My motherhood prayer

Welcome to this blog :)

This is a prayer I wrote when Cameron was 4 ½ months old. I’ve tweaked it a little, to include the next little man. (Watch this space for his arrival, DV!)

Lord, I want to be the mother you designed me to be. I want to live out every bit of my potential in this area.

Help me to put you first each day, and in all things. Keep my love for you burning, that I might be a woman of God who always shines as a bright light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (Phil. 2). Help me to put Murray before all others. Help me to make our marriage an absolute priority, loving and honouring and enjoying him in all things. Let our children follow as a close second, and then all the other duties and demands of this life: work, ministry, friendships, and so forth.

Keep me praying for my children every day. My heart’s cry is that they would come to know you as Lord and Saviour at an early age. I pray for their marriage partners and for godly friends, for the fulfilment of their potential, and for their education. I pray that they would be wise and mighty of heart, leaders, bright lights.

Help me to believe in their dreams and never laugh at them. Help me to support them wholeheartedly in their endeavours – watching their sports matches and concerts, hanging their art on the fridge… Give me every bit of the wisdom I’ll need to raise them, teach them, guide them and encourage them. Please give them the confidence and courage they will need to explore their world; give them an irrepressible zest for life, and a sense of humour. Let theirs be lives that the world will take notice of, to your glory.

Help me to be real about my children’s faults and weaknesses. Let me not idolize them blindly but have the discernment necessary to steer their paths appropriately.

Help me to teach them the Scriptures, through memory verses, and through talking about them ‘when [we] are at home and when [we] are on the road, when [we] are going to bed and when [we] are getting up’ (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Help me to encourage them to read, listen to different music, travel, think, question, run, jump, play… Help me to inspire them to explore and adventure. Help me to teach them the practicalities of life, like managing their finances, cooking, cleaning, etiquette, and all those things.

Help me to create a home that is a little slice of heaven on earth. Let it be a haven, always open to their friends, always warm and safe. Let it be a refuge from the crazy world, a place they want to be.

Help me not to nag but to do all things without complaining and arguing (Phil. 2). Help me to respect their space, and to consider their favourite things, their fears, their passions, their aversions. Help me to listen and to be an example. Help us to develop mutual trust.

Help me to be fun to live with. Help me not to settle for stress or mediocrity, and to remember that I have just enough time each day to do your will.

Help me to hug and touch and love them, and to take the time to speak their particular love languages. Help me to be strict enough to enforce the rules and to discipline them, but let them not be afraid of me.

Help me always to have the right perspective of my changing role as a mom, as they move through the seasons of their lives. Let me not treat them like babies when they are grown up. Help me to let go of them gladly and with every blessing when they leave our home to make their own way in the world. Let them know that our love for them remains constant, and that we are always there for them. Help me to move appropriately through all the stages of motherhood, from being the mom of a tiny baby, to being the friend of an adult. Let me live to the edge of my boundaries, in the season I am in.

In all things, everyday, hear my prayers for wisdom, gentleness, consistency and love. Help me to keep on doing the next right thing. When I’m not sure what to do, help me to stop and pray for the discernment to know whether a decision is righteous and wise.

Please protect my sons. Place your angels around them as they grow up to be part of a new generation of godly young men. Help me to remember that they are yours before they are mine. Help me to be brave. I never want to over-protectively try to shield them from your magnificent plans for their lives because the outcome is unknown or daunting.

Lord, thank you for the incredible gift of children! Help me to glorify you as a mom.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen