There’s very little we won’t do for our kids. It’s comical to look back on things that seemed perfectly normal at the time but, with a little perspective, you realize you might have jumped on the parenting crazy train a few times over the years.
Let’s play a little game of have-you-ever.
(Don’t panic, people. This is a Christian blog, not a tell-all.)
- Pulled out the crib bumpers to avoid overstimulation
- Packed the “essentials” for an overnight trip with your first child (including the swing, wipe warmer, bouncy seat, noise machine, bottle warmer, fingernail clippers, and board books)
- Whipped out the hand sanitizer for anyone even remotely eyeing your newborn
- Licked the paci after it dropped on the mall floor (repeatedly)
- Attended Barney Live to make those “lasting” memories with your eighteen-month-old
- Insisted your spouse get in line before the sun is out to get a spot at the “right” preschool
- Shimmied through the McDonald’s tubes to fetch a defiant toddler
- Judged others at the park whose child had the audacity to throw wood chips or climb up the front of the slide instead of using the stairs
- Lost your will to live trying to get coordinating outfits for the Christmas card picture
- Attended baseball games in unspeakable weather
- Googled every scrape, sniffle, and symptom only to decide it’s definitely the worst-case scenario
- Attributed your teen’s bad attitude to genes on your husband’s side of the family
- Spoken the words “I will never (fill in the blank)” and later eaten those same words
I may or may not have done every one of those things at some point while raising my three kids.
Nothing prepares you
I’m sure you’ve done some of the same things—and there’s not one of us who wouldn’t do it again.
Why?
Because there’s just no way to quantify how much we love our kids.
Yes, they can drive us to our absolute breaking point, but nothing can prepare us for the deep, relentless love we have for our kids from the very first minute we hold them and look into those sweet eyes.
Yet, despite all the places where we’ve really killed it in parenting, we’re often left feeling like we’re not getting it right or we haven’t done enough. I’m not sure if it’s the Pinterest and social media age we live in or if this is an age-old dilemma, but, so often as parents, we feel like everyone else is getting it right and we need to be doing more.
The Christian Parenting Prayer Journal
If we are going to raise the next generation of kids who honor the Lord and change our culture for his glory, we have got to refocus and re-strategize. Of all the hundreds of things we do each day for our kids, we have to believe that praying for them is the single most powerful and significant thing we can offer.
In an effort to resource you in doing this, we have written a prayer journal that I hope you will order. It is set up to have one main focus to pray over your kids each week of the school year, beginning in September. There’s a place to make notes on specific areas you’re praying about for your kids, as well as related Scripture to guide you in praying each week.
I believe that if Christian parents will band together and commit to faithfully prayer over their kids, we WILL see a difference.
Grab a copy of our prayer book for yourself, order one for a friend, and encourage your small group to get copies and pray through it together.
Keep up the good fight in raising your kids and give yourself a break in the places where you haven’t gotten it completely right.
We’re all there with you, counting on Jesus to stand in the gaps of our parenting.
