Sunday, November 22, 2009

Praying for Your Kids Monday
Attitude of Gratitude

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 30:12, That my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever. In my Bible I have it underlined and next to it I wrote, "Samuel Edward: 4.12.06". Our friends gave us this verse when Samuel was born and we loved it so much we claimed it for Samuel and even had it printed on his birth announcements.

If you haven't claimed a verse for your child, I encourage you to do so (Roo's is Isaiah 63:7). This has nothing to do with today's PYKM so I'm not even going to charge you for it.

Anyway...back to Psalm 30:12. Oh to not let our hearts be silent; to be giving thanks to God for all He has done. What a happy thing to teach our kids; that they have a loving King to give thanks to. That no matter what circumstance they are in, there is always something to give thanks to God for. You can be a great model for your kids by thanking God, not just in bedtime prayers, but all throughout the day. "Thanks God for keeping us safe as we drove to preschool." "Thanks God for the sunshine this afternoon." "Thanks God for helping me have self-control." You get the idea.

Can I encourage you to not look at this week as the last hurdle to get through until you can start celebrating Christmas? This week is a wonderful week to be thankful for your blessings and to serve others. Do some practical things with your kids this week to remind them of how God blesses them over and over and help train them to have grateful hearts to their Heavenly Father.

Father, You are more generous than I could ever imagine. You have given me more gifts than I can even thank You for; my mind is too small to even fathom how much You give to me. Lord, I pray for ________ to begin to understand Your goodness, faithfulness and mercy even at her early age. I pray that she will always be able to find something to thank You for no matter what circumstances she finds her life in. Thank You for ________. Thank You for giving her to me to love and raise and thank You for loving her even more than I do. Amen.

1 comment:

Becky Stephen said...

Thanks for the reminder to persevere in prayer for my kid and in thankfulness.
Before Josh was born, the Lord led Roy and I independently to Psalm 1. It's instructed our prayers and our vision for his life since before he was born. It feels a bit ambiguous sometimes - all that boy = tree stuff. But when I am at a loss for what to pray for Josh, I return to Psalm 1. And I can't wait to see how God answers.