Praying for our Kids

This post is a part of Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers

I am captivated by His boundless love for me.
Once captive and bound to sin, but in Him I'm free.

Do you ever hear something said & have your mind take you off on a tangent on that one thing?  Well yesterday I was listening to the radio & I heard a verse of a song use the word captivated.  My mind suddenly started to think about how captivated and captive are so close & yet have such different meanings.  The same with bound and boundless.  I came up with the above verse & I like my little play on words that brings out some profound truth.  :)

Earlier this week we caught one of our kids in something that was a pretty big deal.  Mike & I had to discuss what we were going to do, how we were going to address it, consequences, follow up, etc.  I was mulling this over in my mind, and thinking about what a bear it can be to parent sometimes.  Sometimes it just is not fun!  But then my mind (prompted by God) went back to my prayers earlier that day.  I have a prayer that I constantly pray for my kids.  I ask God that if they are going in the wrong direction they would get caught & repent.  I pray this not only for the kids in my home, but also "my kids" who are in the group homes in Rwanda.  I realized that even though we were dealing with something "not fun", in actuality it was God answering my prayer!

This prayer was not original with me, it came from Stormie O'Martian in her book "The Power of a Praying Parent".  Isn't it true that "the power of sin is in it's secrecy"?  I am reminded of the verse in Galatians 5

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:



"Wake up, O sleeper,


rise from the dead,


and Christ will shine on you."
 
Much of the control that sin has over us happens because it is something kept in secret.  Once a sin is exposed & visible then we see how ugly it really is. I can think back over my life & there have been many times when by God's mercy I was caught doing something I shouldn't have.  You know my mom must have been praying because I never got away with anything!  ;)
 
So I am thankful for these answers to prayers, even if it is messy sometimes.  I am also thankful for new supporters that have pledged in the last few weeks- God is bringing us step by step closer to our hearts' desire.  We are about half way there, but we believe God is faithful & able to bring us all the way.
 
We are also getting closer in our paperwork for the adoption of Christine.  We are hoping that when Mike makes a visit to Rwanda in May that we will have everything ready & he will be able to get approval while he is there & bring her home!
 
Thank you for agreeing in prayer with us!
God Bless You,
Lisa