My daughter brought home a t-shirt last night. “I’m wearing this to classes tomorrow!”
For many years I have been praying for the future spouses of our three children. It started for me when I heard our pastor speak about praying for the future wives of their four sons. After my middle daughter started dating, I began to pray also for the families of the future spouses.
The prayer starts out with: Protect them and guide their decisions. Protect and guide their life mates and their life mates’ families and teach us all your paths and your ways.
I realized that I am in need of God to teach me too. So I continue with:
I pray that we will all be filled with the full, deep, clear knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom (that is, comprehensive) insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things; that we all may walk and conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him and desiring to please him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work; and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God – with fuller, deeper, clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition. I pray that all of us might be invigorated and strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory and to exercise every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy.
Now that my children are older, they have begun to think about future mates. Well, my middle daughter is married so now we can pray for them by name. My other two are more conscious about future spouses, as well as, how will I earn money? And so, we go back to the prayer above, protect them and guide their decisions.
As parents, we also pray: guide my reactions to their actions. Help me to see the worth in people. Show me how to be available to my children and how to lead them during this new stage of their lives. Bring to them and along their paths those people that you want in their lives. Help me to show love and not cringe. Give me grace in abundance. Make our home a haven of rest. Bring peace to our hearts and let your joy reverberate throughout our home.
The t-shirt is from http://www.liveoffensively.com
