I took pictures before she left and baked cupcakes for after school.  I couldn’t help myself. I was bursting with pride for my wonderful firstborn, all dressed up for her first day of high school.  Oh, she was scared stiff, all right. Weren’t we all, that first day?“Now we’re not going to baby you anymore,” her father warned.  I mouthed over his shoulder, “I’m going to baby you!” After all, I’m her mother!  I’m the one who went out on the Mother’s Day kindergarten picnic. All those cherub faces, all those bright eyes.  “Thanks, Mom, I love you,” they sang, pointing to their own mommy. I remember getting choked up thinking, statistically speaking, some of you will be victims of crime, some of you will be instigating that crime, some of you will do unhealthy things to your bodies, some of you will mistake hormones for true love.  And as I looked into individual faces—precious each one, I’d pray, “Surely not this one, Lord, oh, let it not be that one.”

Moms in Prayer

There are so many concerns in parenthood.  It could freak anyone out! But once a week I teamed up with other moms to lay these burdens in God’s capable hands.  I joined a Moms in Prayer group, which made all the difference. Moms in Prayer International is an organization started in 1984 whose purpose is:

• To pray that our children will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, then stand boldly in their faith
• To pray for teachers and school staff
• To pray that teachers, administrative staff, and students would come to faith in Jesus Christ
• To provide support and encouragement to moms who carry heavy burdens for their children
• To pray that our schools will be directed by biblical values and high moral standards
• To be an encouragement and a positive support to our schools

An hour-worth of prayer once a week.  No coffee, no chit-chat, but serious business with the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Keep it Simple

The prayer time is simple and designed for beginners.  Weekly, each participant receives a prayer sheet featuring an attribute of God, and by following the ACTS model, the group starts with Adoration/praise, then (silent) Confession, then Thanksgiving, and finally Supplication.  It is conversational style so you just pray a sentence or two and then let someone else take a turn.  We’d pray for one teacher a week, one school issue, a Moms in Prayer topic, and then we’d break into pairs to pray specifically for our children.  I have four kids, but only one would get featured that week. Our leader reminded me that God is outside of time which relieved me of worry that the other three would fall off the Christian wagon while I was praying for the one.

Pray Scripture

Using Scripture, we’d “bathe that child” in prayer.  It might look like this:

“Father, I pray that no one would take “name” captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (I used this from Colossians 2:8 a lot for my middle and high schoolers.)

Then the other person might say, “Yes, and especially in classes where the teacher interprets events, please help “same child” be able to judge whether You would agree, and if not, help him/her be bold enough to respectfully debate.”

Back and forth over that same child, those two moms pray until the mother of that child feels like it’s sufficient.  Then they start on the other person’s child.

No problem is too small:  finding someone to sit with during lunch; or too large:  cheating on a math test. A huge key is that all prayers are confidential.  We did not discuss the issues—ever—in front of our children, the teachers, or each other outside of the hallowed ground on which we prayed.  I was free to wrestle with my fears and doubts in front of my Christian sisters, knowing they would treat me with compassion and goodwill. Also, we did not try to solve each other’s problems—after all, we had just petitioned the Almighty God who had better solutions than we could have asked or imagined.

The confidence gained by laying our children at His feet was remarkable.  My daughter survived that first day, and the rest of her schooling (yes, there are prayer groups for college age!).  I survived too, knowing she was sent off with vital spiritual coverage.

For more information on Moms in Prayer--https://momsinprayer.org/