Hello all! Did everyone have a nice spring break? What did you do? Did you go anywhere special? Would love to know! :-)
As the blog title says, today I’d like to talk about prayers for the future spouses of our kids.
When my husband and I got engaged, his mom let me know that she’d been praying for me all of my life. That blessed me so much to hear. We grew up in different states thousands of miles apart and met in our mid-twenties. Yet his mom had been praying for her sons’ future mates from the time they were little.
It made me realize I’d had prayer coverage I never knew of. That was a wonderful feeling! It made me determined to also pray for our children and their future spouses.
I’ll be honest. I haven’t always been faithful to do it regularly and consistently until recently. My oldest teen daughter had her first real heartbreak. Boy, did that teach us a lot as a family. It also reminded me I needed to be more diligent to pray for my girls in the arena of relationships with the opposite sex.
I’ve been writing the prayers in a spiritual hope chest that I have for the girls in my computer files. Most of the prayers at first consisted of things like, “Lord, help! I have no idea how to do this!” LOL!
I’ve been praying for wisdom on how to counsel her, yet I have been amazed at the wisdom, resilience, strength and Godliness she has displayed through it all, even before the break-up. It also reminded me how important praying for their future spouses is. Maybe they’ve met, maybe they haven’t. That matters not. God knows.
Do (or have) you pray(ed) for your kids’ (or grandkids’) future spouses? What kinds of things did/do you pray? Please share! This mama needs wisdom.
Just a few things I have prayed for my girls and their future men:
- Strong relationship with Christ
- A love for God’s word
- To be true worshippers
- For no compromise in their faith or purity
- For safety emotionally, physically, mentally & spiritually
- For freedom and protection from addiction of any sort
- For a heart of evangelism
- For them to know and use their G0d-given gifts
- Wisdom in every realm of life and in their pursuit of future careers, current and future friendships & activities
- Health
- Victory over sin
- Discipleship
Do you believe teens should date? Or do you believe in the courtship model? Please share your advice and wisdom you’ve learned. Also, any books you’d recommend on the subject would be grand. I’m grateful for the input. :-)
Blessings,
Cheryl Wyatt
USA Today bestselling author and RN Cheryl Wyatt writes romance with virtue themed with rescue. She’s grateful to be a worshipper of Jesus, a mom, wife, orphan/troop advocate, plus wrangler of words and spoiled Yorkies. She loves readers and cherishes interaction at: https://www.facebook.com/CherylWyattAuthor. Join her newsletter via her website: www.cherylwyatt.com.
I’m sorry to hear about your daughter, Cheryl. I don’t have children, but I pray often for my grown twin nieces and nephew. Most of my prayers are for their health, safety and emotional well-being.
I can understand how you feel about your children finding the right spouse. My son got married last May to his high school sweetheart and all seems to be well so far!
I’ve prayed for my children’s spouses since they were little but not as organized or consistently as you are doing. My oldest has been married for almost 10 years, I still pray for them though. I hadn’t thought of praying for my grandchildrens spouses, I’ll have to start doing that. My youngest is graduating college this May and then marrying in July. I keep praying for them as well as my son who isn’t married yet. I pray for the Lord to bring the right person at the right time, and for them to realize it, as well as to walk in purity. I also pray for the young adults at church. It is amazing to see God’s hand at work, when He brings people together.
I wasn’t as consistent as you or your mom-in-law, but I did pray for my kids’ spouses. I should get started on my grandgirls’ spouses!
I started praying for my children’s spouses before they were even born. It paid off. My daughter and son both have wonderful Christian mates.
I never dated until I was 21 and married when I was 27, so I missed all the teenage dating angst.
This post resonates with me since our middle child, Chelsea, is getting married this Saturday! It’s been a bumpy road for her and her future husband at times, but the Lord is at the helm, and that’s the most important cord in a marriage of three strands. Blessings and thanks! :)
Both my parents and my husband’s parents prayed for our future spouses. We do pray for our children’s spouses though maybe not as often as we should. Thanks for the enouragement to keep up with it. I don’t know that I agree with dating. But I’m not necessarily sold on the strict courtship model either. I think what I want for my girls while they’re teenagers is time spent with a group of friends rather than a lot of one on one time with someone of the opposite sex. I hope to teach our children how to pray for their future spouses as well as what to look for. How do they treat their parents? Their siblings? Children? Are they respectful? I want to join with our children in prayer as they get older and work as a team to help them discover what steps God has for them as they first venture out on their own. Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. I have a feeling we’ll do a lot of learning as we go and that our poor oldest daughter will end up being the guinea pig. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and how you pray for your children and their future spouses.
Thank you, sweet Jill! That means a lot. Your nieces and nephew are SO, SO blessed to have you for an aunt! How wonderful that you pray for them, even with them grown. What a blessing and a noble devotion of your time. Great prayers, too. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Linda! How wonderful to hear. I am excited to see what God does in their lives and the older they get, the faster time seems to fly. I wish I could freeze time in a way. LOL! Your story encouraged me to trust God that all will be well one day. Thank you! Glad you stopped by.
So true. I love watching God work. He is faithful. How great that we have a God who not only hears our prayers, but that Jesus prays for us, our kids and our grandkids even now. I have not been very faithful to pray for my kids on these issues, but one thing her heartache did was encourage me to be more consistent in praying for them. Thank you so much for stopping by. I appreciate it and agree with you in your prayers for your son and all. Glad that they’ve all benefitted from your prayers. Bless you for serving the young adults that way, too! Hugs!
Yes! I will have to remember that too, years from now. LOL! I’m glad for my mom-in-law’s example in this area.
That’s wonderful, Gail-and encouraging! God is faithful. I was like you and didn’t date until later and married at age 29. One good thing that did come out of this is it convinced my daughter that dating at her age is dumb. LOL! It helped her lose her obsession with finding a boyfriend. LOL! God works through all situations and for that I’m glad. Everything they go through is sifted through His hands.
Oh, JoAnn, I’m so glad you posted. Thank you for the reminder that the Lord is at the helm and that’s the most important cord in a marriage of three strands. My daughter loves the analogy too about the triangle. God is the top point and she and her future mate are the left and right points. As they focus on growing closer to God and loving God more, they will naturally be drawn to one another.
Julie, I laughed out loud when I read the guinea pig part. That is so true for our daughter too–and the middle daughter says she suffers for it. LOLOL! I loved your thoughts on the kids hanging out in groups. So wise! We encourage our girls to do the same and that’s the way my husband and I built our friendship. It was a great safeguard for not succumbing to physical intimacy before marriage too, something I’m praying our girls and their friends and future guys do too. I love your idea of joining with your children in prayer as they get older and that teamwork. Wonderful idea! Thank you for sharing! Some great gems of wisdom in your comment and I’m taking it all to heart. Bless you for stopping by. I’m glad my post encouraged you as well.
We certainly don’t pray like we should for our children’s future spouses. I know we do, but we could be more purposeful about it!
My husband has tried to be a Godly model for both our daughter and our son. Teaching by example how a husband should be or as a man should treat a lady. That 1 Corinthians 13th chapter :-) I pray that they will choose a spouse like that!