Parenting Tips by Lisa Clark

Praying Mom or Preying Mom?

Interesting concept, isn’t it? Surely we all want to be Praying Moms. But many times instead of going straight to our knees on behalf of our children, we decide to take IT (whatever the problem du jour is) into our own hands and fix it just right. Well, that makes us Preying Moms. We begin to prey on our children’s insufficiencies or insecurities. For example, your child is having “friend” issues and because he has had “friend” issues his whole life, you immediately assume that the “friend” has a problem with your child and you need to get to the bottom of it. MANY times moms prey on their children’s negative character or personality traits. Socially your child seems awkward and unsure of his terrain. You plan after school get-togethers, Friday night sleepovers, parent/child play dates and seem to get nowhere. Your child is still left out and uninvited. You continue to prey on this insecurity issue and inability to make friends easily. But God wants us to PRAY about HIS child’s needs and struggles. (Remember: God created His children for His pleasure and to have a relationship with Him. They are His!) God wrote the manual on friendship. Here are some samples from the manual:

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13

“These things I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:17

Begin to pray these scriptures and others God brings to mind in your daily quiet time and with your child. Prayer builds our confidence as we come “boldly before the throne.” He can build confidence in your son or daughter that will make a difference. Plus, hearing you pray on his behalf will assure your child that prayer does work and he can deal with life’s difficulties with boldness and faith before the Lord.