Praying for your Child's Future Spouse
The past couple of years I have been contemplating the power of
prayer. God seeks for us to be close to Him, and we primarily
communicate with Him through our prayers.
When we pray, God wants us to be specific in our prayers. If we
follow Him, he wishes to give us the desires of our hearts. What
does your heart desire? One of the things I very much desire for
my family is for my children to grow up and marry men and women
who love and seek to follow after God with all their hearts.
Do you know that some mothers pray for their children's future
spouses from the time they are born? Why would you want to do
that? Think about it. Out there, somewhere, is the future wife
or husband of your son or daughter. God knows who your child
will marry. Will your prayers really affect who your child will
marry?
Of course your child will ultimately decide who he or she will
marry. What is important is that your children understand what
an important decision it is to choose a life partner, so that
they will not make this decision lightly. Tell your children you
are praying for them. Pray with your children so that they know
what it is that you wish for their lives. When your children are
old enough to date, encourage them to pray about the people they
spend time with. My teenage daughter and I also talk about what
her future husband might be like, and we talk about good and
not-so-good qualities in a future spouse. There are certain
qualities about people she knows she could never live with, like
men who have short tempers or are not good managers of their
money. She knows she wants to marry someone who loves God, and
who wants to raise a family as much as she does.
We all want what is best for our children, and the person they
choose to be their spouse is perhaps the most important choice
they will ever make. That decision should be theirs, but if you
pray for them God will hear your prayers and will help to
prepare your child's heart and the heart of their future wife or
husband for the marriage that God has intended for them.