Just In Case You Ever Wonder

by Marissa Writes - Tuesday, February 05, 2013

One of my daily goals with my boys, or rather a goal my husband and I have, is to pray every night before bed. When we first made this a goal I figured it would be super simple and easy. I couldn't have been more wrong.

You see, the actual "praying" concept, super easy. The process of getting my son to focus on prayer, and praying in a proper manner, not so easy. Do you know what I'm saying?

Well in the midst of trying to find ways to make praying for engaging and meaningful - I don't want to spend this prayer time thanking God for every single toy in the room while never thinking to be joyful and thankful for less concrete thing- my husband came across Just In Case You Ever Wonder by Max Lucado. Have you heard of it?

Well, I found out that the story came from things Max would promise his girls before bed at night - to me this sounds like little tidbits he was trying to instill in his girls to help them know how to come to God in prayer on a regular basis.

The story is spoken through the voice of parents to their child - reminding her of her worth to God, her worth to her family, and the promise of the love that will forever come from her parents and God. The reminder that mom and dad are there for their kids to come to for love, security and guidance is important because mom and dad are setting an example of how kids go to their Father in Heaven for love, security and guidance.

The best reminder in this book that I want my kids to learn from my is that Heaven is a real place, a wonderful place. And that is what we are aiming for while we go through trials here on earth.

The one issue with this story came from the fact that not all families are even trying to provide this model for their kids. And that issue could easily come up while reading this story to a kid. I could just picture my son, if he were a few years old, realizing that one of his friends doesn't live in a home where mom or dad are there to comfort them when they are scared, or remind them that they are loved, no matter what. At least this book would open up the discussion of how God wants the family dynamic to be, but that as people we have the ability to obey God and try to live the life He wants us to, or we can disobey and live strictly for earthly desires. But again, this isn't the point of the story...

Either way, the overall idea that these promises probably impacted the prayer life of Max and his daughters, has given me some encouragement over how to help focus my efforts to instruct my boys in prayer and the love of God.

Besides actual prayers, what do you do with your kids to help them learn to pray? Do you ever feel discouraged by their prayers? I'd love to hear your thoughts, leave me a message.