Last Updated on February 24, 2024
Tomorrow an event is taking place that I’m expecting will have an eternal impact: Moms In Prayer, Global Day of Prayer and Fasting when mothers will pray for their children and schools around the globe. It makes me think of these words:
I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.—Peter Kreeft
Can you imagine the ripple effect of Saturday on God’s Kingdom?
Motherhood has given me an uncanny identification with Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, too, penned after the Second Battle of Manassas: “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.” Uh, yes. That is me. I believe the last distinct instance was when my middle child gave Grandma’s laptop a looooong drink with the sippy cup, so that water dumped out the sides when she picked it up. Yes. Prayer.
I am often consumed by the “Martha” activities that my day demands to keep my children alive, uninjured, and clean (which is often more difficult than I anticipate), and to keep my house running (let’s not say smoothly, shall we? Just running).
But one of my son’s favorite Scripture songs brings me back to the necessity of “Mary” moments, those spent sitting at the feet of Jesus: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” I can and often do utterly exhaust myself with my efforts to parent wisely and well. But it’s God’s grace and His Spirit that bring success in any form: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).
And our Father, I know, longs to give me and my children good gifts, though I’m reminded, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). Last night I was convicted, what would I ask God for my children if I could ask Him for the moon? And why haven’t I?
Almost as much as my children need me to intercede on their behalf, my kids need me to be changed in prayer. I am a different person in the confession, praise, thanksgiving, humility, and intimate fellowship of prayer that aligns my thoughts and my heart with God’s.
I’m sure you have things to do on this global day of prayer. But fewer things will last longer than this. Hope you can join us in prayer.
Janel Breitenstein graduated summa cum laude from John Brown University and began her career with NavPress, where she worked on The Message Bible. After having four children she resumed her professional career (around her momlife) by serving as a writer for FamilyLife. Personal loans. In January of 2012 Janel and her husband, John, packed up their family of six and moved to Uganda to serve with Engineering Ministries International (eMi), an organization that focuses on poverty relief and development, providing structural design and construction management for Christian organizations in the third world. Join us as we all learn first hand, through Janel’s posts, what it’s like to go from suburban America, to answer God’s call in Africa!
We saw your mommy blog and it looks great…. we'd love to get you involved in SAHMAnswers.com. At the least it can send you a ton of traffic…
Thanks,
Maria