Helping Our Kids Make Big Decisions

Her head tilts to the left as she combs the loose curls out of her face. She writes the rough draft in pencil and is scribbling away with a seriousness beyond her years. She has been dreaming about this for 5 years and the day has finally come to see what God will do. She is filling out an application to a school she has fallen in love with and wants to attend for high school. The only thing that holds her back: the cost of tuition.

So, we pray.  

My husband has been a football coach for Aurora Christian School for 5 seasons now. As a part of this completely volunteer coaching staff, ACS has been a ministry outlet for Jeremiah and has turned in to quite an amazing journey for us as a family. In the process of investing time, energy, and our weekends to this school, one of our children has been growing a passion we did not expect.

So, we pray for her.  

This isn’t the first time we have prayed a BIG prayer. We have witnessed so many amazing things God has done in the course of our 15+ years together. So, why does this feel different? This time the stakes feel higher. It is not my hopes and dreams on the line here; they are my daughter’s.  They are sacred desires she has held on to for so long. There is a beating within my heart as a mom that wants to promise her the world, sky’s the limit, dream up anything! But as a single income family with 5 kids, our checkbook cannot come close to covering the cost of every wish and aspiration for our children.  

So, we teach her to pray.

I cling to the familiar verse in Isaiah 29 about God knowing His plans for us, for a hope and a future (even used a few weeks ago in a previous blog entry). I wish I could twist it, bend it and wrap it up with a pretty bow on top to mean that my daughter will get what she wants. But is that how prayer works? Continuing on in the passage God says, “You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me.” I need to alter my previous statement. I do want my children to dream up big dreams and know no limits in that. But more than anything, the deepest yearning within my soul is that they would seek God and find Him as their own Savior in all they do. Everything else is secondary.

Prayer: God, I thank you for every opportunity to pray BIG prayers. We recognize this is an invitation for us to know You more… and to see amazing things happen for Your glory. ! I don’t have all of the answers or the resources to clearly direct her path but You do; I pray that as my daughter seeks Your direction and provision for this decision that beyond all else, she would find more and more of YOU! I pray this with all of my heart. Amen. 

(imagine source: google images: praying with children's hands)