On the subject of prayer

I've been wanting to find a way to build my children's faith as they grow, to show them how God works in our lives. I heard a pastor say once that his family prays together over absolutely everything, and in that way, his children see God provide for their family firsthand. Well, I want to do that, but at the ages of my children, I am concerned about too much information causing fear. I do not want worrying children. So I was praying over it and asking God for wisdom.

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I were talking on the phone, and I believe God gave me the answer through her. Her family has a prayer journal. Now I have one for myself, but I never thought of doing one for the family!

Now the children and I have a prayer journal. We've been putting all sorts of stuff in - protection over friends and family as they travel, car issues (like my blinkers are on the fritz, so we're praying they'll work until I have the money to take it in), colds that Sweetheart and Shortcake had, etc. Then we go back once a week and look over our list. Those prayers that were answered, we use a marker to indicate it was answered. Already, my daughters can see that God is answering our prayers. They are also seeing that some prayers take longer to see God's answer.

I also made a homemade pocket inside the notebook. (I used construction paper, gluing it to the inside of the cover.) We slide our missionary prayer cards in there. I really love this set-up!