Thursday, February 19, 2009

TT1 (Training Thursdays 1)


My name’s denise and I’m just like you. I’m doing my best to raise these kids the best I can. I have 4 boys (12, 8, 5 and 3) who are very sweet and pretty compliant, but we all have our moments. Le asked me to share what I know and to share what has worked for me, so here goes.

I can’t start this ‘series’ without telling you the most effective parenting tip I know. PRAY.FOR.YOUR.CHILDREN. It’s really that simple.

When I was growing up, Mrs. Sayers was a church lady who prayed for me and my family every day. Miss Schober is a lady I worked for in high school (cleaned her house, worked in her garden) who still prays for me on the 7th of every month (my birthday is on the 7th). My Mom and Dad pray for me and my 5 brothers and sisters EVERY DAY. Do you know what this does for me? There are no words to describe the gratitude I have for these people.

We all know we should do it, but mothering is BUSY. The urgent takes over and then you realize it has been days (more?) since we’ve prayed for them. Pray for them when they are walking to get on the bus or when you drop them off at school. Pray for them when you’re folding their laundry. Pray for them when you check on them before you go to bed for the night and see them sleeping so soundly. It just takes a second. Pray for them.
When my older ones were smaller, they had these light-up sandals. At the end of a summer day I would be cleaning up and pick up these sandals. As I would throw them in the shoe bucket or in their closet, they would start to blink. It just made me smile. And I would pray for them. Find a trigger like that. Find something that makes you pray. It’s the single most powerful thing you can do for your kids.
~type to you on thursdays~
picture credit: ntnu

5 comments:

shannon said...

great idea le. thanks for having denise share her wisdom with us. i can't get enough of godly parenting wisdom!

m said...

ahhhh how sweet! it's just so simple---but we never seem to have enough time! thanks denise--love you & your wisdom!

v. said...

i'm thankful to have friends like L & D. God has truly blessed my life with your wisdom. much love to you both

soccermom said...

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us!!

Little Miss Know it All said...

This is such a great tip. I learned last year that if I pray for my son before he goes to school, he has a much better day. He has Asperger's Syndrome, and on days we pray he's more focused and better behaved. We pray each morning before he goes out the door, and if I somehow forget, he's right there to remind me!