Pray Not Say!!!!!
One of the many things that I have learned as a Mom is that our kids do not always want to hear what we have to say!!
Shocking, I know!
I wish that I could say that I have “mastered” this wonderful truth but after all of my years of practice, I am still getting this one wrong.
There are STILL times, as the mother of 3 grown children (my baby turns 21 this week!) that I mess this up and let my mouth run ahead of my brain, or worse, my prayers!!
I always feel justified since I know that my motivation is 100% pure. I want to keep my kids from getting hurt, making bad choices or hurting others.
But is it really??? Is my motive always pure?
Aren’t I sometimes motivated by my desire to get my way? Have them do what I want them to do? Sometimes, I think that I am trying to PROVE God to them by telling them what HE wants as opposed to allowing them to discover what He wants for themselves!
As if He needs me to stand in for Him.
I remember the time that our middle son Andy broke His arm at the park behind our house.
I threw him in the car to rush to the hospital, and then I remembered some newly learned Bible verses and swung the car into a parking lot and slammed on brakes. “Andy” I said, we need to pray and God will HEAL your arm, Andy looked down at his crooked arm and looked back up at me and said MOM—God wants you to take me to the HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW!!!
Andy was much smarter than I was that day.
“RELEASE” is a big word for a Mother isn’t it? Sometimes, it feels impossible.
There are so many times that we are called to RELEASE our children to God, let Him do the work in their lives and PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! instead of Say! Say! Say!!!
We sometimes have to Release when they fail.
Release when WE FAIL.
Release when they succeed (Kindergarten to college)
Release when they make wrong choices.
Release when they are in pain
RELEASE when GOD is working!
Sometimes, we have to just Pray and Not Say!
Amazing! That is just what I prayed yesterday regarding my children, husband and a few other people that I've been feeling responsible for lately. I just released them one by one to the Lord. Isn't He good to let us know when we get in over our heads?
I like your catchy phrase: Pray instead of say!
Karla,
That blesses my heart!! Thank you for taking the time to tell me so!
xoxo,
p
The easy part is turning it over to God — The hard part is leaving it in God's hand !!Sometimes he just doesn't work as fast as we want him to–then we take it back !!!