Parenting is not for the birds. This parenting gig is hard.

It’s hard at all ages, and I’m learning that with my twins being in the throws of middle school, this is an entirely different ball game than the toddler years.

There are many opportunities to correct our children in this thing we call life, and on one particular evening, our son was CONVINCED we did not love him, since we got onto him so much.

We had to correct him (yes, I see the irony here) and tell him it’s BECAUSE we love him, that we correct his behavior. We talked about what it would look like in reverse, if we did not discipline him, or correct his behavior.

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After a long talk, he was able to see that the correction came from a place of love. Then, our son, who is the same size as I, got in my lap for a hug, and I honestly did not want to let go.

Last night, I had the pleasure of saying prayers with the twins at bedtime, which is a task that Brandon (my hubs, their dad) usually does.

I prayed with them separately, and started with our son. He was already snuggled into his bed, so I knelt beside his bed and we grasped hands to pray. I went first, and began with praise for our Lord.

But I didn’t stop the praise at God’s characteristics, I praised God for our son, and thanked his Creator for how special, how perfect, He made our son. As the praise for our son’s Creator went on, the harder our son squeezed my hand, then he put his arm around me in a hug. I thanked God for my son’s special, unique personality, how he makes our family complete, his tenderness and compassion for others, how smart he his, etc. Even though my eyes were closed, I could sense my son’s demeanor completely changing beside me…gone were those thoughts from a few nights before about us not loving him, and instead he was basically BEAMING!

Then, when my prayer ended, my son began his prayer without missing one beat.

And…

He thanked God for me, and said, “thank you, Lord, that my mom taught me about You and introduced us“.

Please know my heart here–that I share this not to brag, but rather to explain what it feels like to listen, to overhear, to be a part of a praise-prayer to your Creator about YOU!

I never, ever want to forget how I felt last night during his prayer. That one sentence is worth all the hard parenting moments in the universe!

I praise God all the time for my children, because you have to know that I BEGGED God for children during our season of infertility.

(That story can be found by clicking here.)

However, it never occurred to me to let them overhear my praise prayer to God about them. Yes, they’ve heard me thank God for them, but not the specifics that I prayed last night with our son and then, our daughter.

So, if you are in the throws of parenting, at any age, be encouraged, be of good cheer, keep up the good fight, because when your child thanks God for you, it’s all worth it!

And…when your child has the opportunity to listen to you praising his/her Creator for him/her, they will feel just as special too!

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.”
Deuteronomy 11:18-21