"How to Pray for Your Kids" with Julie Sanders

Even though today's title was "How to Pray for Your kids" I think the take home message was really how to teach your children to pray.

We had a great time today listening to fellow mom Julie Sanders.  Here are just some of the many points she made it today's talk: (I know Julie could write these much better than I can, but here were my notes)

• We are not always going to be with our children.
• Fears (for our kids) can motivate us to pray, but they shouldn't consume our prayers
• When we are afraid it is okay to share that with our children, as long as we then react in the proper way by going to our heavenly Father
• Prayer can be one of our biggest ministries to our children
• We need to pass on prayer to our kids, but we can not impart what we do not possess
• The verse Psalms 56:3 is a great one for our children to memorize, "When I am afraid, I will trust in Him."
• Any situation can be inserted into the above verse, "When I am ______, I will trust in Him" For example, "When I am in the dark....", or "When I am at a new school...."
• Other good verses: Psalms 86:6-8, Psalms 145:17-19 and Jeremiah 29:11-12
• An acronym to remind us how to pray with our children is CHIMP:
• Comfortable - use words children can understand
• Hallowed - teach your children to pray to God with respect
• Impulsive - pray anytime, anywhere
• Meaningful - pray about things that matter to your children
• Personal - use names in your prayers
• When we face our fears, we can pass our prayers

Thanks to Julie for coming out today!  A great resource she shared was her "Not Afraid" book.  You can download a copy as a guide to make your own or email me at boudreauxb at gmail dot com and I can help you make one with your childrens' pictures in it.  Julie had three different sizes of the book; one for at home, one for in the car, and a small one for a diaper bag or school bag.  I love the visual nature and personal quality of the book.