I’m so excited that my new book, 5 Things to Pray for Your Kids, releases today! Here’s a little of the story behind the book and why I hope it will get into the hands of as many parents as possible. I pray that it will help us pray bigger prayers—with our eyes on eternity—as we bring our hopes for our children to Jesus.
From the moment I took a positive pregnancy test, I’ve been a praying mom. The wonder of motherhood made me feel like there was way too much under my control (How can one child require so much every day?) and at the exact same time that I was powerless to control anything (Why can’t I get her to sleep?). Seeing the reality of my limitations opened me up to prayer in new ways. I prayed for my children to eat, to sleep, and to make it to the potty in time. Prayer became a lifeline in the midst of many days when I had no idea what I was doing.
As I was busy praying for the mundane things of my day, I also knew I needed to be praying for my children’s larger spiritual and emotional needs. I wanted to pray Scripture for my children, but often in the hustle and bustle of life, my spiritual prayers were reduced to “Please let them know you, Lord” and “May they glorify you in all they do.” While these are good things to pray, I knew the prayers of the Bible asked for even more: wisdom, discernment, strength, courage, understanding, spiritual prosperity, contentment, power over sin, and abounding hope.
So, when The Good Book Company approach me about contributing to their “5 Things to Pray” series, I said an enthusiastic “Yes!” Even though I’d been planning to take a writing break, I loved the simplicity of this series and wanted this book for my own prayer life. Time and again, I tell other parents that the most important thing I prioritized in motherhood is time in the Word and time in prayer. I’d already written Walking with God in the Season of Motherhood to help busy moms find time to be in the Word, so 5 Things to Pray for your Kids felt like the perfect accompaniment to help moms (and myself) pray the Word.
Each section of 5 Things takes a passage of Scripture and suggests five things to pray in a particular area of your child’s life—there are more than 100 ideas on what to pray for your kids and your parenting, from toddlers to teens and beyond. Since I received my copy, it’s been sitting beside my Bible and I’ve been using it daily to help me pray for my own children.
Our prayers are are powerful and effective. God can use them to work in our children in ways beyond our imagination. One of my favorite things about this project was that my daughter was asked to write the foreword. I cried thankful tears as I read the ways God worked in her own life through prayer. Our God is so good to hear our prayers, therefore: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). May he do more than we hope or imagine!
Here’s a video of me talking a little more about this book. I hope you’ll find it a helpful tool as you pray for your children.
