Praying Priorities

After our first daughter was born and the Lord led me to start staying home with her, my relationship with God changed drastically.  I depended on Him more and more to get me through every passing day.  The life of a SAHM can be so monotonous and seem so insignificant some times.  Things always seemed to go smoother on days that I spent extra time in God's Word and prayer.  But those days were not everyday.  With an infant that liked to be held 24-7, some days it was all I could do to read one verse or one quick devotion.

During this busy time it seemed that I was beginning my prayer time in the same fashion every morning..."God please give me the strength and wisdom to be the best mother I can be for my daughter"... I would go on to pray about our day and anything specific on my mind that morning, and then near the end I would throw in..."And help me to be a good wife, daughter, servant and friend."  I was so worried about making it as a mom, everything else went on the back burner in my life, including my most important earthly relationship with my husband.

Through much conviction and many trials, the Holy Spirit finally nudged me one day during my prayer...I was a wife first and mother second.  God had given me a wonderful husband.  Gerrad was exactly who I was supposed to marry.  Everything about how we met in English class could have only been designed and drawn out by God.  But here I was praying on and on about my daughter and me and saying very little about my husband.  It is natural for mothers to put our children's needs before anything, but we cannot let that cause destruction in our marriage.

I changed my praying habits, and the difference we saw in our marriage is only a miracle from God.  I started praying for my husband first.  I prayed to be the wife God had called me to be and then I prayed about being the mother He had also called me to be.  My praying priorities changed and our lives changed.  It had been hard figuring out this new bundle of joy and how it was all going to work, but we started working together when we started praying for each other first.

This all occurred to me again recently because of our oldest going to school.  I had started praying for school and my daughter first - again.  My husband needed prayers for the changes in his job and other things in his life, but I had once again put praying for him on the back burner as I thought and prayed about starting Kindergarten.  It hit me again one morning in the shower as I was praying about our day...you are a wife first. (and yes I get quiet showers again since no children our up at 5:30 - YAY! for quiet showers)  Something my husband had told me he was praying about entered my mind.  He had told me 2 or 3 days earlier and I had not uttered that prayer to God a single time.  I felt ashamed!

Today's Verses
"And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:  she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:  and they shall be one flesh."  Genesis 2:23-24

We are one!  I was joined with my husband first and then God blessed us with children.  I should pray for him first and then my children.  I should pray to be the best wife and can be and them pray to be the best mother I can be.  When I do that, I can always tell such a difference in our lives and relationship.

I am to keep my life in order -  Him, him, and then them!

Praying Priorities...
1)  Thanking God for His holiness, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace and loving-kindness and all the many blessings He has given us.  WE CAN NEVER THANK HIM ENOUGH...
2)  For my husband and anything he may be facing.  For his health, his job, his leadership in our home, and most importantly his walk with God.  I pray that he may be a light used by God...
3)  For my children and anything they may be facing.  For their health, their learning and development, their friends, their future spouses and most importantly for their salvation, and to have a heart for God.  I pray that they may be a light used by God...
4)  For my family...my parents, my inlaws, my grandmothers, my cousins (siblings), my nieces, my nephews, my aunts, and my uncles.  I pray they will be used as a light by God...(and trust me when I say everyone I just listed is a whole lot of people, but I am very thankful for each one of them!)
5)  I pray for our church and the trials each member may be facing.  For those who have been visiting that need to come to know Christ as their Savior.  For growth, for the faculty and staff, and for the many, many workers.  I pray our church can be used as a light for God...
6)  I pray that everything I do, I do for the glory of God...no matter if it is cooking and cleaning and helping my little girls paint a picture...I pray I do it for the Lord and not for anybody else.  I pray that I may be a light used by God!

I have to remember to keep God first, thanking Him and praising Him - not just asking.  Then my husband comes next, them my girls...and everything else will fall into place!