I'm Praying For You, Kids

I woke up this morning with my kids on my mind and on my heart.  And feeling a little guilt about how I don't pray enough for them or didn't when they were little.  But I DO pray for them and I DID pray for them back then.  It just feels like I fall so short.   

It used to be prayers of survival. 

 "Please, Lord, let him get through this phase of not wanting to go outside without covering his head with his hand and fearing something unknown to him or me."

 "Please, please, Jesus let him sleep and stop crying and not be so clingy."  

"Dear Jesus, please don't let him learn bad habits from all the friends he's going to make."  

"Dear God, please let her be a better woman than me and learn to love You and trust in You.  And please let her learn how to talk to people better than I do."

"Oh, Jesus, show me how to mother a child who has so many needs when I don't have the ways to fill them."

Prayers of desperation, then prayers of desire for their characters to be formed in God's image, and then more prayers of desperation to get them through the teenage years.  Now I'm praying for their futures with more fervor than I think I ever did when they were young.

When my first two were quite little I used to give concerts from time to time.  Not big concerts, but concerts at churches and events.  One of the songs that I used to sing often was a prayer for my little guys' futures.  I had no idea at that time that in the future I would have 5 Someones to pray for one day.  

This morning I woke up thinking about this song because I'm praying more now that my "kids" are older.  I have more time and it is more important than ever that I pray for them.  They live in an evil world and I so want them to first of all to live in it but not of it and to love and serve Christ.  

But on my heart, also, is that they have someone very dear to share their lives with who loves Jesus more than they love my child.  

I want the words that I used to sing when they were little to be more true than ever now.


And I want them to hold on to Jesus for all the parents "out there" that have prayed for them all these years.