quick, full of impact teachable traditions. i want to set them up early in our home and let time and seasons sink them down into the ebb and flow of our family that they become as natural as brushing teeth, yet as special as hanging ornaments on the tree.

etched on a homemade chalkboard frame perched by our kitchen table, are seven things we pray for as a family on a nightly basis. if there’s one time and place we will all convene daily right now, it’s dinner time. ben chose the seven. i just made it part of the home decor. after dinner we read from the Jesus Storybook Bible and then our six year old shouts out what we are to pray for.

monday we pray for education.

we’ve got kids that don’t even know the difference between getting an A on a test verses a D, yet we’re praying for the colleges they will go to and what they will study. we’re asking God for teachers that will challenge them and steer them well. we pray that their minds will hold truth and resist anything less.

tuesday we pray for friends.

the kind of friends that add to their lives. while we are still some of their best friends right now, we boldly ask God that He will put strong Christ-centered friends in their lives early on. [and that’s a bold prayer where we leave]we pray that God will use our boys to be friends to the lonely and different, to the rich and the poor.

wednesday we pray for character. 

we tend to look at each other before we pray on wednesdays. i’m not sure i completely understand character, let alone tell a 4 year old what it is. since my mind tends to think in child-like terms anyways, we describe it as a constant doing of the right and courageous thing even if no one is watching.

thursday we pray for spouses. 

three precious girls and one special boy are being prayed for weekly [and sometimes more than that when i fold all that laundry and think their wives will get the privilege one day!] not knowing if we have already met them, this i know, when we do meet them one day, that God has been actively protecting and purifying and preparing them for one another. [if i’m this emotional on thursday evenings at the dinner table, maybe i need to be praying for them as they meet me!]

friday we pray for purpose. 

we pray specifically and generally. purpose on the baseball field, in the classroom, at Epic Church, among their brothers. we ask God to reveal the talents and gifts He is bountifully bestowing to them and show us how to guide them while at home.

saturday we pray for church. 

we tap hard into the heavenlies as we call on God’s protection over my husband, the children’s father, the lead pastor of Epic. we pray by name for the kids that will come. we pray that new people will come. we pray for the staff and volunteers. the boys pray that dad will only say what God wants him to say.

sunday we pray for family. 

after a full day, often un-Sabbath-like in the ministry world, we offer thanks for letting us do life together. we pray for our little girl in india, that the orphanage will contact us very soon and we can be a family of six.

what prayers are you praying for your children? [Got a daughter in the 5-10 year old range we can go ahead and arrange a marriage for!?]