our 4-year old prayer warrior

One of the joys of parenting is seeing your child grasp even just a little bit of what it means to trust in God and believe in His Truths.  Recently we've been witnessing Callan grow in praying for others.  I decided to have C & K pray for each other every morning to try to set the tone for the day.  I read in a book the other day that you should encourage siblings to be best friends.  I heard my pastor say this a long time ago in a sermon and have set out to have C & K be just that since day one, BFFs.  I've always had them give each other a kiss and hug before bedtime and say "I love you."  And, like I said, I've recently had them start praying for each other to further solidify a friendship between them.  

We've since then made this a part of our daily devotional time together as a family.  Each morning Gene reads to the kids from their children's bible, and then we all pray for each other together.  It's so sweet to hear their prayer requests.

Me: What do you want prayer for today, Kinsley?

K: That I won't grumble and question and for my runny nose.

(We had her recently memorize Proverbs 15:13a, "A glad heart makes a cheerful face." and Philippians 2:14, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning."  Her prayer request shows that she's very aware of her weaknesses and is willing to ask prayer for them!)

Me:  What do you want prayer for, Callan?

C: That I wouldn't whine about playing Wii today and not hit Kinsley.

(It's pretty clear that they both know their weaknesses!)

Then I have K pray for C and vice versa.  I even usually have them pray for me, too!  One of my purposes in doing this prayer time with them is to teach them that prayer isn't something that we only do before a meal or after a discipline.  I want them to know that they can pray at any time during the day!

The last few days I've witnessed something that has made my heart melt every time.  C and I put K to bed at naptime, and then I usually start to walk out of the room and tell C to follow me.  The last few days C has said, "Mommy!  We have to pray for Kinsley to not have bad dreams!!"  And then he climbs in her bed with her, lays his hand on her arm and says, "God, help Kinsley to not have bad dreams but good dreams.  Amen."  And then he kisses her and jumps down.  

I already told Gene that I think he's going to be our little prayer warrior!