As my children are getting older, I am acutely aware that my husband and I have limited time left with our kids under our roof. We have tried to sow into their lives in all areas but sometimes life just seems to fly past and the urgent issues are focused on along with just living life and all those great intentions get left behind.

Something I am very aware of is the fact that your life can be very different depending on your partner and their background. When my kids were newborns and were still having night time feeds, I would often use that time while breastfeeding to pray for them and myself. Then I also started praying for their future partner’s mum – for strength for her and for wisdom in how she parented my future son in law, daughter in law.

When my children were toddlers, and were frustrating me, I prayed for the future in laws mum and dad and how they disciplined their child (my child’s future spouse) and their anger management etc.

Now I am praying for my teenagers future in laws and how they approach the teenage years and helping their teenager (my future son in law and daughter in law) with navigating self image, self esteem, drugs, sex, work ethic, purity, relationship with God, etc.

I understand how, as a tired and frustrated parent, it is really easy to say something, on the spur of the moment, that can cut deeply into our child’s soul and spirit. We can say something extremely negative that can gouge a deep furrow in our child’s thinking and influence them negatively forever. One of my prayers in relation to this is that not only would I refrain from saying something like that to my children but also that my future in-law’s parents would also refrain from saying any of those negative deeply impacting statements.

Having been involved in a lot of prayer ministry and seeing how everyone has issues to deal with from their childhood, I am praying that my future son and daughter in law will have minimal deep huge scars that immobilise and paralyse them. Sometimes scars can be great as it means they have learnt some things and are better off because of it but only if they have the wisdom and discernment to learn from them.

I highly recommend prayer ministry for both adults and children. No person is perfect. No parent is perfect. Our perception becomes our reality, even if it is not true. How we perceive an event or a comment becomes our reality. That is why so many siblings see their childhood different from their other sibling because they are looking at it through their own lenses.

I have found Sozo helpful for both myself and my children. Just like you get your car serviced on a regular basis to keep it in great condition, I also believe that every year or two it is great to have a session of prayer ministry to deal with any issues before they become too entrenched and fixed in our life. On a regular basis, I often ask “Father God, can you please reveal to me any lies that I am believing about you, myself or others?”

I also pray this with my kids along with this prayer about my kids, “Father God, can you please bring to my attention anything that I need to know about my kids or about their thinking that isn’t true.”

As our children are getting older and navigating the teen and tween years, I am acutely aware that their friends and peer groups impact them in a huge way. One of my prayers is for them to have wisdom and discernment beyond their years. Their choice of partner in the future will tremendously impact and change their future, thus their future partner needs to be bathed in prayer as well.

What are you praying for your children’s future partner?

Some of the issues I am praying for my teenagers and their future spouse include:

• A love for God and a hunger for the things of God
• An ability to love and accept themselves
• Love people
• Know and accept their true identity as a child of God
• Understand their design, purpose and passion
• Exhibit and be growing in the fruits of the spirit
• Fun to be with
• Compassionate and kind
• Generous
• Courageous and an ability to persevere
• Live a life of purity
• Honest and a commitment to the truth
• Servant- hearted
• Have Integrity
• Soft heart and strong spirit
• Forgiving
• Wise and discerning
• Great friends who are also wise and discerning
• Great communication skills
• Love sharing their dreams with their partner and support their partner in fulfilling their dreams.
• An ability to bring out the best in each other. To validate each other’s strengths and help each other grow in their weaknesses.
• Any faulty thinking and beliefs to be brought into the open in order to be dealt with and changed.

I would love to hear your thoughts and the prayers you are praying for your children and their future spouse.