The Power of a Praying Momma

When the horrific shooting took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, I was devastated. Like so many others, I was horrified at the way that evil seemed to triumph over so many of our most defenseless little ones. I thought about the fact that my own kids are growing up (very quickly) in a world where our battle is not against flesh and blood, and there are very real physical, spiritual and emotional consequences of evil. I knew I needed to get serious about praying for my kids and entering into spiritual battle on behalf of my children and their school. I wanted to pray with other moms, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it.

I am blessed with three children – Leila, age 8, Kinsley, age 6, and Caleb, age 4. Leila and Kinsley both attend Holcomb Elementary School in Oregon City, Oregon. My Caleb is at a special preschool for children with developmental delays, since he was born with many severe developmental delays, and he was recently diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (in addition to sensory disorders). He is not crawling, walking, talking, or chewing. I am extremely busy taking him to therapies all week, and I realized that the only way I could find a prayer group that worked with my schedule would be if I led it myself in my own home. I spent some time in individual prayer about it and the Lord led me to research Moms in Prayer. Through a Facebook group for moms of kids at our elementary school, I sent out an invitation to a prayer group at my home with a link to the Moms in Prayer website. The first week, God sent me two moms. Each of them invited more and we are now at a total of five moms, with another soon to join us next week.

It’s been amazing to see all of the answers to prayer in just the short five months we’ve been meeting. It’s so wonderful to pray for all the children represented, and then to come back the following week and get updates on how God answered our prayers. I love the way that Moms in Prayer provides all the resources we need…the booklet, the prayer sheets, the format for our times of prayer (see this Four Steps of Prayer video to learn more). One of my favorite things is that each week, we focus on a different attribute of God and center our times of praise and intercession upon that attribute.

One week in late February or early March of this year, our prayer group focus was “God is our Helper”. I prayed the prayer from Isaiah 41:13 over my daughters, and then for my son: “May Caleb know that You are his God, who takes hold of his right hand and says to him, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’ “ As I prayed this over my son, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and showed me that Caleb’s biggest problem was not his delays, or his cerebral palsy, or his brain function…it was fear. He has an extreme fear of falling, and a fear of failure, and this kept him paralyzed with fear much of the time. The Lord reminded me that fear does not come from Him! We began to pray against the spirit of fear in Caleb, and asked that the Lord would replace his fear with power, love, and a sound mind. Over the next couple of weeks, we continued to pray this way for our boy, and we watched Caleb begin to lose his fear. His confidence began to blossom! One day he actually asked to practice in his walker, which was unheard of before. Then came the day when, just few weeks later, I put him in the walker and turned away for just a moment, and when I turned back…he was WALKING by himself! Four years of lots and lots of prayer had come to a climax in that beautiful moment. I am so thankful that through our Moms in Prayer meeting, God showed me that my little boy was actually fighting a spiritual battle as well as a physical one, and he showed me just how to pray for my son! I’m also so very grateful to the other moms in my prayer group who joined the many other family members and church family members in interceding for my little boy. God heard our prayers and answered in a most amazing way. To Him be the glory!

If it were up to me, every young mom like myself would be in a Moms in Prayer group, covering her children and their schools in prayer. There is always a point in the meeting where I just sense God’s presence so strongly, and I can sense his pleasure in our prayers rising up to him. I also experience the peace that comes from knowing that when my little ones head out the door each day, they and their teachers and school are covered in prayer. And finally, it’s such an encouragement to gather and pray with other like-minded women. We have formed an amazing bond of sisterhood in a relatively short period of time, and I would not have even known these women otherwise. What a blessing to this mom!