The other morning, a little before 7 AM, my seven-year-old daughter crawled quietly into bed with us followed by my five-year-old who burrowed down by our feet. Finally, we were also joined by my two-year-old who decided that he didn’t want to join in on the family cuddles but wanted to play music instead. He proceeded to grab his toy xylophone and whack it as hard as he could at the foot of our bed. It was so shocking, we had to laugh.
This season of life has its challenges. Sometimes it feels like there are a lot of abrupt sunrise "parades” and things we've needed to juggle around. However, the beauty of this season is that we have also been able to take advantage of all our time together and build a house of prayer. How?
Built in Rhythms
One of the things that the Lord has enabled my husband and I to do is to leverage normal rhythms we have as a family. Rather than reinventing the wheel, mealtimes work as built-in consistency for us. Every morning at breakfast before my husband heads to work and while we are already around the table, we take time to read a small Bible passage and pray.
Bedtime is another time that has worked for us. Although we have not been perfect at it, we have had some sweet moments. We have seen the Lord answer the earnest prayers of our children.
Maybe you have young children and can relate to my story or maybe you are in a different stage of life with its own challenges. No matter what season you are in, I will tell you a secret that continues to motivate me. Maybe it’s a secret that you already know. It is Romans 5:5, which says, “… And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (ESV). Beloved, we are SO loved. This is so important to remember because the love of God motivates our prayer and our leadership, and it gives us hope.
May we be empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue to partner with Him in building HOPE: Houses of Prayer Everywhere. May He help us to leverage our time for God’s glory. He loves us, and He wants to build His house of prayer in us and through us even more than we do. “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thes. 5:24, ESV). What a reassurance! Our hope in Jesus will not be put to shame nor will our efforts to submit to Him as families. The awkwardness that we may feel in leading won’t be forever and our confidence will be richly rewarded (Heb. 10:35). Let us press onward, “…for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal.6:9, NIV).