Pray Like A Child!

My husband typically does the honors of putting Tyler to bed at night, reading him a story book, a Bible story and then saying prayers. Its their ritual, and it gives Jonathan a bit more time to spend with Tyler. I love getting an opportunity to put Tyler to bed, and listen to all the things he wants to pray about. Tonight we said the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer together, but then we had to say a "real" prayer. Mama, Papa, Pappy, Grandma are at the top of the list, then he requested to pray for his brother and the special baby. I asked him who his special baby was, and he said Uncle David and Aunt April's baby. :) He wanted to pray for all of his cousins, and so on and so forth. I got tickled when he requested to pray for Mavis. Mavis? My train. Why do we need to pray for Mavis? So that she will help the other trains. We prayed for quite a few other trains before the prayer time was over, and I believe we even prayed for the train tracks.

I walked away from Tyler's room tonight feeling very convicted. I felt God nudge my heart and whisper, That is how I long for you to pray. Tyler's prayers are so full of faith and he has such an incredible trust. The story I read Tyler tonight was about a friend that never leaves us. I asked him who he thought that friend was and without hesitation he replied, "God". I sit here thinking about my wonderful friend, and how often I forget to truly commune with Him. God has been dealing with me so strongly recently about how I need to pray believing that He will answer my prayers, and bringing all my needs before Him. I love the fact that Tyler prays for his trains. They are important to him so he believes that they must be important to God. I pray that God will help me to approach the throne with that same child like faith!

One of my greatest desires is to be a godly mother to my boys. I already have a bundle of regrets for how I've handled situations with the boys ( specifically Tyler) in their short little lives. I pray that God would give me an extra dose, or two or three of wisdom in dealing with these precious treasures that I have for such a short time. I was kneading bread dough the other night and began praying that God would start kneading away on my life. ( no worries, I am definitely no Betty Crocker, and I have the broken hand vessels to prove it. ha) . I have so many knots, bubbles and rough edges that need His refining touch!

 Malachi 3:3~ And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Here is a little story I found that is related to the above verse.

Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver." This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and
they wondered what this verse implied about the
character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of
refining silver and get back to the group at their next
Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made
an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't
mention anything about the reason for her interest
beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest so as to burn away all of the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that, "Yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver in the fire, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in the silver."