Day 22 ~ 31 Days of Praying for My Children

Day 22 - Father, teach my children the secret of being content in any and every situation. . . through Him who gives them strength. (Phil. 4:12-13)

I’ve not posted my thoughts on every day of prayer,because there are so many ~ but this is one that really speaks to me. My word for this year is “content” and Phillipians 4:11 is my favorite verse. It speaks to me and reassures me that no matter what may befall me, if I look to “HIM” ~ all things will be taken care of, my strength will come from him and I will persevere.

I want my children to know that peace and to be content in their lives. They may not have the newest, greatest, latest items out there ~ but it’s ok… I want the, to be thankful for not only the blessings, but for the trials… Happiness doesn’t come from possessions, wealth, nor achievements. Happiness comes from somewhere inside and from a relationship with the creator.

My happiness is a gift. I want my children to know that theirs is too. And that it’s something they should treasure.

I want my kids to refute greed. To stand firm in their convictions. To look evil in the face and deny it a foothold.

My prayer today is that God would grant me the wisdom to teach this to my children and to help me lead them to a higher path ~ to reassure them that being content is more important than the all the riches of the world and that their happiness can be found inside…

   "The Praying Hands" by Albrecht Durer

What Do I Care About? Day 12 : Praying For Our Children

That's the question all parents (homeschool or not) ask themselves... Now that it's time when the standardized tests (that are required by my umbrella program) are coming up fast, and curriculum planning for the next year begins ~ I think about it even more...

The prayer for today (Day 12) was ~ Lord, may my children always be strong and courageous in their character and in their actions. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

How can our children be this way without us as parents being their teachers and examples? Which started me to thinking even more~

Why do we choose to raise our kids the way we do? Why do we homeschool? Why are we selective about who we allow our children to be around?

Why do we pick certain curriculum and not others, why choose certain ways of teaching our children and not others?

I used to be so focused on how my children scored on their testing dates and worried about what path we would take if we needed to do things differently.

In the last few years, I have come to the conclusion that I am no longer as concerned with how my children score on a test, any test. I desire to no longer worry if they are able to remember who fought the which war, nor when this or that was discovered.. I want to no longer have worry if they can add, subtract, spell, or become a best selling author...

I want my children to achieve a greater goal~ one that is of a higher calling... the real reason that I feel we were "led" to homeschooling...

I want my children to achieve character, become ethical, want to provide service to others... I care about whether my children possess wisdom and godliness...

I am comforted that "what I have come to care about" is the way God has planned for us to go...

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6)

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
(2 Timothy 3:14-15)

The product of child raising is not the child, but the parent ~ and I truly hope that the changes in me that have come about since becoming a parent will only continue to bring me closer to that which I want to become...

31 Days of Prayer..

I have been participating in the "31 Days of Praying for Your Children"....

I did this sometime ago with a prayer calendar from ParentLife Magazine. This time we are using this prayer calendar as our guide...

The goal of praying for our children is that, whether a mom or dad, we as parents can make a huge impact on our children's lives by interceding for them daily in prayer. They are faced with so much temptation and we as parents can help fight spiritual warfare for them by lifting them up daily in prayer.

Today is Day 9 and our prayer today was:

Father, grant that my children may show proper respect to everyone as Your Word commands. (1 Peter 2:17a)

Being respectful of everyone is something that I think is lacking in our society today and I'm not sure what the root of it is.

Disrespect and intolerance is everywhere ~ in our families, our churches, our workplace, our world. I wish that we could take just a moment and earnestly seek where all the discontentment, unhappiness, and hostility towards others comes from~

My wish and prayer today is that I can be an example for my kids and that they will grow up to love, pray for, and serve others with respect and kindness. Every time I think about respect for others I think of another Proverbs verse ~ (yes, it's one of my favorite books in the bible)

Proverbs 11:16
A kindhearted woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth.

If you would like to participate ~ feel free to look it up on Facebook or click on one of the links above for a calendar guide.