For February we read chapter two on Prayer from Habits of a Child's Heart: Raising your kids with the Spiritual Disciplines by Valerie Hess and Marti Watson Garlett. It has been a great way to move into the Lenten season. Prayer has been so central to my faith and relationship with God. I have kept a prayer journal since I was a teenager. It is my "Ebenezer" of sorts - a marking of God in my life. I have been able to see how God has been working in my life and answering ALL my prayers. I am in awe and amazement any time I think of it all. Seeing His faithfulness in my life in the past gets me through the times when it is hard to see what is going on. It has built my trust when I am in a wilderness or when I cannot see ahead of me or understand my circumstances.
Anyway, I only want the same prayer life or even better for my children. I try to pray with them regularly and spontaneously. I encourage them to record in some way God in their lives. This chapter has many suggestions of encouraging and sharing the prayer habit in your and your children's lives. Some ideas include: a prayer "rule" (a regular time of prayer whether we feel like it or have anything to say or not), a prayer journal, memorizing prayers, and more.
How do you pray as a family? How do you encourage your child's prayer life?
I feel prayer is so central to our faith. I am hoping to share more prayer resources and books over the next couple of weeks that have really shaped our prayer life in our family. Do you have any recommendations?
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