As moms, we all have really good intentions and lots of visions of how we’d like our mothering to look.  Maybe you’d like to be a June Cleaver keeping the perfect home, raising well-behaved kids, and having dinner ready for your hard-working husband when he arrives home from work, all while sporting heels and pearls.  Maybe you’d like to be a Mrs. Brady keeping the perfect home with the help of a housekeeper, raising well-behaved kids perfectly meshed together in a blended family.  Maybe you’d like to be a Claire Huxtable keeping the perfect home, raising well-behaved kids while successfully maintaining a successful law career.  Whatever your personal vision is, most likely your reality falls short of it.

As I’ve said over and over again, I am extremely aware of my imperfections.  Some I’m willing to concede to as just who I am.  Others I’m willing to accept as who I am today, but desire to press on in those areas to grow into the woman God has created me to be.  As a mom, I have many, many, many, many imperfections.  But lately one has been standing out above the others to me.  I haven’t been praying for my boys as faithfully as I should.  At night I pray with them.  But I haven’t been petitioning God on their behalf through the days.  I haven’t been praying for their safety at school.  When I’ve been frustrated about a behavior, I’ve talked to my husband and friends about it, but I haven’t been talking to their Creator about it.   I haven’t been praying for the friendships they are establishing.  I haven’t been praying for the decisions that they are making everyday.  I haven’t been praying about the decisions they will make in the future – decisions about sex, about drugs, about careers, about relationships.  I used to be better at this, but I’ve gotten busy and lazy and things with them have been going pretty well and the praying has been neglected.  But this is an imperfection on my part that I cannot allow to continue.

So as I’ve thought about how I want to be more intentional about praying, yesterday I was reminded of a prayer card I received years ago.  It is 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray For Your Kids.  My intention is to each day, pray one of the virtues for my boys.  For example #1 is Salvation.  So today I looked up the verses noted on the card.  “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it;  I, the LORD, have created it.” (Isaiah 45:8)  “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” (2Timothy 2:10)  I then prayed what was written on the card, “Lord, let salvation spring up within my children, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal Glory.”  I then continued on my own praying, “God, thank you that (Son 1) and ( Son 2) have both asked you to be their savior.  I pray that as they grow they will not walk away from you.  I pray that when they do mess up, they will know the fullness of your forgiveness.   God, I pray for (Son 3).  I pray that he too will ask you to be his savior.  I pray that he will know that he will never be good enough, but that it is only through your death on the cross.”

Then I find that when I take those few moments to be more purposeful in praying for my boys, it continues through the day, shooting up prayers for them about anything and everything.  (You can order a prayer card like this one from here.  Or you can search “31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids” and find them typed out on various sites.)

Now here’s the cool thing about my deciding yesterday that I need to be more focused on praying for my kids.  Last week I signed up for another blogger’s 31 day “Making Your Home a Haven” Challenge.  Then yesterday after I had gotten out the prayer card, I noticed she posted Week 1’s challenge:

“Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home. I will be starting mine in the morning! But you can start yours at dinner time. Do what makes sense for your family. I will be placing mine in the kitchen – the main hub of my home. Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home.”

In the post, she later says about a praying woman, “She knows that she is weak but God is strong and that she cannot fulfil the role of wife, mother, homemaker and sometimes employee, on her own strength. She is completely dependent on God and practices this dependence by daily praying for all of these things.”  (click here to read the whole post)  God is really impressing on me the need to pray, so I’m going to listen!  With the home decorated for fall and the cooler weather here, I love lighting candles.  I have my apple one in the kitchen ready to light once I’m done all my running around for the day.  Each time the candle catches my eye, in addition to praying for peace in my home, I’m going to pray the day’s virtue for my boys as well.

Are you a praying mom?  I’d love to hear the ways you pray.  Do you want to be more of a praying mom?  Join me in praying.  I’d love if you’d leave a comment committing to pray more.  Let’s encourage each other to Pray On as we Press On!

♥Becki, imperfect pray-er