Mama Prayers

Mother’s Day brings me memories of the past and hopes for the future.  It’s a day for me to honor my mother, who taught me how to love and serve others. She loved having her family gathered around a home-cooked meal. She loved meeting strangers and turning them into friends. She loved to laugh. I have her feisty, energetic nature. 

I’m glad I have some of my mother’s traits. Thinking about her makes me wonder about the traits that my own children might have gleaned from me. I pray that those traits are traits that are found in Jesus and that I have pointed them to Him instead of the world.

To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing when I was raising my kids! I was just learning to study the Bible for myself and to figure out who I was in Christ. I didn’t know much about how to apply what the Bible says to the difficult task of raising children.

But I loved Jesus. And despite my mistakes, I believe my kids have grown up to love Him, too. 

That is the most important thing I could want for them.

 But I know some of you are worried because you don’t know where your children stand with God. You did your best as a parent to point them to Jesus, but now they are adults who just don’t seem interested in spiritual things. They may even get annoyed at you when you try to talk with them about God. 

There is still hope. Remember, Mama, that the story of their life is still being written, and you don’t know what is on the next page. 

Pray. Then pray some more. Then keep praying. 

On Mother’s Day, as I remember those little babies of mine who grew up too quickly, I also  remind myself that their spiritual growth is as much a gradual process as my own has been. 

Where I was when I was raising them is not where I am now. And where they are now is not where they will be in 20 years. 

What I want for them, I have to remember, often comes only through the gradual accumulation of wisdom by searching the Scriptures for encouragement and instruction. It comes by trusting God when life hurts. It comes by walking those few steps of obedience in faith when the rest of the path is obscured. 

To live with the desire to bring glory to God and to enjoy a relationship with Him is my utmost desire for my children. And that is something I can lay a foundation for by presenting truth and opportunities and modeling what walking with Christ looks like. But it is something that I cannot make happen. Both salvation and sanctification are works of the Holy Spirit. 

But I can pray. 

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth,” (3 John 1:4).

SUCCESS

I look in wonder at your faces, and I lift my heart in praise—
So glad God gave us children to mold and love and raise.
Each one of you is different— yet my love for each the same.
Love not changed by circumstances. Devotion words cannot explain.
I hold a tiny body closer, feel warm breath upon my cheek.
Too soon the baby years are over. Lost in routine week to week.
I hear the sound of playful laughter and the squeals of joy and singing,
Dancing feet in stocking sleepers, unaware the joy they’re bringing.
You look so fragile and unblemished, I want to shield you from life’s blows,
To preserve somehow your innocence before your childhood goes.
Yet I watch your independence as you learn so much each day.
God has special plans for each of you, and as parents we must pray.
We pray that as you’re growing, you will seek God with a thirst,
Persevering through life’s problems to still love and serve Him first.
And we pray that through your lifetime, your faith will deepen and mature
To instill you with commitment to give God a life kept pure.
Sometimes it’s hard to live for Jesus. You can’t do it on your own.
That is why you’ll find us daily kneeling at the Father’s throne.
You see, our biggest job as parents isn’t making shopping sprees,
Or paying bills or cleaning— it’s the time spent on our knees.
And when our children take our teachings, some lessons saved and others tossed,
If they don’t have a love for Jesus, “success” won’t matter—all was lost!

-Bobbie Perkins c. 2022