Prepared Ahead of Time

I am continually amazed at the goodness of God. How much he truly loves us. How much he cares for us. How he provides for a need before we even know we need it. Oh, my heart cries out with praises to Him.

Every parent who has raised their children into adulthood will understand where I have been these past few weeks. I have three children who are over 18 now and two teenagers. I also have one who officially enters the teen years next October. It seems weird to even write that.

These past few weeks I have been dealing with some very tough issues concerning my older children. The kind of issues that require 3-hour conversations at midnight. The kind of conversations where my children are asking hard questions about life and their faith. Wonderful conversations but ones that drain you mentally and physically.

I have been storming the gates of heaven for my children so much lately. I praise the Lord that my children are coming to me and talking. We poured so much into them when they were little and now, we are reaping those benefits. They are coming to us and wanting to talk. I am so thankful that those toddler and tough pre-teen years we were teaching them that they could come to us and talk. Hang in there, moms with littles. It is worth all the hard work when your teenager or adult child comes into your room and asks to talk to you or even asks to meet at a coffee shop for help with something they are struggling with. So worth all the days that seemed so hard.

God impressed on my heart at the beginning of the year to really commit to pray for one specific child. I started writing out prayer for them. I began studying my Bible more and more. I took time to delete apps on my phone and unsubscribe from a ton of email lists. I never realized all the emails I was getting. Some of them were emails from great Christian organizations, but I felt the Lord just calling me to simplify so I could prepare my heart for what this year had in store for me and my family.

I started getting up early again. A habit which, honestly, had fallen away from my life. I started to put down my phone and look into the faces of my children again. I saw some things that honestly convicted me. I saw the hurting eyes of my children who begged for nothing more than time with their mother, even if that was sitting on my bed watching a cooking show (which they love by the way.) I saw a little girl who began to notice I was getting up early. I slept in one day last week after a long nighttime conversation and she climbed into my bed to snuggle. She turned to me and said, “Mommy, don’t you need to get up and do your devotions.” I had no idea she was watching that closely. I always try to do my devotions before the kids get up, but she had been watching me. That statement made me realize once again the example I need to be setting for my children.

I did get up that morning to meet with Jesus. I have gotten up lots of mornings reading the word and praying. When a child came into my room last week wanting to talk about VERY hard things, God had already been preparing me to talk with this child. This was the same exact child that God had put on my heart to pray for at the beginning of the year. I started to pray through a book that a friend had recommended to me last year.  In the midst of our conversation I pulled out the prayer journal that I had started and read prayers over them. I watched as tears started streaming down both of our faces. The words I had written spoke into both of us. I told them, “God loves you so much that he prepared the words you needed to hear before either of us knew you needed them.”

What an amazing God we serve. He knew that this child would need a mother who had been reading the Word and praying over them. He led a friend to show me the book I have been praying through a full year before. God knew I needed that book. Oh, how thankful I am that I paid attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for this child. I have 8 children so when God called me to write out prays for this specific child, I was a little surprised. At the time I questioned, why this child? Why now? In my bedroom that night I began to break down with tears of great JOY over what God had been preparing me to do. God knew that I could not do it in my own strength. He knew that I would need to be walking very close to Him in order to help this child through a crisis. He prompted me weeks before that night to start getting my own heart right so I could lead this child get theirs right with God.

Oh, how wonderful and loving and caring a God we serve. He loves us so much more than we can ever comprehend.

Mommas, please don’t ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your lives. Be obedient even when you may not understand the reasons why God asks you to do something. Stay as close to God as you can in those years with your littles. Pour into your children when they are younger so that when they become adults, they desire to come to you and talk about hard things. You may lose some nights of sleep, but it is so worth it.

Mommas, don’t ignore when God has you speak into the life of another mom, like my friend did in telling me she was praying for my children and recommending the book to me. You may never know that the words you spoke into her life would be the very words God used to change her life and the lives of her children. Don’t be afraid to be honest with the women in your life.

I am not saying that it is easy. I continue to have conversations with my older children every day. Conversations about hard things. It may get harder. I have no idea what lies ahead for my children. My prayer is that they always know how much I love them and that they can come to me any time. I pray that they understand that they have a loving Heavenly Father who loves them so much more than I ever could.

I want them to see a mother who loves God with all her heart, soul, and mind and serves Him with all she has. This is my prayer.

“May I be equally convinced of the guilt and pollution of sin, feel my need of a prince and savior, implore of him repentance as well as forgiveness, love holiness, and be pure in heart, have the mind of Jesus, and TREAD IN HIS STEPS.

May I scandalize none by my temper and conduct, but recommend and ENDEAR CHRIST to all around, bestow good on everyone as circumstances permit, and decline no opportunity of usefulness.

Help me to guide my affections with discretion, to owe no man anything, to be able to give to him that needeth, to feel it is my duty and pleasure to be merciful and forgiving, to show the world the LIKENESS OF JESUS.”

Valley of Vision – Jesus My Glory (23)

Yes, that is a tissue box and yes, I do them sometimes cry during my devotions. And yes, the Valley of Vision book looks a little rough. I have used it a lot.