Moms in Prayer Archives

How to wake up in the morning (in the month of May-hem and beyond)

05.03.2025

It’s here. The month of May-hem. The slower rhythms of summer are coming, but they’re not on us just yet. And if your calendar looks like mine, you may be wondering if you will even make it to June, what with all of the graduations, weddings, recitals, end-of-year parties—and let’s not forget Mother’s Day.

(Seriously. Let’s not forget Mother’s Day.)

May is not like December. December gets heralded months in advance; we’re braced for impact by mid-November. Not so with May. May can sneak up on the unwary. One minute it’s April and you’re dreaming about a spring garden–should you try pink petunias this year?—and then boom. It’s May, and you need 30 treat bags for the baseball party tomorrow.

Where do we turn for relief? I can’t answer that—not completely, anyway—but I can share something that has been life-changing for me.

(Well, potentially life-changing; I’ve only been doing this for about 12 days now. But people say it works.)

(And by “people,” I mean Andy Crouch.)

I’ve long been a fan of Andy’s (I loved his books, Playing God and The Tech-Wise Family), and it was a huge treat to hear him speak last month at the Center for Christian Study’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration in Charlottesville. (Sidebar: If you have a kid going to the University of Virginia, or you know a student who’s headed there, click this link; the Study Center’s Move-In Day lunches are not to be missed for those looking to build Christian community from Day 1 of their college experience.)

Andy talked about a lot of things—the difference between “space” and “place”, for example, and how place kindles memory, a concept he linked to Deuteronomy 6—and I wanted more. I started poking around online and stumbled upon a short YouTube clip in which Andy talked about how to wake up in the morning—and what was clearly the wrong way to start your day.

Andy confessed that he had long held to an “ironclad rule” of checking his phone every morning, first thing. “I let the glowing rectangle tell me whatever I needed to pay attention to,” he said. Realizing that there had to be a better way, he resolved to ignore his phone and go outside as soon as he woke up, even if that meant descending several flights of stairs in a hotel on the other side of the world. What Andy discovered, as he pursued this new practice, was the gift of perspective and the ability to be who he really was: “A very small part of a very large world, rather than what I am on the screen, which is a very large part of a very small world.”

Andy’s words resonated, and I resolved to do the same thing. I woke up and, instead of checking text messages or the weather on an app, I stepped outside with my coffee and felt the actual air. (And yes, I am grateful that it is not still February.)

It was glorious!

It was glorious the next day. And the next—getting up and going outside, leaving my phone plugged into the charger. At first, I wondered if I might miss something important (What if one of my children needs me? What if they changed the time for today’s meeting? What if I won some sort of Fabulous Prize?), but it wasn’t long before I realized that it didn’t matter. Waiting a few minutes—or half an hour—wouldn’t change anything. No matter what my phone (or my ego) might want me to believe, I am just not that essential.

Andy was right.

(Of course he was right; he wrote a whole book about putting technology in its proper place.)

Do try this at home

Today, if you drive by our house in the early morning, you might just spot me on the front porch, dressed in my favorite bathrobe or sporting some sort of workout gear. I’ll have a big cup of coffee and, more often than not, a favorite devotional book. Our dog Minnie is apt to be out there, too, sniffing the day to see what it holds.

Want to join me? The coffee isn’t required (Andy drinks tea), and you don’t need a book (Andy goes outside on his own). But if you’re like I am and you often sense God’s presence when words are around, consider starting your day with intentional praise.

Praise “changes our attitude, brings an awareness of God’s presence; defeats Satan; releases God’s power; brings a victorious perspective; provides peace; wards of the spirits of self-pity, depression, and discouragement; and produces strength in an anxious heart.” That’s according to Moms in Prayer founder Fern Nichols, quoted in Praying the Scriptures for Your Life, and honestly? I want every. single. one. of those benefits!

Right now, I’m igniting praise with the help of Ruth Myer’s classic, 31 Days of Praise:

The chapters are short—less than two pages—and chock full of Scripture. I often find myself reading each entry out loud (a habit I like to think Minnie appreciates).

Another time-tested favorite is Sara Hagerty’s Adore. Sara knows what it’s like to wake up and not feel like giving God praise, times when grief, disappointment, or worry fills the radar screen of our lives. But, Sara says, that’s actually the best time to adore. “God does not want our polished pretenses,” she says. “He wants us to come honestly. He invites us to wrestle.”

Truth be told, you don’t need a devotional book. You can just grab your Bible and start praising your way through the psalms, kind of like Jesus did. If you do one a day, that will get you through the end of September (by which time you’ll be wishing you’d clicked that link for my favorite bathrobe).

So…here’s to deep breaths and morning calm in the month of Mayhem. You might not hear from me for awhile–hooray for Summer!—but if you live in Virginia Beach and you happen to pass by our house before 7 a.m., I hope you’ll wave!

An Immeasurably More Love

03.17.2025

If you could ask God to do anything for your family, what would that be? And what would it look like if God were to do immeasurably more than anything you could imagine?

Most of us probably have a ready answer to the first question. We have a mental list of unmet longings and desires: Heal my dad’s cancer. Let my niece get pregnant. Provide a job for my son…a husband for my daughter…a good friend for my child. Even if we’ve never spoken our prayer out loud or logged it in a journal, we know what we want.

That second question, though, is harder to process. What does “immeasurably more” look like in real life?

The thing is, we don’t know. The Bible says God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), and that’s kind of the point: We can’t imagine how much God can—and will—do. Even Bible people found themselves taken aback by the “plus plus” of his power.

Think about Zechariah and Elizabeth, the couple Luke describes as “righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” (Luke 1:6) They were godly folk, and we have to figure they’d prayed for a child. But Elizabeth was barren. And they were, as the Bible so graciously puts it, “well along” in years. They were old.

But then came Zechariah’s moment. He was chosen, by lot, to offer incense in the temple—a once-in-a-lifetime honor for a priest. Along with offering incense, a big part of the priest’s job was to pray for the nation of Israel, including a petition for the promised Messiah. Did Zechariah sneak in a side prayer for his own family, while he was at it?

We don’t know, but it sure looks that way. The angel shows up and tells Zechariah his prayer “has been heard.” And then he drops the joy-bomb: Elizabeth will have a son, a boy who will “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13-17)

In other words, both prayers—the official priestly prayer for Israel’s Messiah and the secret “I-just-want-to-be-a-dad” longing of Zechariah’s heart—found their answer in a single moment.

Immeasurably more than Zechariah was expecting.

An above-and-beyond love

What about Elizabeth? Was she still praying for a baby, after so many years?

Again, we don’t know; my guess is that her prayer might have shifted in her old age. Sure, she still longed to become a mother, but based on her response when she discovers she’s pregnant—she says that God has “shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people”—it seems like Elizabeth’s deeper hurt might have been the ostracism she experienced. As a barren woman, she was an outsider. She didn’t belong.

Here again, God does immeasurably more: He gives Elizabeth a baby and removes all traces of shame.

We see this pattern again and again in the gospels. For instance, when Jesus heals the anonymous woman who’d been bleeding for twelve years, he doesn’t just stop her physical suffering. He seeks her out—identifies her in the crowd—because he wants her to know that she is seen. That she is known. That she belongs in the family of God.

“Daughter,” Jesus says in Mark 5:34, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

The more I learn about God’s immeasurably more answers, the more I’m convinced that the whole point of him going above-and-beyond is that he wants us—all of us—to know how much he loves us. How much he understands us. How much he wants to remove any barrier—physical, emotional, or spiritual—that might keep us from knowing that we belong.

Last month, I was privileged to speak at The Pauline Chapel, a little jewel tucked just to the side of Colorado’s Broadmoor Hotel.

I’d been thinking about how God reads the unspoken cries of our heart—the longings we might not even be consciously aware of, the blessings that have yet to be formed in our minds’ eye—and how he responds. I wound up sharing one of my favorite “immeasurably more” answers to prayer with the Broadmoor community. I’ll sum it up here (and if you want more details, you’ll find the whole story in Praying the Scriptures for Your Children.)

What happens when we pray

Once upon a time, I was part of a Moms in Prayer group that met weekly to pray for our children, often with prayers birthed in Scripture. One week, we focused on Ephesians 5:15-16, asking God to help our kids be “very careful how they lived—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”

A few weeks later, one of the moms showed up and told us that that prayer had been answered—in a way none of us could have predicted—in the lives of two second-grade boys.

One of the boys, Eddie, was renowned for his misbehavior. Most kids gave Eddie a wide berth, lest he poke them with a pencil, pull their ponytail, or worse. But one little boy, Brandon, often went out of his way to be kind, and one day, when the teacher asked each child to write a persuasive letter to someone, Brandon picked Eddie.

When the time came to deliver the letters, the children who had written to parents or grandparents (trying to persuade them to buy a new bike or whatever) stuffed their notes in their backpacks to take home. Brandon simply dropped his on Eddie’s desk. Eddie was excited—but when he opened the letter, his face fell. He couldn’t read well enough to get past the first couple of words. Brandon asked the teacher—who just happened to be a Christian—if he could read the letter to his friend. The teacher agreed, telling him he could do it at recess.

That afternoon, the boys sat on a log under an old oak tree, oblivious to the shouts and games being played all around them. Eddie pulled the letter out of his pocket and leaned in to listen.

Dear Eddie, Brandon began. Please, please ask Jesus to come into your heart. Here are some reasons why:

Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
You will have eternal life.
God (Jesus’ father) is maker and creator of all.
You will go to heaven.
You can have anything you want in heaven.
I will be waiting for you.
God will be waiting for you.
Jesus will be waiting for you.
You can do anything in heaven.

P.S. All you have to do is bow your head right now and say, “Dear Lord, I want Jesus to come into my heart so I can have eternal life.” Amen.

Eddie sat back. “Would you, Brandon asked cautiously, “like to pray?”

“Yes,” Eddie said.

Sitting together at the edge of the playground, the two boys bowed their heads as Brandon led Eddie into the kingdom of God.

Friends, we don’t know—we can’t know—how God will answer our prayers. But we can slip our hand into his, trusting that he really is able to do immeasurably more than anything we can imagine.

And that his deepest desire is to have us turn to him, just like Eddie did, and say, “Yes.”

Heavenly Father,

You know I am concerned about ______. Please do immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine in this situation, and help me trust you.

Amen.

Back-to-School Prayers (with a free printable)

08.05.2024

Discover God’s best for the new school year (with free printable prayers)

Back-to-school means different things to different parents.

I spoke to one empty nester who told me she still hates Labor Day. “It signals that summer is over,” she said, “and I was always the mom in a puddle of tears at the bus stop. I didn’t want to let my kids go.”

And then there’s the Instagram mom who posted that the sun came out as she waved goodbye to her kids–and that when she went back into her house, the dishwasher had unloaded itself, the coffee had brewed itself, and Ryan Gosling had made her bed and was folding her laundry. 😉

Wherever you are on the back-to-school spectrum – sobbing or singing or a little of both – I know you love your kids. And you want God’s best for them during the coming year. I wish you and I could sit down together as this new school year begins. I’d ask you what you’re excited about. What concerns you might have. And how I can pray.

And I’d share some of what I’ve learned from other moms, especially as it relates to helping our kids push back against things like worry and fear. How do we help our kids when they struggle? Even if it’s just back-to-school jitters and not something chronic, how should we pray? How can we calm our own hearts?

I asked Sally Burke, Moms in Prayer president, how she would answer questions like these. I wasn’t surprised when she pointed straight to the Bible. She prays Nehemiah 8:10 over her kids, that the joy of the Lord will be their strength. And she asks God to help them set their hearts and their minds “on things above, where Christ is,” not on worldly things.

Rebekah Lyons, the bestselling author of Rhythms of Renewal: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace, told me she plays the “Then what?” game with her kids. “What if your worst fears came true?” she asks. “Then what?” Rebekah knows bad things will happen – things we never see coming – but “if the One who holds all things together is the One who holds us,” she says, we will “still be standing” when the they have passed.

The One who holds all things together holds us.

And he holds our kids.

And when we anchor our trust in his word, our hearts are secure and we have (as Psalm 112:7 promises) “no fear of bad news.”

Favorite back-to-school prayers

Again, I wish we could sit down together. I don’t know what you are praying about – whether your kids need good friends, wisdom, protection, or anything else – but God does. Our Father knows what we need before we ask him. (Matthew 6:8)

If you want a few specific prayers you can pray in this back-to-school season, here are twelve of my favorites. I’ve pulled them together in a printable exclusively for our email community (but feel free to share them with a friend or two, if you think they’d be encouraged by them). Click here to download.

You can keep these prayer prompts on your phone…

…or print the collection and put the cards someplace where you will see them: in your Bible, on your fridge, or at the breakfast table. Or maybe put your child’s name in the blank and tuck the prayer into a lunchbox or backback. Could there be anything more comforting to a child than to know that their earthly parent is talking to their all-powerful heavenly Parent about their every need?

Have a wonderful year! ❤️

And P.S. If you want to access HUNDREDS of short prayers about 20 different topics, you’ll find Praying the Scriptures for Your Children on sale NOW for just $10.83 – click here to order…

…and consider inviting another mom (or grandmom!) to pray through the book with you this year, using this free study guide.

The study guide is a digital download you can save on your laptop or phone; I’m old and I like paper, so I took mine to Kinkos to have it printed and spiral bound. 😉

Trusting God with Your College Student

08.12.2022

Note: If your kids aren’t quite ready for college, you might want to check out a couple of posts from the archives. Click here for some tips on hosting a back-to-school prayer party and here for some timeless wisdom from bestselling author Rebekah Lyons and Moms in Prayer president Sally Burke, who talked with me about how we can help our kids when they struggle with worry or fear.

I remember telling my father that I wanted to attend the University of Virginia. The school had recently topped Playboy magazine’s annual catalog of the “best” college party spots, and my dad was understandably concerned. Making matters worse (for me) was the fact that one of his closest friends–a minister–had sent his son to U.Va., and the fella had gotten into all kinds of mischief. “I wouldn’t send my dog to that school,” the minister had warned, and I thought I was doomed.

Two things, though, worked in my favor. The first was the fact that I knew the minister’s son, and he turned out okay. He had graduated, gotten married, and then gone to seminary. God clearly had his hand on that boy’s life, and I figured he could watch out for me too.

The second thing I had was a working knowledge of Scripture and a willingness to use it, even out of context: “‘Where sin abounded,'” I told my father, quoting Romans 5:20, “‘grace did much more abound.’

“Come on, Dad,” I said. “Don’t you want me to go to a school where God’s grace abounds?”

I won in the end (probably more because U.Va. was the least expensive school on my list than because of the whole sin-and-grace thing) and as it turned out, U.Va. had–and still has–a thriving Christian community. God blessed me with two very smart (and pretty funny) roommates who posted party-relevant SAT words and Bible verses in our apartment foyer (corybantic described “frenzied and unrestrained” dance moves; Proverbs 23 warned of “needless bruises” and other perils of drinking), where anyone who stopped by could read them. Between their friendship and God’s mercy (and despite my making a boatload of stupid decisions), I graduated, got a job, married Robbie, and never thought much about the college party culture again.

Until my own kids grew up.

Could God be trusted to care for my college daughter?

Dropping our eldest, Hillary, off at college–amid a sea of red Solo cups–I had all sorts of questions. Had the party scene gotten worse? Would she be exposed to a lot of drugs? Sexual pressure? Worldviews and social norms that ran counter to the way she’d been raised? And was the same God who had kept both me and the minister’s kid from falling into a spiritual (or physical!) ditch still on the job? Could I trust him to care for my daughter?

Pretty much the only answer I was sure about was that yes, God was still on the job, and that he could be trusted. Suddenly, though, all of the Bible promises about God being “with us” seemed more important than ever. I found myself praying verses like Joshua 1:9 over my girl: Do not let Hillary be afraid or discouraged. Be with her wherever she goes.

I asked God to help her be alert and sober-minded, able to resist the devil and stand firm in the faith. (1 Peter 5:8-9).

And I prayed for wisdom and discernment, so that Hillary would be equipped to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

I asked God for all sorts of things–physical health and safety, good friendships, academic success–taking God at his word when he tells us to pray “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.“ And, when I’d get weary or wonder if my prayers were making a difference, I drew courage from Jesus’ exhortation that we should “always pray and not give up.”

(That last verse, Luke 18:1, is especially helpful when you send a child to college and they don’t call or text you for more than a week.)

(Ask me how I know.)

Pray with the destination in mind

I think one of the keys to praying effectively “on all occasions” (and to persevering in prayer when everything in you wants to give up) is to be destination oriented, rather that process oriented. We need to leave room for God to move however he chooses. The goal when we pray for our kids–whether we’re sending them off to the first day of preschool or the last year of college–is that they will have a saving relationship with Jesus, one that increasingly informs and animates their thoughts, words, and deeds.

Some of our children will get to God (or get back to God) by walking the straight and narrow; for others, the path may be crooked, painful, and even sometimes dangerous. I talked with one mom who is convinced that God sometimes takes our kids down paths we would not have chosen to keep us from patting ourselves on the back. “We cannot glory-steal from God,” she says. “When our kids come to Christ in a way that only he could have arranged because it looks nothing like we would have hoped for or envisioned, we are much more inclined to give him the credit.”

When you pray for your children in this big-picture way, you trust him to accomplish his best purposes in their lives, no matter how many detours they take, or how many times they may get tripped up along the way. As you pray, though, remember that our kids aren’t the only ones who will face temptation. We will too.

We’ll be tempted to blame ourselves for our kids’ mistakes and second-guess our parenting choices.

We’ll be tempted to live in a world of regrets and “if onlys”, ignoring God’s power (and his desire) to redeem.

And when it looks like nothing is happening and we start to grow weary, we’ll be tempted to give up on the power of prayer.

But let’s not.

Let’s stand firm, knowing that our labor in the Lord is never in vain. It doesn’t matter whether the bad choices in life belong to our kids or to us, or how big the sin is. God loves us. And his grace has us covered.

Looking back on my college experience, I still like the idea that “grace abounds even more.” But I looked up Romans 5:20 in The Message, and as I pray my all-grown-up children (and my all-grown-up self) through life’s tempatations and stumbles, I think I like this translation even better: “When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.”

❤️

P.S. This post and the prayers it contains are excerpted from Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children. From now until August 31, my friends at FaithGateway are running a back-to-school special on that title, as well as Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens and Praying the Scriptures for Your Children. When you order any book, you’ll get 47% off the cover price, plus a bunch of freebies to help you pray specifically, and confidently, for your children.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating as we send the people we love back to school: Our prayers release God’s provision. And as we pray, we discover his peace.

Back-to-School Prayers (with a free printable)

09.10.2021

Discover God’s best for the new school year (with free printable prayers)

Back-to-school means different things to different parents.

Wherever you are on the back-to-school spectrum–sobbing or singing or a little of both–I know you love your kids. And you want God’s best for them during the coming year. I wish you and I could sit down together as this new school year begins. I’d ask you what you’re excited about. What concerns you might have. And how I can pray.

And I’d share some of what I’ve learned from other moms–especially as it relates to helping our kids push back against things like worry and fear. How do we help our kids when they struggle? Even if it’s just back-to-school jitters and not something chronic, how should we pray? How can we calm our own hearts?

Rebekah Lyons, the bestselling author of Rhythms of Renewal: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace, told me she plays the “Then what?” game with her kids. “What if your worst fears came true?” she asks. “Then what?” Rebekah knows bad things will happen–things we never see coming–but “if the One who holds all things together is the One who holds us,” she says, we will “still be standing” when the they have passed.

The One who holds all things together holds us.

And he holds our kids.

And when we anchor our trust in his word, our hearts are secure and we have (as Psalm 112:7 promises) “no fear of bad news.”

Favorite back-to-school prayers

Again, I wish we could sit down together. I don’t know what you are praying about–whether your kids need good friends, wisdom, protection, or anything else–but God does. Our Father knows what we need before we ask him. (Matthew 6:8)

If you want a few specific prayers you can pray in this back-to-school season, here are twelve of my favorites. I’ve pulled them together in a printable for our email community (but feel free to share them with friends). Click here to download and then keep these prompts on your phone…

…or print them and put them someplace where you will see them: in your Bible, on your fridge, or at the breakfast table. Or maybe put your child’s name in the blank and tuck the prayer into a lunchbox or backback. Could there be anything more comforting to a child than to know that their earthly parent is talking to their all-powerful heavenly Parent about their every need?

Have a wonderful year! ❤️

And P.S. If you want to access hundreds of short prayers about 20 different topics, you’ll find Praying the Scriptures for Your Children on sale NOW for just $10.83 – click here to order. Consider inviting another mom (or grandmom!) to pray through the book with you this year, using this free study guide.

MOPS (and that time when our house caught on fire)

05.24.2019

I love to speak to all sorts of groups, but MOPS women have a special place in my heart.

These gals–Mothers of Preschoolers–don’t ask for much. Give them a bagel, a smile, and two hours of child care and they’re happy. Thrilled, actually. The fact that they get to enjoy some adult conversation is just bonus material. (And honestly? I think some of these precious women would be okay if the speaker just turned down the lights and said they could nap.)

As an audience, they are delightful.

And as moms, they are committed. And strong. And hungry to learn. They get together not just for the company (or even the refreshments, which are way above par for church-based cuisine), but because they genuinely desire God’s best for their families, and they want to know what that looks like in real life.

I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but as an older mom who watched her youngest child graduate from college last weekend…

(and yes, that IS Robbie’s U.Va. graduation gown that he packed his stuff in), I felt privileged to share a few insights with our local MOPS group this week.

I told the young moms about the time that our house caught on fire.

We were in the midst of yet another remodel, and Robbie and Virginia (who were just one and two then) had gone down for their naps. The older two girls were off playing with friends, the construction crew was working outside, and our house was utterly, beautifully quiet.

Until the foreman started hollering at me, up the stairs, telling me that I had to “get them babies up!” because the house was “on FIRE!”

I stood there, staring down at the man. And wishing that he would stop yelling. Or at the very least, lower his voice.

(If you’re a mother, you get it. My dilemma was real. I mean, the babies had just nodded off…)

“Um…how bad is the fire?” I finally whispered. “Like, can you see actual flames?”

Not one of my finer mom moments, I know. But we’re all still alive, which is the main thing. And the other main thing is that this story is the perfect tie-in to Nehemiah.

Nehemiah is the Bible guy who rebuilt Jerusalem after the Babylonians demolished it. He faced opposition (some powerful people did not want his plan to succeed, and they kept up a barrage of abuse), but one of his main problems was simply the scope of the job. The city’s walls had been broken, its gates burned, and there was so much debris that the Jews (almost none of whom were professional builders) reached the point where they were ready to throw in the towel. “The strength of the laborers is giving out,” they told Nehemiah, “and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

Can anybody relate?

Weariness can be a killer–even if the job is something we care deeply about. Fatigue can sap our strength and cloud our judgment, making us think and do crazy things. Like wanting to give up on a key building project. Or letting babies sleep through a fire.

Nehemiah understood all of this. He knew what exhaustion could do–particularly when you’re already feeling attacked. And so he made a plan. You can read the fine print here if you want, but the gist is that he posted people together so that they could strengthen each other, and he made sure that his workers had weapons.

Which is exactly what we do when we pray with our friends, and when we use Scripture to ward off attacks.

Nehemiah stationed whole families together, positioning them along the most vulnerable and exposed spots on the wall. We do the same thing when we come together to pray. We spot a gap in the wall–a place where a child or a friend might be at risk–and we get to work. And when one of us gets too weary or discouraged to lift up our hands (which can happen sometimes, in the trenches), others step in. We stand firm, knowing that our labor is not in vain.

And, like Nehemiah’s workers, we rely on our sword. Hebrews 4:12 says our sword is the Bible, and that we can use it to separate the lies from the truth. Which, for a weary young (or old!) mother, can be a game-changer.

We may tell ourselves, for instance, that we are not up to the job, that we stink at the whole parenting thing. But God says that we are his masterpiece, and that motherhood is a calling that he has both equipped and prepared us to do.

We think that we’ve blown it, that we’ve ruined our kids by some awful thing that we said or we did. But God says that he’s our Redeemer, and he promises to work in all things–the good and the bad–for our good when we love him.

You get the idea. Whether we’re building a city or a family, we can’t go it alone. We need one another. We need prayer. And we need the wisdom of Scripture.

There is so much more we could say (and golly, the MOPS moms got an earful this week!), but I’ll just wrap up with this:

If you’re a young mom (or you know someone who is), consider checking out MOPS. There’s no pressure to do anything but show up–and when you’ve got little people that you want to love really well, the friendships you forge at the meetings can become your tether to hope.

And speaking of loving our littles, I did, in fact, wake my babies that day. The firetruck came–the whole neighborhood came–and everyone (even the firemen) wound up eating popsicles. It was a good day, all around.

Except that I went to bed that night very tired.

❤️

Heavenly Father,

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Amen.

Mom, will you pray for me?

11.09.2018

True confession. I am not much of a women’s retreat gal. All that hugging, all that talking, all those smiles.

Makes my face hurt, just thinking about it.

But when the folks at Moms in Prayer invited me to join them at the Unshaken retreat last weekend, I jumped at the chance. Heck, if they’d invited me to donate a kidney, I’d have jumped on that too. I’d do just about anything, in fact, for the women behind the ministry that has done more to shape my prayer life (and, by extension, my kids’ lives) than anything or anyone except Jesus.

And you know what? I loved it. I loved every single minute of our time in Asheville, North Carolina. The worship was amazing, the teaching incredibly rich, and even the endless smiling didn’t bug me as much as I’d feared. And since I know most of you were not there (although some of you were; it was great to meet you!), I am going to take a little detour from the usual blog post routine and recap a few highlights. These nuggets were golden for me; maybe they’ll encourage you, too.

Our first speaker was Jennifer Kennedy Dean. You may recognize her as the author of Live a Praying Life (hands-down, my favorite prayer study), but if not, here’s she is (pictured with Moms in Prayer founder Fern Nichols and me):

Noting that prayer is “proof of how much God loves us” (because he chose to work with us and through us, instead of around us), Jennifer talked about how God always answers the cry of our hearts. She pointed to Psalm 37:4 (“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart”) and explained that the word delight comes from a Hebrew word that means “soft” and “moldable.” When God has our heart–when he molds it and shapes it–he gives us desires that we might not even be fully aware of…and then he says “yes.” Does that sometimes run counter to what our lips might be praying? Sure. But, as Jennifer said, “God isn’t interested in pacifying us. He is interested in satisfying us.”

Good stuff. I’m still processing how to get my head and my lips to line up with my heart, but I like it.

The next day, we heard Renee Swope:

I wasn’t familiar with Renee’s work (she has a book called A Confident Heart), but I’m now a big fan. I loved her message on trusting God in the face of life’s triggers (things like doubt, fear, comparison, criticism, and our need for control), and I found myself utterly captivated as she talked about her teenaged son telling her he was an atheist. “I wanted to panic,” Renee said, “but I knew that would only make things worse.”

She asked God what she should do.

“Don’t say anything,” she sensed the Lord say. “Just be who you say I am.”

Be who you say I am.

How awesome is that? I mean, we talk about wanting to model Christ’s love, and to treat people (especially our kids) the way that God does, but how often do we stop and think about what that looks like in real life? How, practically speaking, do we live out that love? How often do we default to criticism, nagging, worry, or fear when a better approach would be to be patient? Or gentle? Or kind?

Or even to just be with our child?

Renee’s son eventually gave his life to the Lord. I can’t share the whole story here (I’d mess it up if I tried), but I’m crazy about the punch line:

“I just got tired,” the young man said, “of living without hope.”

Wowza.

And finally, on Sunday morning, Fern Nichols got up. (You know how our daughters feel about getting to see Taylor Swift? Yeah. That’s basically how these praying moms–and grandmoms–felt about Fern.)

Fern started Moms in Prayer in 1989, back when her kids were in middle school, and for the past 40 years, she has encouraged mothers all over the world with the call of Lamentations 2:19: “Arise, cry out… Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children.”

You’d think, what with this being a Moms in Prayer thing, that the 400+ attendees wouldn’t need a refresher on the Four Steps of Prayer (the strategy that shapes every MIP meeting), but no. We did. And at the risk of dumbing things down (and please click on that link to get a bigger picture), here are the Cliff Notes:

Step One is praise. Praising God takes our eyes off our circumstances and focuses it on the One who is able. Whatever the need, he is equipped to meet it.

Step Two is silent confession because, as Fern put it, “a pure heart is behind every effective prayer.” If we’re sitting there hating our husband (or cherishing any other ick stuff), we can’t expect our prayers to get through.

Step Three is thanksgiving. Every sin, Fern said, stems from pride. When we take time to thank God–to acknowledge his grace and provision–it’s a reminder that all that we have, and all that we are, comes from him.

And Step Four is intercession, naming our children’s needs–as well as the needs of their teachers and schools–and asking God to meet them. This is where praying the scriptures really comes in, as we rely on God’s promises to shape our perspective and give life to our prayers.

If you’re already part of a Moms in Prayer group, you know all of this. But if you’re not, and you’d like to know more, click here.

But here’s the thing. Don’t try to go it alone. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two; he knew that they’d need one another. And so do we. Grab at least one other mom and invite her to pray.

So there you have it. I’ve left out 98% of my notes, but I hope you’ve connected with something I’ve shared–and that the next time your child says, “Mom, will you pray for me?”, you’ll feel a bit more equipped to jump in.

And I know. Right now, some of you are thinking, “Yeah, right. My kid asking for prayer? That’ll be the day.”

I hear you. But…can I just say three things?

First, I get it. I’ve been there.

Second, we worship a God of surprises. Don’t count him out.

And third, let’s go back to Jennifer’s teaching. Because maybe your child’s lips aren’t asking for prayer, but that is the cry of their heart.

And when that happens, we can slip our hand into God’s and say “Yes.”

(That’s my cute friend Lynn. She is the kind of prayer partner you want. Not only does she pray with boldness and faith, but she’s a complete fashionista and half the time, when she sees you, she gives you a new scarf. 😊)

An Easter Basket Giveaway…for Mama Bunny!

04.05.2017

I love Easter.

I love the joyful songs (Christ the Lord is Risen To-Day-ay…Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-lay-ay-loo-oo-yah!), the fragrant lilies, and the occasional bonnet that shows up in church (particularly when the ‘Hoos are still in the hunt, like they were on Easter Sunday last year):

I love dragging our big plywood egg out to the street late Saturday night (under the cover of darkness), and then waking up to the Good News Sunday morning:

And I love stuffing Easter baskets. One year, we had 23 college kids stay with us for the weekend. Never have I been so grateful for the Dollar Tree and its affordable stash of plastic eggs, candy, and gifts. Because nothing says “Happy Easter” like a chocolate bunny, a new toothbrush, and a tattoo sleeve:

This year, we won’t be welcoming any college students (other than Robbie, who says he mostly just wants to come home and sleep). Which is kind of a shame, cuz I have some basket upgrades in mind – upgrades that, truth be told, Mama Bunny will like even more than the kids:

It’s been a while since I’ve done a free giveaway, so how about this? Post a comment on this blog – share a favorite Easter tradition, a prayer verse you like, or anything you want to wish others a Happy Easter – and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the treats in this basket (which, incidentally, would also make a great Mother’s Day gift). Here’s what we have:

Unshaken. This new book from Sally Burke and Cyndie Claypool de Neve (order your copy or download a free chapter here) outlines a four-step prayer process to help us keep our eyes on the Lord and pray with confidence, even when everything around us seems to be shaking.

I love the real-life stories these gals use to illustrate their prayer principles. And, as a bonus, they offer cleverly designed pages that are meant to be copied and shared:

One Word Cards. These beautiful 5×7″ cards pair the devotional musings of author Susan Alexander Yates with the stunning artwork of her daughter-in-law, Christy.

The cards – which feature one key word, a relevant Bible verse, and a simple prayer – come in four different sets (click here to see the collection), along with a wooden easel you can use to display them:

Scripture Prayers and Blessings. I created these little cards with help from the talented gals at Sisters Ink; they represent twelve of the best-loved Scripture prayers from my books. The marbled stock is scrumptiously thick and perfect for tucking into a child’s backpack, slipping into a note to a friend, or just keeping in your purse or car as a reminder to pray.

So how about it? Post a comment, share a story, offer up one of your favorite prayers…and you’ll automatically be entered to win. And since there are three prizes in the basket, we’ll have three winners…so hop to it, friends! Get a little something for Mama Bunny this Easter!

And for those who think that what Mama Bunny might really want is a new tattoo, try these. I can’t vouch for the design or the quality, but hey. They’re removable.

You’re welcome.

Do You Know What Time It Is?

09.29.2016

Back in the 1970s, when I was a middle-schooler, my family spent two weeks every summer at Christian camp that catered to families and singles of all ages, races, and socio-economic backgrounds. The camp met at a mansion in the Hamptons, but if the place had a celebrity status back then (or if, say, Martha Stewart was whipping up a raspberry trifle on the other side of the boxwood hedge), I never knew it. All I knew was that, every year, I couldn’t wait for summer to roll around so that we could all pile into Mom’s bright red station wagon (they got it used, from the fire station) and go to Camp Farthest Out.

(Which was the name of the camp. It was the ’70s, and I guess maybe “Camp Far Out” just didn’t seem far enough.)

I remember one little old lady who came every year, from someplace in New Jersey. If you asked her what time it was, she never looked at her watch. Instead, her face would light up and she would say, “It’s time to praise the Lord!”

At the time, I thought she was a little bit crazy. I mean, I usually did want to know what time it was, so that I wouldn’t be late for lunch, or Arts and Crafts, or for programs like Devotion in Motion, which was a worship-service-turned-exercise-class held on the mansion’s vast green lawn. Sometimes, though, I didn’t really care what time it was. Sometimes I just wanted to hear her say it:

It’s time to praise the Lord!

The phrase seemed funny then, coming at random intervals and when there didn’t seem to be any reason for praise. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve begun to realize that that old gal was onto something. It’s always a good time to praise God, and when you do, you reap all sorts of benefits.

For starters, praise opens the door to hope. When we stop and think about who God is (wise, powerful, loving, etc.) instead of what our circumstances are, problems that once loomed impossibly large begin to shrink in size. When we look at our lives through the lens of God’s love, everything shifts.

Fern Nichols, founder of the Moms in Prayer organization and author of a book called Every Child Needs a Praying Mom, puts it this way: Praise, she says, “changes our attitude; brings an awareness of God’s presence; defeats Satan; releases God’s power; brings victorious perspective; provides peace; wards off the spirits of self-pity, depression, and discouragement; and produces strength in an anxious heart.”

I get that. I get it right now, in fact. Because right now I am anxious about a silly little thing that might or might not happen – I won’t even tell you what it is, it’s that little – and the ONLY thing that is helping is praise. When I focus on the “what if,” my knees get a bit wobbly. But when I focus on, say, God’s sovereignty (the fact that he is in control and that no purpose of his can be thwarted), I can stand up straight. Sure, I may still shake a little, but it’s not something that’s gonna knock me down, not when I am looking at a Sovereign God who loves me, and who has promised to work in all things for my good.

If the idea of praising God seems a little too out there (or even a little too “far out” there), all I can say is, “I get that, too.” I may have grown up doing devotional gymnastics in somebody’s front yard in the Hamptons, but now I am an Episcopalian, and if you were to ask one of us what time it was, odds are we’d say something like, “Four-fifteen.”

But here’s the thing. Praise doesn’t have to be loud, or showy. And you certainly don’t need to do it in your yard. All you have to do is tell God how great he is. And consider matching your need to his character, like I’m doing right now in the face of my worry: I am telling God how much I love the fact that he’s got everything under control. If you need guidance, focus on how wise God is. If you’re sick, praise him for being the God who heals. If you’re sad or discouraged, look to him as the giver of comfort and strength. And if you know you’ve blown it, remember his grace and compassion.

If you need a cheat sheet, or if you just want some verses to read to bolster your confidence about who God is and what he can do, click here to get a free printable that lists some of God’s attributes and where you can find them described in the Bible. That way, the next time you feel lonely or abandoned you can just say, “Hey God, I praise you because you are faithful, and I really need somebody I can depend on right now.”

It’s that easy. And that little old lady was right: It’s always time to praise the Lord.

Tag: Moms in Prayer

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