Day 21st

I wrote this poem for Sam the last day of the 21 days of prayer. Be encouraged! I love you all!

A Poem of Humility for Sam

There is so much light in these beautiful eyes

So much hunger for love and knowledge

May the light in your eyes shine with humility

May the Lord take pleasure in you

and adorn you with Salvation

Your hunger will be satiated

but sometimes you will feel overwhelmed

At that time May you have all humility and gentleness

with patience bearing with others in love

I will always love you and shower you with  love but

there is One who has loved you before the beginning of time

He will always hear you from heaven 

when you humble yourself pray and seek his face

Dear son clothe yourself with humility daily

for 

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"

And when you walk in Humility before the Lord

He will  in the proper time exalt you

May the LORD take pleasure in___Our sons____, and adorn the humble with salvation (Psalm 149:4)

The Lord gave us the strength and we did it! we committed to praying for 21 days and here we are! 

I pray that the Lord continues to pour out his spirit over you and your sons! i pray that as they draw nearer to God you will also catch a glimpse of their heart! I pray that they will always follow after Christ and Serve him only! I pray for joy to your sons! May they bring you happiness as they walk out their lives by the Lord's grace! Many blessings to you!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 20 Heart Change

Give___our sons__a new heart, and a new spirit put within him. Remove the heart of stone from

his flesh and give him a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)

Encouragement from Brooke

The most foundational thing we can ask God for in the lives of our sons is heart change. The Word says that

what's in the heart eventually comes out. Bad stuff in the heart? Bad stuff comes out. Good stuff in the heart?

Good stuff comes out.

I heard an illustration of this concept once from a pastor friend. He held up a Styrofoam cup with a little water

inside and proceeded to ram his hand against the cup so that the water splattered everywhere. Then he asked this question: "Why did water come out of the cup?"

So what do you think? Did the water come out of the cup because he rammed his hand up against it? Certainly apossible answer. But consider this: could it be that the water came out of the cup because there was water IN the cup? Think about it … if the cup had been empty when he rammed it, nothing would have come out. And so it is with our hearts. Life has a funny way of ramming up against us. People pull out in front of you when you're in a hurry. The neighbor's dog won't stop yapping through the night when all you need is a few hours of sleep. Your children pick the day after your favorite relative dies to be little horrors … somehow sensing that mom is frazzled. Stuff happens.

We get hit. Probably every day. But our response to the hits comes from what's in our cup...or hearts. Bad stuff in the heart? Bad stuff comes out. Good stuff in the heart? Good stuff comes out.

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." ~Luke 6:45

Lord, I pray today for our hearts first. Help us to put only good stuff into our hearts so that only good stuff can come out! Help us to be an example of a heart changed for your glory to our sons! we want to be more and more like you everyday! Come and fill us up with you! Lord, change our hearts and change the hearts of our sons! may their hearts be tender and yearning after you. May our sons be known as men according to your heart! amen!
Gracefully Daisy

Day 19 Salvation

May __our sons____ confess with their mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in his heart that God

raised him from the dead, and be saved (Romans 10:9)

This is what this  challenge is all about! We yearn for our sons to know the Lord and to ask him to be their Lord and Savior! We long to see them walk out their salvation with fear and trembling. we want them to realize that all the Lord did on the Cross was not in vain but to have a relationship with them and to live eternally with him. May our prayers today be so that our sons hearts will be changed by the grace that God gives freely because they can not be good enough and be saved. It is only by the grace of God that they can be saved. 

Lord, we pray that our sons will have an encounter with you and choose to accept your gift of salvation. May they walk in your ways all the days of their lives Lord. I pray that we will position ourselves through prayer and the teaching of your word to lead them to your heart! Give us the strength to persevere and to train them in your way and when they grow up they will not depart from it! Lord, give them a hunger and a thirst for you that will never be satiated so that all that they desire is you! in your name amen!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 19 Salvation

May __our sons____ confess with their mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in his heart that God

raised him from the dead, and be saved (Romans 10:9)

This is what this  challenge is all about! We yearn for our sons to know the Lord and to ask him to be their Lord and Savior! We long to see them walk out their salvation with fear and trembling. we want them to realize that all the Lord did on the Cross was not in vain but to have a relationship with them and to live eternally with him. May our prayers today be so that our sons hearts will be changed by the grace that God gives freely because they can not be good enough and be saved. It is only by the grace of God that they can be saved. 

Lord, we pray that our sons will have an encounter with you and choose to accept your gift of salvation. May they walk in your ways all the days of their lives Lord. I pray that we will position ourselves through prayer and the teaching of your word to lead them to your heart! Give us the strength to persevere and to train them in your way and when they grow up they will not depart from it! Lord, give them a hunger and a thirst for you that will never be satiated so that all that they desire is you! in your name amen!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 18 Anger

May__our sons__ give a soft answer, which turns away wrath, and avoid harsh words which stir

up anger (Proverbs 15:1)

Encouragement from Brooke

So much of the Christian life is a choice. Every day (multiple times a day) we’re presented with a choice

to choose God or choose ourselves. Anger is a perfect example.

You can just feel it coming, can’t you? Anger is an almost total body experience. Muscles get tight. Temples

throb. Jaw clenches. Explosion feels imminent … wooing us into believing we have no choice but to react.

But it’s not true.We almost always have a choice when it comes to anger. We can choose to embrace it and sin. Or choose to put it away, and instead choose kindness, self-control, compassion, and love.

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice."

~Ephesians 4:31

Today once more it starts with our hearts! today when you are tempted to get angry choose to ask God for the way out and for the strength to choose love and grace. Lord, thank you so much because your promises are true and you never give us too much that we can't handle. You always give us strength to persevere! Lord, may our sons choose your love and peace over anger and bitterness. I pray against all bitterness that would want to creep into our hearts and into the hearts of our sons take it away and help us to choose to replace it with your love kindness! amen

Gracefully Daisy

A touch of Whimsy

i love this picture our friend Eric took for us after we got engaged! we were having a blast!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 17 Self Control

May__our son__present his body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is his

spiritual worship. May he not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of his

mind, that by testing he may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and

perfect (Romans 12:1-2)

The encouragement from Brooke for today is so right on that I want to share it all with you!

Encouragement from Brooke
What's on the throne of your son's heart? I recently spoke at a small local women’s conference on the
topic of finding balance in our physical and spiritual lives. Admittedly, this is an area I’ve struggled with
my entire life. I’m an emotional eater, and my weight has fluctuated over the years to prove it.
I used to think that could control it by counting calories, or walking four miles a day (yes, I used to do that). I’ve tried portion control, diet pills and running, but nothing sticks. Know why? Because I love food. I turn to it for comfort, fulfillment and joy. And until I dethrone it from Christ’s rightful place in my heart, I will continue to struggle.
It’s idol-worship, plain and simple (ouch). 

Food may not be the area of self-control with which your son struggles. Maybe he has video games, sports, sex, or money on the throne of his heart. The key to overcoming our tendencies toward worshiping something other than Christ is to choose to love Him more than we love our sin. A constant laying down of our desires and picking up of Christ is the only fix.
I wrote an article once on the topic of loving Him more …
It was a hot summer night, and I sat on my bed in a heaping culmination of all I'd been taught. A moment of rare heart understanding as I realized that life with Christ was not about what I could or could not do, but about loving Him more than I loved my sin.
Loving Him more.Anything that separates me from God is sin and anything good can be made sin if I love it more than I love Him.
And now twelve years later I'm still choosing.
I love Him. I love Him less than looking my best. I love Him. I love Him less than yelling at my kids. I love Him.
I love Him less than getting even with my husband. I love Him. I love Him less than having a published book. I
love Him. I love Him less than time to myself. I love Him. I love Him less than a stomach painfully full of my
favorite meal. I love Him. I love Him less than getting my own way.
I love Him.
I love Him less.
Every time I love Him less I love something else more.
But He loves me. He loves me always.
In the moment of choice this knowing of His steadfast, never-ending love is what gives me strength. This knowing of His great sacrifice for me … and for you. This knowing of the lengths He would go to love me more. More than I deserve. More than I can comprehend.
More than the power of Hell can stand against.

 "My Savior's sacrifice paid for all my sin. So in my suffering I look to the Cross again. No need, no want, no trial, no pain can compare to this: The wrath of God once meant for me, was all spent on Him. Before the Cross, I humbly bow. I place my trust in the Savior. Your finished work captures my gaze. You bore the wrath, I know the grace."

~Before the Cross (Sovereign Grace Music)

Now the little forever soul sits in front of me for what seems like the 20 millionth time today. And I look at him… and he looks at me. And I wonder, out loud, how he could possibly want to choose discipline over joyful obedience. After days of willful rebellion from two little men, I'm spent and I cannot understand in that moment why ANYONE would choose this chaos--this miser--when simple obedience would change everything. Don't they know the sweetness that would be theirs if they would just obey? Just CHOOSE to obey? Sigh. There's that word again.
The choice to love Him more begins from the beginning … hearts made to worship Him … choose Him. Hearts that left to themselves will choose our own way every time.
How many times have I chosen my own way when I knew the consequences? How many times have I forfeited the sweet, peaceful blessings of obedience in order to stamp my feet, cross my arms, dig in my stubborn threeyear-old-like heels and have my own way? 

And this from a woman who has tasted the goodness of God in the land of the living!
How can I expect my little ones to choose the good all the time when their own mama, a Jesus-follower for over 20 years, still gets it wrong?
Grace.
Grace.
And more grace.
Grace.
and choosing to love Him more.

 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ~1 Corinthians10:31

Be encouraged and know that he is in control. His spirit prays for us and intercedes for us. In the area of self control I need the Lord's help everyday. Praise the Lord for his unending love! He is with us today Amen!

Lord, I pray that you will continue to give us the strength to exercise self control over the things that try to take our attention away from you. Help us to dethrone anything in our hearts that is self serving-we want more of you! Lord, we want to lead by example and we need your help we can't do this on our own but with you we can do all things! in your name I pray amen!

Gracefully Daisy