A Dangerous Prayer

 In honor of Mother’s Day, I would like to begin a series that will share some of the things that I have been learning about being a daughter of God from my experiences as a mother.

It all began with a prayer. In January of 1998, our disposable income made a sudden and unexpected increase. We well knew that extra money tends to mysteriously evaporate into thin air about as quickly as does that last piece of pepperoni pizza in a house of teenagers. So, we purposed that we wanted to do something worthwhile with that extra money, something that would advance God’s Kingdom. The question was, what ministry would God most want us to contribute to? So, we began to pray, “God, what do you want us to do with this money”? 

Now, I already knew that some prayers are dangerous. Like, when someone asks for patience, and then promptly loses a job, or becomes ill. But this prayer seemed safe enough. It would just be a matter of choosing a ministry to write a check to each month, and that would be the extent of our involvement.

God had a different plan.  Within two months, His plan was set in motion, and shortly after, through an amazing whirlwind of events that could only be orchestrated by our sovereign God, we found ourselves moving four siblings into our home to join the four little girls that we already had. My husband and I were left astonished, humbled, and with no doubt that this was God’s answer to our feeble prayer of offering. We handed God an inch, but He took a mile, … after mile, after mile…down a road that will be a lifelong journey!  He didn’t want our excess, our extras, He wanted our ALL, and our lives have not been the same since, in both difficult and wonderful ways.

 God asks us for what we have, but also for what we haven’t. He desires our weaknesses, as well as our strengths. And I can assure you that there is nothing like suddenly finding yourself the mother of a very unblended family of children ages  1,2,3,5,7,9,10,and 11, to find that indeed you don’t have what it takes!

It was clear that God had special things in mind for all of these kids, and I felt very privileged to become their mother, but also like I wasn’t a big enough person for the job. What I didn’t know at the time was that this was going to be just as much or more about how God would use all eight of these children to bless ME, and work in my life, as it was using me to help them.   It turns out that parenting is as much about developing my own character, and holiness, as it is raising children.

 Sometimes we feel certain that we are not the one for the job, but it could well be, that the job will be just the thing for us!