One morning when I sat down to pray, I pondered about my intentions, especially when praying for my kids. As a mom, I want my children to be the best version of themselves. I always pray for them to possess character traits that demonstrate acceptable outward behaviors. I pray for my kids to love the Lord, be healthy, successful, and be kind human beings. These prayers come with a more extensive list, such as being obedient, honest, kind-hearted, generous, disciplined, etc.
But as I thought about the traits I pray for them, I realized the need to pray a similar list for myself as a mom. If you are a self-reflecting person and honest with yourself, you can be sure to have plenty on your list that needs prayer. I know I can personally use more patience, gentleness, and forgiveness. God knows that we, mamas are not perfect and that our efforts to be good moms are limited by our weaknesses.
One day, my kid lost her temper, and I lost my patience. Later that day, we talked, and I asked her if she would pray for both of us to be more patient and less angry. They say that kids imitate the behavior they observe around them, and I will say this is both true and false in my own experience. But for those actions that they do imitate, when you admit to your child your fault and intentionally change how you respond, then your kid will imitate that too.
I recently finished reading a great book that guides you to pray for your kids using scripture. Our kids need us to intercede in prayer for their safety, future, life choices, and character. But as we focus our efforts on praying for others, let\’s also make a list of things we can pray for ourselves so that God can work in every area of our lives, and in turn, we can teach our kids the power of praying for ourselves is real and necessary.
