Day 6: A Prayer Testimony

A few years ago my husband and I were in a rough spot. And I will be the first to admit that I was not praying regularly for him. I was in the bad place of allowing every little thing to get on my nerves or frustrate me. I was focusing on the negative, which led to me feeling like our marriage was horrible and I had married the wrong man. (these feelings were also hugely out of proportion due to the irrational thoughts I have during depression!!)

God is so gracious and he had His own little revival in my heart. He showed me the value of prayer by taking me through the valley…slowly, He began a work in my heart by compelling me to pray for David.

I began praying for David daily, several times a day. I prayed sometimes using the different chapters in this book, The Power of a Praying Wife. But, I really didn’t have a “pattern” or a method. I just prayed. And prayed.

You know what I’m going to say next, don’t you?

As I started praying more for my husband, God started changing me.

I really look at this time in my life as a miracle. I could not have changed my heart on my own…God changed me as I spent time with Him, time focusing on God’s goodness in my life and in my husband. God began opening my eyes to the great things about my husband that my own selfishness had been blinding me to. (and there are many of those great things!!) God began giving me the grace to focus on the positive. God began a work of graditude in my heart.

I share this with you to encourage you to either begin your own journey of prayer or hang in there if you are already praying regularly. It is so worth it. God is not finished with you yet!!

We have one child that has been giving us some difficult challenges off and on and I was convicted a few weeks ago that I had not been praying intentionally for her either. Now, I’m not praying for my children so that God will turn them into new little creatures in 7 days. 🙂

I’m praying so that I can focus my heart on God, asking for wisdom, thanking Him for my family…and in the process, He changes me. He helps me. He shows me more of Himself. He gives me grace.

Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. — Andrew Murray

I need this reminder. It is God and His grace that draws me to Himself and to prayer. In praying, I am seeking God, not things.

As we pray for our children, let us ask God to give us His eyes for them. Let’s ask God to change us, from the inside out, to be the parents that He has created us to be. Let’s ask Him to help us love our kids unconditionally and show them what God’s love looks like.

Precious Father, thank you that you know the plans you have for {my child,} plans to prosper him and not to harm him, plans to give him hope and a future. Then he will call upon you and come and pray to you, and you will listen to him. He will seek you and find you when he seeks you with all his heart. Jer. 29:11-12