The most we can do as a parent...

I am convinced that the most important thing as a parent we can be doing for our children is praying for them.  When our children are babies, we have control over almost everything they do--from when and what they eat to when and how long they nap.  The older they get, the more independent they become and the less control we have.  While we are in a perpetual state of relinquishing control, thankfully, there is One who is always in control.  God sees all and knows all.  He alone will never leave our children nor forsake them.  As parents, the most powerful position we can ever be in is on our knees, praying to the One who is always watching and never leaving.

I read a story recently in 'Praying the Scriptures for Your Teenagers' that demonstrates this beautifully:

"When I was about twelve years old," John said, "my mother came down with a crippling form of arthritis.  Within a year, she was confined to her bed, and I grew up having to change her sheets and do almost everything for her.  She never went to any of my school plays or sports events, never helped me with my homework, and couldn't even make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to put in my lunch.

The only thing my mother could do was pray.  She prayed for me every day--and I knew it.  And when I got older and had the opportunity to make some very ungodly decisions, I found that I couldn't do it.  I couldn't get away form mother's prayers and from the memory of what she had done for me day after day, year after year--talking to God as she lay in her bed."

As we walk this parental road of letting go, I am comforted by the fact that I can intercede to my ever-watching, loving Father.

He, alone, is in control. 

He, alone, is trustworthy. 

Remembering today that the way up is down...that knee-bending mothers are powerful mothers...that God's ways seem strange and topsy-turvy from the world's perspective...that it's not in our doing, but His doing,..that His power is unleashed as we restfully cry out to Him.

'Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint from hunger
at every street corner.' 

Lamentations 2:19