Are You a Mom Who Prays for Her Children? Then This Episode is For You! Episode #35

The Prayer Podcast with Jan L. Burt

Well hello to you today, welcome to this episode of The Prayer Podcast. I’m thankful you’re joining me for this episode where we’re talking about moms, specifically encouraging moms to keep praying for their children.

Have A Prayer Request? Submit It Here!

A 60-Day Prayer Journal for Parents

Praying Psalm 91 Audio Course

There is a unique long-haul kind of praying that only mothers understand. We begin praying for them before they are born, as they develop and grow and are knit together by God in the womb. As newborns, oh my how a mother prays over that little baby! The first year, there is a lot to pray about. Developmentally alone, those prayers could fill an entire prayer journal for many moms. Toddlerhood, well, praying all the time, those shooting arrow kind of prayers all day long for protection, for patience, for the ability to be fully in the moment, for sleep, for safety, for time to both slow down and speed up, depending on the day. And that is just the start of a praying mom’s lifetime of prayer.

Today I want to come alongside you as a fellow mom who prays daily for her children, and now my grandchildren as well. You are not alone in all the ups and downs that come with a life dedicated to covering your children in prayer, of the continual lifting up their needs and their broken areas before the Lord. It is possibly the most natural thing for a Christian mom to do, this praying, but it is also a choice we must make daily, especially when the praying is so long in obtaining an answer, when their choices break our hearts, when we know we are nearing the end of our rope, but all we can do is hang on and keep crying out to God for our children.

If you’ve been dealing with long haul praying and the burden of being a praying mom has begun to feel heavy, weighing on your heart, always in the back of your mind, dreading the next phone call or text message, but still continuing in prayer, even waking up during the night to pray for your child…can I just say that while I can’t give you an in person hug and sit with you and let your share your heart and unload your burdens, I can do this: tell you that you are not alone, you are seen, your struggles and the burden you bear really is a noble cause, one of the highest possible causes in the Kindgom of God, and your labor in the Lord will not end up being in vain. Make no mistake, this kind of praying, going to the Lord on your child’s behalf when your own heart is broken and feels like it will never be mended, that is a labor not only of love, but for the disciple of Jesus, it is a labor in the Lord and He has promised that it will not be for nothing.

While some may say that God is simply building your child’s testimony, today I don’t want to say that to you, because many of us cannot be comforted by that today. We know the place our child is living, and we can’t be soothed with platitudes or even with things that may well prove true in the end…because we carry the mom-burden in our hearts and minds at this moment, and we need to be seen, supported, and prayed for, even as we pray for our children.

In 1 Samuel, we find Hannah at the temple praying for a child, as her womb had been barren and her heart was in anguish, and Eli the High Priest misunderstood her, assuming she was drunk. She had her tear-laden prayer answered, and my prayer for you today is that you, too, will very soon see the answer to the prayers you have prayed as a mother, the crying and the tears have all been captured in the Lord’s bottle, and may you see those answered prayers come to fruition soon, very soon.

A mother’s heart holds things unique to her, and Mary the mother of Jesus treasured up things in her heart that were revealed to her about her son. Yes, Jesus lived as God in the flesh, and was the Savior for His earthly mother as well as for all mankind, for all who will receive Him. And yet, somehow, God allowed her to store up things in her heart that must have broken her heart in ways only moms can relate to. Those things you have stored up, treasured in your heart, the wonderful and joyous things and the things that are so incredibly painful that they rip a hole in your own soul, God knows all about those things and He knows all about your soul-ripping pain. I cannot begin to lessen that pain, but I can speak over you the truth that God has not failed to see all your hurt, all your tears, all your heartbreak and anguish, and He cares so very much for the state of your child and for the state of your heart. In all these things, we are more than conquerors, the New Testament tells us, and in those moments when we, as praying mothers, feel like anything but conquerors, God will do the heavy lifting. It may not feel like you are being protected, like your prayers are being heard, like this storm will ever end and the daylight break through and the sun shine on your child again…it may not feel like it, not one bit, but even so, God is carrying you while you carry your child to Him in prayer. So don’t give up, don’t quit, don’t stop praying. There is nothing like the prayers of a mom to move mountains and to move the hand of God. Pray. Keep praying. And when you don’t know what to pray, sit with the Lord with your tears and grief and let that be your prayer, much as it was Hannah’s prayer. Though the sword pierced Mary’s side as well as Jesus’, there was a resurrection that came soon thereafter. Believe God for a resurrection day in your life, as well as your child’s life.

Ask God to strip away the bitterness that can come from years of praying for a rebellious child, the fear that threatens to put us in a chokehold, and the doubt that creeps in during the middle of the night. Ask Him by faith to strengthen you in your inner being, to show you how to pray when you don’t know what to pray, to lead you to His place of peace and grace for your own sake in the midst of this long hard season of prayer, and to give promises from His word to encourage you daily, to shore you up, embolden you, increasing your faith and your trust, and even to make you so much an anticipator of God’s soon coming miracle in your child’s life that you find it impossible to doubt the goodness of God, even in the darkest of night.

Lastly, can I simply say how thankful I am that you are a mom who prays and keeps on praying? Who knows what blessing and favor you’ve brought into your home, your workplace, your family, your church, your neighborhood, your world, because of your prayers? A woman who prays long, who is dug in and will not, cannot, be moved from her praying is a formidable foe to the kingdom of darkness, and everywhere she sets her feet, blessing and favor come with her. She is a living, breathing example of what we find in Psalm 91, and like the Syro-Phoenecian woman who sought healing for her daughter from Jesus, even if that healing was like scraps under the table for the dogs, you are moving mountains and you will obtain answers to your prayers for your children. Thank you for being a praying mom. And thank you for not giving up in that praying.

You matter so very much, and are making an impact that will only fully be known in eternity. I am cheering you on, and I am expectantly awaiting all God’s beautiful, powerful, miraculous answers to your prayers. May the Lord richly bless you, my fellow praying mother, holding you close, comforting you, strengthening you, encouraging you, loving you, and answering you as you stand praying, living your life as one who stands in the gap, a watchman on the wall fighting for your family, refusing to give up or give in, relying on the Lord God alone to be everything your child needs, knowing that your labor in prayer is not and never will be in vain.

Lord bless you, and I truly do mean that: be blessed by the Lord! And never stop praying!

As a Postscript, if this episode encouraged you, would you consider sharing it with a fellow praying mom? I’ll share a link where you can share any prayer requests you have with me and I will pray for your request - you have my word! And lastly, there is a link to a prayer journal I created for parents and a Praying Psalm 91 audio course, too (with no pressure to ever buy anything - just sharing some resources borne out of my own many years of heart-wrenching praying).

Thanks so much for listening today. And most of all, thanks to God who is always listening when we pray.