Family Ties~

When we pray for our children, we are asking God to make His presence a part of their lives and work 

powerfully in their behalf. -  Stormie Omartian

I pray often~ well I am in a constant talk with God. It's as if ~ well I don't know~ He is always with me. I say things like~ "God you are my Shepherd~ please guide me today."  " Will you help me to love others and help me shine your light?"  "Lord please bless this mess I am making for supper and do a miraculous work and make it taste yummy."  "Lord~please help me control my mouth today."

You know what  I mean ~right? I talk to God all day long yet I would not call myself a prayer warrior. I want to be~ and I try. But sometimes I get so busy that I neglect deep prayer time with God. I mean the kind that you get on your knees and shut the door to everyone and spend some time in prayer.  When I neglect to do this I soon realize that God feels distant, and I need to draw near to Him again.

While my motivation for prayer sometimes wavers~ my prayer for my family is much stronger. I have a very smarty pants Dr. husband, four beautiful children, their wonderful spouses and three adorable grandchildren. All of them put up with me ~ not so easy at times. However~ they too are not always easy to put up with either. Yet~ I love them more than the whole wide world put together. I would lay down my life for any of them. They are the loves of my life. Praying for those closer to me is very easy.

  Parents with a "prodigal child" or a "wayward spouse" get real serious about praying. When life is not going well~ we get on our knees fast. Many times when I am in one of these valleys in life my prayer life and my walk with Jesus becomes much sweeter.  I see that God wants to change my attitude~ to get me to trust Him more~ and to work in the lives of my family members to teach them something or draw them closer to Him. He asks me to trust Him. 

I am thankful as a mother I can go to God and trust that He is working in my children's lives and that He loves them more than I do. There are no perfect families. None of us had the perfect upbringing. I have many scars from my father's addiction to the bottle. Yet~ as I still grieve his loss this morning. I realize that my dad loved me the best he could. I so wish I could tell him all that is in my heart~ but it will have to wait until I get to Heaven. My dad and I really had nothing unspoken. We had made our peace and said what needed to be said. We had forgiven each other and truly loved each other. My dad taught me many things and I see his eyes each time I look in the mirror~ he was a very talented man and passed down many of those talents to me. I sure wish I could pick up the phone and talk to him. You just don't realize how much people mean to you until they are gone. 

God fills in the gaps of our upbringing so that we can love family better. That means we are able to give things our earthly fathers never gave us.  Part of maturing is learning to understand and honor your parents~ even if you don't agree with everything they did or do. And often it is prayer that moves us farther along that path to this maturity. 

When we pray for people it changes our relationship with them. "Shut up and pray" ~ seems to be my life motto the older I get. It truly is the only thing that works. I sometimes fail at it miserably but I sure am trying!

As I see my nest getting empty it motivates me to pray more for my children. If our relationships in our family are strained  and marked with tension~ it means we need to pray more.  In my 45 years of living I have been through some major stressful times with my family ties~ but family is worth it! Somethings may seem hard to fix~ fact is we can't fix them but God can.

Realizing that we are deeply loved by a perfect Father who will never leave us or forsake us enables us to love each other in a whole new way. I need to offer grace to others because I have been offered incredible grace from God. And without grace and mercy where would any of us be?