Power

Growing up in a Christian home there was always a lot of prayer going on.  We had dinner as a family every evening at 6:00 on the button and always prefaced our meals with a prayer.  More times than not my father would fall asleep in his chair reading his Bible and praying.  Every Wednesday my father would go to church for prayer meeting and it was an evening devoted to prayer.

Over the years I've meet some amazing prayer warriors.  These men and women can move mountains with their words and always seem to know exactly what to say to really touch the heart of whoever it is they are praying for.  They are gifted.  I do not consider myself one of these folks.  Certainly I pray, and I know God hears me and knows my heart....but I'm often relieved that God isn't dependent on the right words to know what I'm trying to say.

Last week I was out in my office doing homework and Brian put the girls to bed.  When I came back into the house they were sleeping.  I went into Haylee's bedroom and sat on her bed next to her and kissed her and rubbed her beautiful face as she slept.  I whispered several "I love yous" and then I started to pray for her.  I placed my hand on her chest and I prayed.  As I was praying I started to feel different.  What started as barely a whisper suddenly had authority and I felt power in my words.  I truly felt like God was being transferred right into my daughter's heart through my hand.  When I finished praying with her I went in and prayed for Kerrington and the same thing happened.  It was indescribable.  I walked out of the room and just stood in the hallway trying to grasp what just happened.   It hit me, there WAS power in my words.   I WAS praying power into my daughters.  God hears our prayers and responds.  God saw my heart and He knew the desire of my heart, and when I prayed for His covering over my girls he gave it to me and I felt it.  I hope they did too. 

Feeling such power in a prayer really got me thinking about power.  As believers we have incredible power at our disposal should we take the time to call on the Lord for it.  But as I was thinking about my two girls I realized that I hold a different kind of power that I sometimes forget that I have.  As parents we all have tremendous power.  I started to think about how easily my words and actions can either build and encourage their little spirits, or break them.  My girls look up to me all the time, on my good days and on my bad days.  A few months ago I told Haylee that we had to brush her hair because it was a mess.  She looked at me with an expression that broke my heart and said "mama, you don't like my hair?"  There may be some drama attached to that example...but it was a reminder to me that I need choose my words carefully because they have incredible power.   Haylee is 5 years old and she is incredibly sensitive.  She internalizes things that I'm not even aware of.  Thankfully she's very vocal and she communicates what she's feeling, so most of the time if I've hurt her she will tell me and we can talk about it.   Thankfully when someone else has hurt her she tells me and we can talk about it.  I know that it's likely that this will not always be the case, so it's imperative that I do all I can to encourage her confidence and character.  So many little things happen in the course of the day that have the potential to build or break.  I need to pray to have awareness of these moments. 

To be perfectly honest, I'm not crazy about holding all this power.   When did I qualify for this?   I'm sure that I'm not qualified in and of myself, but thankfully I'm not doing this alone and there is power in prayer, not just for my daughters, but for me too.