![]() ![]() My parents have faithfully encouraged me in it. I’ve seen the community it creates and the ways it strengthens faith. Prayer is a vital part of walking with God. Most of all, I want friends who care about prayer and want to walk in a life of prayer together. I want a campus ministry that seeks to encourage us to pray. I want a church that values prayer as a part of its service. Now, as I prepare for college, I’m looking for this same community of prayer and care for one another that my parents have shown me. Both my parents have been involved in prayer triads at our church (a group of three people who pray together on a regular basis), and I’ve sought out this same type of community with my high-school friends.Īlso, by seeing my parents pray for those who are suffering, I began to understand the importance of Christian community, especially in the intense trials of life. Prayer is an essential part of their friendships. My parents example taught me what to look for in Christian community, especially as I prepare to head off to college. Together, these truths brought me comfort and peace and a growing love for my Creator. I saw him as caring and loving in my sorrows, but also as ruler and King over my life. I began to write out my prayers like my mom did, and as I grew in this time, I understood God more, and therefore understood prayer more. Through seeing my mom every morning alone with the Lord, I began to prioritize this same sort of time, and I began to understand the importance of it. Similarly, I never felt unclear on how to talk to God. I never felt uncomfortable about prayer, because they made it such a normal part of my life. Because my parents prayed with me, it never seemed odd or unfamiliar. Every morning I would come downstairs for school and see my mom finishing up her quiet time as she wrote out her prayers to the Lord. Through their examples, I was able to further understand the importance of communal and personal prayer.Įvery evening, sitting by my bed, my dad would read a Bible story and pray with my siblings and me. I simply learned by watching them pray each and every day. There was no instruction manual, video, or lecture. My parents didn’t give me a class to teach me how to pray. ![]() Through their prayerful guidance, I’ve been shown not only the how and why of prayer, but also the amazing Christian community that arises from it.įresh ideas all drawn from scripture, that help you pray for your children, from toddlers to teens. Looking back on the past 18 years of learning and growing in prayer, I realize what an effect my parents praying for and with me had. It was always just a part of who I was and felt like a normal part of life. I prayed with others at church, school, meals, and family devotions. From a young age, I was taught what prayer is and how to do it. I can testify that prayer will feel natural when children are exposed to it, because I grew up with prayerful parents. It might feel foreign or odd and somewhat uncomfortable at first. It wasn’t that you couldn’t learn to pray, but it would take more time for it to feel natural. But if you waited, it became harder to learn. If you grew up with parents who prayed regularly in the home, it would feel natural-like a native language. My mom once said prayer was like learning another language. It was written by the author's teenage daughter, Emma. ![]() The following is an adapted extract from the foreword to 5 Things to Pray For Your Kids.
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