Praying for Brokenness????

Recently I lost a friend that went to high school with me. She was a mother of a 9 year old daughter. When she was sick I was reading through her blog and read this . . . which is just a small sample of her character and amazing love for the Lord.

Malaya's Mom: "Every once in a while I feel a STRONG pull from the Holy Spirit to pray the following prayer and every single time I feel like the Holy Spirit is ripping the words from my heart and mouth because they are so hard to pray: I pray that He (God) will do WHATEVER it takes to make her a true, wholehearted believer. This brings tears to my eyes even typing this because I know from personal experience that many times the only way us stupid humans 'get it' and become truly devoted is through pain and devastating experiences. What parent wants their child to experience this-selfishly, NOT ME!! I dread these times as a mom. My heart already aches for these times. BUT--in a deeper part of my heart, I give thanks to Our God who is in control of IT ALL and DOES NOT FORSAKE US. He is ALMIGHTY, Alpha and Omega!! AMAZING!!!! And that through those hard, painful times I pray that my flesh, Malaya, will choose her Lord and will choose faithfulness!! I can battle for her through prayer."

This has been challenging me ever since that day. While my friend was struggling for her life, I wondered is this what Malaya needs to experience to know God deeper? Can we pray that same prayer for our own child? Can we pray that they experience brokenness and pain so that they can learn to rely on God? And can we step back and allow our child to go through whatever it is that God needs to take them through to draw them closer to Him? We often want to protect our children and keep them from pain. We, as a society, do not want our child to feel pain, to be left out, to lose, etc. but at times won't that pain bring them closer to Jesus? Won't this refinement make them a better person?

Charles Stanley in The Blessings of Brokenness states, "Brokenness is not something to be shunned or avoided at all cost. Rather, it is something to be faced with faith. If we truly want to be (and want our child to be) all that God desires for us to be, we must submit to him during times of brokenness and allow him to reveal why we are going through what it is we are experiencing and what he desires for us to learn from the situation."

So my challenge to you and myself is to pray for your child...whatever their age. Pray for their future, their friends, their teachers, their future spouse, their purity, etc. And pray that you will have discernment to step back and let God work in their life ... no matter the cost!

Tiffani