Pray for the Families

In fourth grade, I used sugar cubes to build a replica of one of the beautiful Old California Missions. When the day arrived to take in our projects, I proudly carried mine to school. But when I moved one of my hands from the cardboard foundation to open the door to the school, I dropped my mission, and it broke into pieces.

Thankfully, my teacher helped me put the mission back together piece by piece. It didn’t look like the original, but my teacher envisioned its prior loveliness and the hard work that went into creating it. I had worked for weeks, but my masterpiece crumbled in two seconds.

Unlike my fourth-grade project, what God builds lasts and is significant. We’re not supposed to build anything on our own — for the outcome is failure. God has empowered us to build our homes, churches, and communities. Whether we’re building with steel to create buildings or with love to build lives, we need God’s help.

Nehemiah 4:14 reminds us, “Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.” Whether we think we know what to do, or we haven’t a clue, turn to God and allow Him to build that which will endure. We must diligently pray Lamentations 2:19: “Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him in prayer, pleading for your children, for in every street they are faint with hunger (NLT).”

 Many children are starved for the truth of God. Some are weary, like we are, facing huge obstacles while trying to live for God. We can pray as David did in 1 Chronicles 29:19:” Give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision.”

 It’s never a waste of time to pray for our families. Dr. Charles Stanley wrote, “You cannot get involved in a wiser or more everlasting venture than pouring your spiritual wealth into another person’s mind and heart.”

Let’s pray for our children and families, especially as they head back to school. Let’s build our communities, not with sugar cubes, but with the power of God’s hand.

From, “Shining Through the Psalms,” by Deborah Presnell, 2018, available on amazon.

Photo purchased from Deposit Photos