in me and I remember the scriptures and how He is a covenant keeping God and my hope is renewed.

I hear the sound of the peculiar mark of majesty, the sound of Christ-like submission that is a unique identifier of true Christians, and I want it. I know it comes out of confidence, out of knowing who you are in Christ, not out of fear. I know it comes out of following the Master who I am not greater than, not bondage to a tyrannical, angry God. It has nothing to do with rights or superiority and has everything to do with being like Christ.

I long for my kids to see the power of God in their lives. I want them to see the God who changes the hearts of men. I want them to see that He really does this! He really does redeem sinful people! He really does change peoples lives for His glory!

I’m concerned for my dad.

I want to reach the children at Pathway and the children in my neighborhood for Christ. I want to glorify God at my job and in my neighborhood and in my house.

Sigh. Deep breath.

Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan… Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God… Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. – Psalm 55:2,17-19, 22

Quieted,

Sheila

God is not Dr. Crabby Pants

(Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son Ryland)

It started at 1:30 AM, Thursday. I can’t do math in my sleep-deprived brain at this point, but in however many hours it’s been since 1:30 AM Thursday, I’ve had a couple hours of sleep. My husband has had less. Not good.

My husband was called out to investigate a messy crime at 1:30 Thursday, that began the blur that has occurred since. My dear friend took my boys last night when I had to go to work and there was no husband home to pass the baton of parenting to. She took them trick or treating, fed them dinner, made them comfortable beds and got them to school this morning on top of her own three. There’s a friend! Very thankful.

I ended a 12-hours-on-my-feet shift with a doctor yelling at me over the phone for calling him to get an order. This is an aspect of nursing I’ve never embraced until this morning when it hit me, “Everything you endure by faith in the good sovereignty of God is only being used for your good.” It actually made me smile and shake off the desire to tell Dr. Crabby Pants unkind things. Being a nurse highlights the importance of authority and the difficulty of submitting to it, and as a Christian it illumines an opportunity to suffer for doing good and thereby grow in Christ-likeness.

I still scratch my head though. You’re mad at me for calling you for an order only you can give regarding an issue that is for the patient’s safety and good?! One runs into this not infrequently as a nurse.

What if the Great Physician was so unapproachable and easily irritated? What a terrible thought! I’m so glad my God, who possesses all authority, invites me to call on him and his authority day or night, time after time after time. He is not bothered by my need for His “orders”. He wants me to “wake him up” in the middle of the night. Not that God sleeps or grows tired, but I love it that in the Psalms, and in the parables Jesus told, God seems to be saying, “I understand, that you may feel like I’m sleeping. That’s ok. WAKE ME UP! APPROACH ME! INTERRUPT ME! BE RELENTLESS!”

Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! – Psalm 44:23

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” – Luke 18:1-8

I’m glad my God is happy. He’s not frustrated and irritated. He’s totally confident and kind and has all power and yet does not “lord it over” us, but bends down to lift us up. He actually listens with desire for us to know we are heard and known by Him and He is not bothered by us.

Thank you Father!

Quieted,

Sheila