It was 9AM and I had already broken up a fight.

I caught them on the stairs, one brother on top of the other banging his head against the wall. Yes, I’m serious. I was just as shocked as you are.

And after I broke them up and put them in their rooms, I promptly sat down on the stairs, put my head in my hands, and told the Lord it simply wasn’t possible for me to mom anymore that day.

In fact, I’d been telling the Lord for about a year that I couldn’t keep doing this. Every morning as I lay in bed knowing it was time to get up, the thoughts of enduring the physical, emotional, and spiritual overwhelm…well…overwhelmed me.

Motherhood is hard.

And I don’t want you to think that just because my boys are 11 and 13 now I’ve forgotten the days when they were 4 and 6. The days of banging heads on the wall. The days where I was at least as sweaty as they were just from chasing them around. The days where peace felt scarce.

In the midst of those days I knew I desperately needed God.

I wanted this:

But most of the time I got this…

I needed communication with my Father. The kind where I talked to Him and He talked back.

But I always felt tired, lacked energy, and just didn’t have much of me left over at the end of the day. I could’ve used someone to tell me what to pray…to hand it over on a silver platter and say, “here, pray this! It will make a difference!” But I didn’t have that at the time.

Because I wasn’t a born prayer warrior, I didn’t know what to pray that would get me what I wanted, so I did something very simple:

I started praying God’s Word back to Him.

It was just as easy as it sounds. I would sit down for five minutes each week with my Bible in one hand, and a notebook in the other, and look up verses in the concordance that I wanted to pray for my sons. That’s really how it all started.

(Most often, I arranged this short time when my husband was home from work so that I could devote my attention to picking the right verses, but it could just as easily have been done after the kids were in bed).

Becoming a praying mom changed everything for me.

I really don’t know how to write that in a way that communicates the change that took place in me over time more effectively. It quite literally changed most everything about me, and it altered the course of my family’s life.

▪ As I prayed, I found new hope and remembered God’s mercy.
▪ As I prayed, I grew closer to my Jesus, and His sacrifice for me became sweeter.
▪ As I prayed, the way I interacted with my sons became more positive, and a God-centered way of parenting them began to develop.
▪ As I prayed, God showed me answers to questions, and gave me enough wisdom for each moment.
▪ As I prayed, the entire equation of our home began to alter and have different outcomes (because God began to alter me).
▪ As I prayed, I became equipped to step into the role of godly motherhood, and began to know that I was never alone.
▪ As I prayed, my children began to pray with me, and I shared the worldview with them that there is a good God who always bends down to listen (Psalm 116:2).

If I had not become a praying mom, I don’t know that we would be where we are as a family today.

We aren’t perfect. We aren’t finished. We haven’t arrived. We don’t do everything right. And there are days that I forget to pray…but not many 🙂

God saw my desperation and gave me a lifeline. That lifeline was prayer, and today, I’d like to offer it to you.

I wish someone would have handed me a book full of prayers when my sons were 4 and 6 and banging each other’s heads against the wall. They didn’t.

But I can do that for you.

I promise you, if you follow these steps, your life will change, too.

1. Let your desperation lead you to God.
2. Pray His Word back to Him for yourself and your children.
3. Every day.

Let’s do it together.

For the next two days (ending 11/16/18) you can get the Winter 2019 Pray the Word Journal while supplies last. Pray the Word Journal IS what I wish someone had handed me. Now, I’d like to hand it to you.

Click here to purchase your copy and let’s get started with what might the most important thing you ever do.

It was for me.

(Don’t forget that when you purchase the Winter Edition (prayers start in January) you automatically receive the Advent Edition (prayers start in December) free. Click here to get yours before they’re all gone).