1 Timothy Chapter 4

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” I Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

Prayer for Our Children

Keep my child faithful to You, oh God, never let her abandon Your truth, and allow her to delight with thanksgiving, in the goodness of Your creation. Bring her up in the Truths of the faith and in sound doctrine so that she may minister in faithful witness. Be her Hope, oh God, ...

and train her up in godliness so that she may inherit Your promises in this present life and the life to come. I pray that even at this tender age, my child may reflect Christ with in her speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Fill her with a heart’s devotion to the open reading, teaching, and preaching of Your Word. Help her foster and devote herself to the gifts that You have given her, working diligently and growing in maturity. May she persevere with sound doctrine and be faithful to examine her life against the light of Your Word. 

It was yet another evening of comforting scared Sweet one, but I am thankful that it occurred when wakefulness still inhabited our bodies rather then when the sweetness of slumber permeated our being.

“What was that noise?" Her frightened voice cut through the monitor, “Mommy, please come! I’m scared!”

Setting aside my laptop, I hurried down the hall to Sweet one’s room. “What is it Sweet pea?” I asked, shutting the door behind me and crossing the room to sit beside her on the bed.

“Mommy, I’m scared, will you stay with me?” Sweet one’s pathetic tones tugged my heart strings and cut through the quiet hum of the humidifier.

“Oh, Sweet pea,” I reached out a hand to rub her head, “it’s okay, there is nothing to fear. You’re fine.”

Her little hand snaked out from beneath the cover and held fast to my arm, “Please, Mommy, pllleeaaase stay a little bit with me.” she pleaded, tears forming in the back of her eyes, threatening to fall. 

Images flashed through my mind of dirty dishes stacked high in the sink, piles of laundry needing folded, and toys strewn across the living room floor. They called to me, vying for my time and attention as did the little girl who lay before me.

“Mommy, please stay,” Sweet one’s voice broke through my inner debate, “please stay.” This time, she patted the pillow beside her and grinned up at me.
     
So often, I say no and hurry off to complete the unending list of chores that always seem to breed like bunny rabbits. But this time, I am thankful, I said, ‘yes.” Yes, to the little one who, in the next few years, will be asking for Mommy, less and less. Yes, to the capturing of moments and memories where time stand still and never changes or grows old. Yes, to the immeasurable blessings of bonding hearts, influencing impressionable minds and spirits, and praying pleas for protection and God’s favor upon my little girl. Yes, to the whisper of God who breathed words of life into my spirit that flowed like an ocean wave crashing towards the sandy shore. Yes.

If you are a parent like me, I hear myself saying ‘no’ many, many, many times a day, feeling like a broken record and wishing for the on switch to be clicked off. Sure, many of those instances I say ‘no’ are necessary for the teaching, shaping, and guidance of my sweet girl, but many other instances, our ‘no’s are more preferential or instances of inconveniences. I confess, that all too frequently I use phrases like, “not now,” or “not yet” or “a little later, I’m in the middle of something,” as excuses to mask my inward rolling of the eyeballs or to sheath my own selfish motives or desires. But, when is the right time? When is it “now”?

Let us not be so swift to push off our little one’s request for our attention and time for the extraneous needs of our home, or else we may miss out on the blessings of precious, irreplaceable moments with our children that cannot be gained back. The dishes, laundry, and the picking up of toys can wait – they will not change the course of your existence or create earthquakes to form for these objects are innate, without souls or spirits. But, our children look up at us with wondering eyes, shaped by the choices we make and the time that we invest. 
     
So, in the darkening dusk of eve, I finally said, “yes.” And friends, let me tell you that had I not put away my own personal agenda, I would have missed out on some of the most precious and sweetest moments ever with my child. As I curled up beside Sweet one, rubbing her head and praying over her, the Holy Spirit washed over me and filled my lips with the most holy of benedictions. Like a waterfall, words poured out, filled with power, promises, and blessings. Prayers from that gut wrenching, deepest core of the spirit – you know, the ones that are generated from the most hidden, untouched recesses of your soul, flowed like a freshly tapped wellspring in the middle of the desert wasteland, covering my sweet girl in the most holy of communions. 
     
As I kissed the forehead of my now sleeping daughter, settled her covers, and tip toed out, I, myself, felt touched and transformed by the presence of our most heavenly Lord. Peacefulness of heart, quietness of mind, and deepness of the soul resonated within me, illuminating me from the inside out. 

Later that night, as my head hit the pillow, the soft and gentle sounds of raindrops lulled me to sleep and washed like soothing balm over my weary body. Yet, it wasn’t until the next morning, when the sun peeked it’s head out of the clouds, dawning bright and sunny, that the sweetest of revelations filled my understanding. 
     
As I walked beside the curb, breathing in the refreshing coolness, my cane tapped and swished through the steady stream of water, left from the prior night’s rain. Splash, splosh! Swish, splish-splosh! The splash of my cane through the residual puddles and river lets, softly whispered their message. I sent this rain to bathe Sweet One, to baptize her with my gentle love, and shower down my Holy Spirit upon her for I have heard your heart. I have heard your prayers. My heart stopped beating in my chest as a wave of love so deep and wide crashed over me and filled me to overflowing.

That my God would love me so much, that He would love my daughter so much, to have covered my prayers over Sweet one with an entire night of millions of raindrops echoing the Father’s still, soft voice of “Amen.” That He would hear my cries on behalf of my little girl and send His rain as a holy benediction, confirmation, and blessing upon the pleas I pleaded for my little one. That He would care so much to send a physical manifestation of His love to me through the gentle, loving caress of the rain and through the death of His Son upon the cross for all my sins, for all my daughter’s sins, and for the sins of those He calls His own. 
     
May you stand in awe and be touched by the incomprehensible, divine, and sweetest of loves this day from our Lord and Heavenly Father, Savior to all men, Jesus Christ, and in indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. For His love is deep, His love is wide, and it stretches beyond what our eye can ever see, or what our minds could ever comprehend. Yes, our God is mightier than the fiercest of foes, greater than the highest of mountains, stronger then anything man could ever manufacture. But God is also as tender as a mother with her child, as compassionate as the most kindhearted person, in fact, His tenderness, compassion and loving kindness is immeasurable and limitless. God has even given us a Helper that we can call upon at any time, who can minister to us in our deepest grief, and breathe the sweetest of peace in our troubled lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

​Open yourselves to the transforming love and power of the Holy Spirit through the laying down of ourselves to humble surrender to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Don’t wait but run with open arms to the only One who can give life, abundant life, makes the foulest clean, gives life-giving streams of water to the parched and dying. Dip yourself in the streams of the Jordan and walk renewed this day in the lands of promise and abundance. 

A Parents Prayer

Holy Spirit, breathe on me today, let me know Your presence and hear your voice. Fill me to overflowing that I may be a witness to Your glory and Your truth. Knit me together, transform me, and renew my spirit today.