A Mother's Prayer

In an earlier post I wrote that we must seek God’s wisdom and direction as we move the shuttle across the colored threads of our children’s lives.  We must pray for God’s guidance in our role as parents.  We must also pray for our children in every season of their lives.  Keith and Kristyn Getty beautifully illustrate these seasons of prayer in their song A Mother’s Prayer.  Our prayers for our children begin when they are wee little ones as we hold them in our arms.  We pray that their little frames grow strong and that faith takes hold while they are young.  In those early days I also prayed not only that faith would take hold when they were young, but also that their faith would grow stronger than my own faith, that they would know the Savior more deeply and personally, and that they would walk with Him all their days no matter what their future held.  In the journey of these years may they trust Him to the end.

But, as many mothers already know, they don’t stay in our arms for long.  They soon demand their freedom and independence.  They totter across the floor and then walk and run through the yard.  As they encounter the world in this new way, they soon learn that this world is not as it should be.  They suffer hurts from falls and friends.  They meet with difficulties and struggles.  They see turmoil and trouble.  And our prayers change with the season.  We pray that the Savior would open their eyes to see all that’s beautiful and true, that His light would fill all they are, and that the jewel of wisdom would fill their heart.  We pray that He would guide us as we hold their hand and teach them the way to go, always with the assurance that He is with us till the end, that He is faithful till the end.

And then, before we are quite ready, they’ll travel where our arms won’t reach as the road rises to lead their feet on a journey of their own.  However, our mother’s heart does not change and we continue to lift them in ceaseless prayer.  We pray that our mistakes would not hinder them but that His grace would remain and guide them through.  We pray that they would take His hand and go where He calls them to and that whatever comes, that they would seek Him with all their heart.  These are my prayers for my children these days.  I know that I have made mistakes along the way, and so I pray that my mistakes will not hinder their walk with the Lord.  I long to take their hands once again, but I know that I must now trust them to a faithful Lord who promises to guide them if they seek Him, and so I pray that they seek Him with all their hearts.

The Getty’s end their song with the words, Father, hear my ceaseless prayer – Oh keep them in your care.  These words echo the prayers in my heart for my own children.  I lift ceaseless prayers for them to a gracious Father who has promised to hear my cries on their behalf and I have the assurance that He will indeed keep them in His loving care.         

Wait on the Lord

Illness; unexpected complications; hectic schedules – Everyday life often exposes our limitations and weaknesses.  As I consider this fact, I am reminded that God has not left us alone to struggle through our days wearied and weakened.  He has not forgotten or abandoned us to live in our own feeble strength.  In Isaiah 40:27-28 He asks, “Why do you say, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is passed over by my God?’  Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.  His understanding is unsearchable.”  We are not alone.  God not only sees our weariness and struggles, but He also understands with an understanding that is unsearchable.  He does not grow faint or weary.  His strength is limitless.  He is a stronghold to lean upon.

This fact strengthens my heart, for the truth is, we do grow weary and faint in our everyday lives.  But God is more than a stronghold to lean upon.  Verses 29-31 tell us that “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  God renews and increases our strength so that we can run and not grow weary, so we can walk and not faint.  He replenishes us for the tasks before us.  He gives us the ability to move forward.

The reality is that sometimes the circumstances of life can be difficult.  We can become weary and exhausted with daily stresses.  Yet when we wait on the Lord, He will renew our strength.  Nancy Leigh DeMoss reminds us that to really wait on the Lord is not passive.  It is active.  It means to longingly and expectantly cling to Him.  It means to put all our confidence and hope in Him and to trust that He will give us His strength for our weakness.  It means to patiently pray and believe that He will indeed bless us with His power. 

And when we trust in in the Lord and His strength, we will do more than move forward.  We will mount up with wings like eagles.  We will soar above the storms of everyday life.  He will give us the ability to rise to the higher elevations, to ascend on high.  There He will plant our feet on higher ground.  There we will behold our loving Lord and He will strengthen us for the tasks that He calls us to do.  We will not be disappointed for He is the everlasting Father who never grows weary or faint and who gives abundantly to those who wait on Him.  

The Master Weaver

I did not post last week as my mind was preoccupied with plans for my daughter’s graduation from the Liberty School of Aeronautics FAA airframe & powerplant certificate program.  She earned her private pilot’s license more than a year ago and she decided that her next step was aircraft maintenance.  In a few short weeks she will begin work in an aviation maintenance shop.  She loves airplanes.  You can see it in her radiance as she sits on the wing of a plane, and in her inquisitive look when she hears a plane fly overhead, and in her excited chatter about King Airs and trim tabs.  She loves the maintenance side of aviation.  Her eyes light up when she talks of name brand tools like Snap-on and Fluke and of sheet metal and rivets.  I love her enthusiasm even if I don’t always understand the terms or significance of what she shares.

This was not part of my plan when I first held her in my arms on a sunny Sunday morning in May twenty-one years ago.  I don’t think I really had any definite plans in those early days and years of her life, but God did.  Psalm 139 assures me that He formed her inward parts and knit her together in my womb.  She is indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.  She was intricately woven by His loving hands and in His book were written the days that were formed for her when as yet there was none of them.  It is amazing to consider the fact that He formed her.  He knit her together.  He wove her intricately to be the person He planned her to be.  He formed her determined and fiery spirit.  He knit her enthusiastic and adventurous nature.  He wove her with the abilities needed to accomplish His purpose and design for her life.

He is indeed the Master Weaver who has a purpose and design for each child’s life.  He allows us as mothers and fathers to take a part in the weaving process.  As I wrote in my last post, this is an awesome responsibility.  We must seek His wisdom and direction as we move the shuttle across the colored threads.  We must teach our children to seek His guidance as well.  As Ravi Zacharias writes, “we are called to see the gracious hand of a designing God in our lives.  We are called to respond to God’s nod.  He holds the threads.  .  .  The design is beautiful.  The promise is sure.  The end result is profound.  The answers will all be there.  But the condition is clear; we must search for God with all our hearts.”  

As my daughter prepares the shuttle for the next row in the design, I am secure in the knowledge that God knows her more than I can ever know her.  He loves her more than I can ever love her.  I am awed by this fact.  I am awed by the precious and vast sum of thoughts He has of her.  He has searched her and known her intimately.  He is acquainted with all her ways.  He lays His hand upon her.  My heart echoes the praise of the Psalmist when he writes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”   I feel at peace as I leave the tapestry of her life in His hands.  I know that He will guide and keep her in His loving care.  He knows the rest of the design and it is beautiful. 

A Great Responsibility

Just after I wrote my last blog post, I sat on the steps of the visitor center at Liberty University.  I looked out over the beautiful campus nestled in the hills of Virginia.  I listened to the Christian music that quietly played over the speakers throughout the campus and my eyes filled with tears.  I wanted to shout “Hooray!” for right before me lay a miracle, a Christian university with the motto, “Training Champions for Christ.”  Here students can study in all different fields and learn how to actively apply their Christian faith in their chosen occupations.

On those steps, I thanked God for this miracle:  a miracle that allows students to choose a Christian university and a miracle that two of my daughters study here.  I thanked God for the miracle of the availability of other Christian universities, universities like Cedarville in Ohio where another of my daughters studied and graduated.  I thanked God for the godly men and women who dedicate themselves to teach in these universities and I thanked Him for the Biblical values that are taught.  I prayed for the students, for the strength of their faith.  I prayed that they truly would be “Champions for Christ” taking God’s Word and truth out into the world that so desperately needs it.

I write this not to suggest that every Christian young person should attend a Christian university.  (My son studied and graduated from a state university.)  Rather, I write it as a reminder that God’s miraculous power is ever present all around us.  I have transported students to these two Christian universities for a total of five years now and this is the first time I realized it to be the miracle that it is.  The freedom to believe and practice our Christian faith abounds around us and yet, as I wrote in my last post, we often take it for granted.  It has become so common place, so unworthy of praise that my heart aches.

As I consider the multiple Christian opportunities around us – summer camps; teaching ministries; media sources – I feel the urge to break out in song and my mind is drawn back to the pages of The Insanity of God.  I think of the stories of the faithful believers in communist Russia, believers like Dmitri, who worshiped and sang Heart Songs while in prison for their faith.  Holy songs and Scripture were the lifeblood of the church under communism in countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe.  The believers did not own Bibles or hymnbooks, but they memorized Scripture and sang Holy songs.  When those believers were asked how they remained strong in their faith throughout such persecution, they answered, “We learned it from our mothers, our grandmothers, our great-grandmothers.  We learned it from our fathers, our grandfathers, our great-grandfathers.”

We have an awesome responsibility to pass on our faith to our children and grandchildren.  Therefore, let’s open our eyes to the miracles that surround us and give thanks to God who so graciously displays His miraculous power.  Let’s make Scripture and Holy Songs a priority in our homes and families and take advantage of the Christian opportunities around us.  Let’s make faith and praise a way of life.  May we live our lives in such a way that our children and grandchildren learn from us to stand firm in their faith no matter what obstacles stand in the way.