Latest / The Midlife Momma Podcast - Empty nest mom, Parenting adult children, Midlife transition, Christian mom / Bonus Episode: Praying for Your Kids and Grandkids

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Bonus Episode: Praying for Your Kids and Grandkids · The Midlife Momma Podcast - Empty nest mom, Parenting adult children, Midlife transition, Christian mom

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Christian parenting.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey Mala!
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today we've got something special for you, a bonus episode straight from part in the MES podcast.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every Monday, host Cored Need to Fail shares a short prayer episode to help you pray for your kids and grandkids.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And this year's series is walking through our brand new Christian parenting prayer journal, a great cloud of witnesses.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: You've heard me talk about this journal before, and this is your special sneak peek.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: This year's journal takes you through the inspiring stories of men and women in the old and new testament.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: In each week, you'll discover how these heroes trust a God in big ways.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll read a short devotional and pray intentional, scripts are based prayers over your kids and grandkids so they can grow in that same faith.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't have your copy yet, it's not too late to jump in.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can grab yours at christimparenting.org and follow along with us each week.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have a link in the show notes for you.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think you're gonna love starting your Mondays this way, so settle in and enjoy this very first prayer journal episode and remember, you can catch a new one every Monday on part in the mess.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey friends, welcome back to part of the mess.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host, Courtney Defaio, and I am so excited.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you've been to part of this the last couple of years, you know that every school year, we kick off the beginning of the school year by praying together.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we pray together every Monday of the school year.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're new here, you're like, what are you talking about?
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you've landed here a part of the mess.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host, Courtney Defaio, and on Thursdays, I do interviews with all kinds of people.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: just learning and wanting to talk about faith and parenting.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I could take all the tips I can get.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And even though I have one in college and one in high school, I am still learning every day about how to follow Jesus and just really lead my family and honor God.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we are kicking off a brand new season of praying together.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got a brand new journal called a great cloud of witnesses.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to tell you all about that in just a second.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But warning, just one is a touch longer.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Normally on Mondays, I'd like to keep these episodes under ten minutes.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes six or seven, it depends on what's going on in the topic.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then Thursdays here on part of the mess are our longer episodes.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's where I'm going to do an interview and talk to different people whether it's an author or
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's just where I am.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've got two kids and even though they're older, I am still learning every day and saying, Lord, how do I honor you with the family that you give me?
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can I grow closer to you through parenting?
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I love learning from other people.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So make
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have such a fine ritual.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would say that we've done here at part of the mess for several years.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we simply get a journal, which is done by the Christian parenting team.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, if you didn't know, part of the mess is just one of many podcasts that are under the Christian parenting network.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they write this journal every year and it is so good.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get to peek at the topic and I get to
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just love it.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'll be honest, the couple years ago, when I started here as the host, I was like, I don't know.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be able to do that.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do I know enough about the Bible?
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can I pray well enough to lead these people?
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I honestly needed it.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: as a mom.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I look back and think, I'm so thankful that every Monday of the last two school years and now this will be my third.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have prayed with you very specific things for my kids and I can look back and see things that I'm still waiting on.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can look back and see things that God did answer.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I hope you've held on to your journals over the years.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: It would be kind of fun to go back and kind of make notes where you've seen God show up.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But again, if you're new, I want to introduce myself.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Courtney Defeo.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I live in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I've been married to Rhine, twenty-two years.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's that Rhine, two thousand, three.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, twenty-two.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have to answer them out.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have an older daughter, Ella, that just started at Auburn.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I have a younger daughter, Larsen, who is a junior in high school.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we're just like you, the house is a mess.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: We love Jesus with all we've got.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We mess up.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: We apologize a lot.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm just an ordinary mom, like you, hoping to live extraordinary lives.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like the people we're going to pray about this year through this journal.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you don't have one, go on over to Christianparenting.org and just click store.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there's tons of resources in there to help you with your parenting journey.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you will find this current journal.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's lots of prayer journals in there.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the one we're doing this year is called a great cloud of witnesses.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I really love this theme when stuff.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who's our executive director came to me, gosh, it's probably been a year ago or six months ago with the theme.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I said, I love it.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I've got questions.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: She wanted to go through just different heroes of our faith and different characters in the Bible.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I kind of pushed back.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, well, I don't really want to know about them.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to know about God and she's like, yes, same.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we will learn about God.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to learn about people that had such faithfulness.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: They had hard times.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: They messed up.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And even though they messed up and they were ordinary God still use them.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that is our prayer through this as we look back at the heroes and the cloud of witnesses of people throughout the Bible that we will learn, yes, more about who God is.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we will also be inspired about our own stories.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, hey, if we're just a bunch of ordinary folks like Noah and Ruth and Mary, what could God do with us?
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It actually kind of turned flipped it on that said for me a little bit and I thought, what could God do through my family, through my children, through me?
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just if we submit to him and say, Lord, please use us and we want to know more about you and your character through this process.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let me read the verse that kind of kick this off for everybody is Hebrews twelve one to two.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything henders in the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: The race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecture of faith.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: for the joy set before him.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: He endured the cross, scoring it, shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I completely love this theme.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: So as we pray about it, we are going to learn different topics every Monday.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to learn about being a humble leader.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to pray that our kids live generously.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to pray that they proclaim their faith and they use their gifts.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to learn about Ruth's life and Joshua and Jacob and Mary and Martha.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm really excited because a lot of these things I need a little refresher course on and some of you were like, I've never even heard about race.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So tune in.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do a little spinny version of many sermon on these, but ultimately we are going to pray together.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to pray that we
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: get together and we do big in bold prayers.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like we're not just lobbing up the protect my kids, which isn't bad, or help us know you Lord, which isn't bad.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I want us to pray huge, big prayers, and also very specific things for our kids this year.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's why I suggest you get the journal.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: So because I think you can write down in the extra space, there's a little devotion on there's always scripture you can look up.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I hope that you'll write down things that got us pressing on your heart about a specific child.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then even a year from now, two years now, from now, six months from now, you can look back
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: and say, oh my gosh, look how God answered that.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it wasn't in the time that I wanted him to answer it.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it wasn't in the way that I wanted him to answer it, but he sure did.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: My prayer for us this year is that we are held accountable through this to pray together.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's big and bold things that we learn more about God as I talked about from these great cloud of witnesses that we run our race together as believers with the same faith.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is really important again.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what God makes out of that through this, we're going to help build up the next generation through our regular and constant prayers.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, week one, we're already going to click right into one week.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And again, it may be a little longer today, but it's seek righteousness.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray that our families and us as parents and our kids that we seek righteousness.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the character is Noah.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, thank you, Steph, and the team, a Christian parenting, because Noah, I remember the other ones.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to have to study up on.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Noah, we all remember, you know, what if
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: God came up to me, or you and said, hey, cork, can you run down and grab some wood and build a boat as long as the cowboy stadium?
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how many of us would be like, sure Lord, that sounds great, but Noah did.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he talks about in Genesis six nine that he was blameless, that he was set apart.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was righteous.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And gosh, don't we all know that, but we can learn a lot.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: from Noah's life.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think as we translate it to our kids in this day, and what it looks like, we're probably not going to be building an arc, but what is he going to ask us to do?
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's different than where everybody else has said it.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is he going to ask our kids to do and will we in our kids have the obedience to do it?
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: and to be faithful like Noah, and it could possibly change generations for Christ.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you think about Noah, it's like, what if he had not done that?
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where, where would things have gotten?
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I sure am thankful for that.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so again, they might, he may not ask you, got me to ask you to build an art, but he may ask your son to stand up for a classmate.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He may press something on your daughter's heart to proclaim Jesus when other people are mocking Christianity.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: He may ask one of her children to quit sport.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: They love because of an issue of integrity or something that's going on on the team or maybe it even has exciting things planned for them that still make them a little scared like, hey, will you start a Bible study at the public school?
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who knows what God is going to be asking our kids to do, not just this year, but the rest of our lives.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so let me just end by praying.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: for us this week, and I really do hope that you'll join us.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And again, you don't have to have the journal, but I do think will help you keep track and also help you look back and say, look at all these specific things I prayed for for my kids.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are treasures in my office.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did a lot of things.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been cleaning out another by all this with the college.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like,
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: pitching everything, but these journals are really special to me and I pray that they will be too.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So go on over to Christian parenting.
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or go to the store and look for a great cloud of what it says we are starting today, but you can find us here every Monday here at part in the mess.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you miss one, don't worry about it.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just catch back up with us or pray where you are in Carpool and it is totally okay.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm going to be offering grace because I'm flustered most every day of the week.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my friends are saying a method
• 9:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Also want to tell you invite someone in.
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a friend, a small group, a tech group of other moms and say, you know what?
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's just not get together and have lunch, which is great.
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But let's be accountable and pray together.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So maybe text them this episode to your friends and say, let's try this this year.
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know there's a group at Mountainbrook community church that I always talk about, but they all pray this together as a staff.
• 10:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then their groups of friends and parents in that community, which just warns my heart so much that they have something like that connecting them.
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let me pray for us today.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, I think you've heard that we get the opportunity to pray.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is extremely humbling that we get to come at your feet and present what our needs and desires and hopes and wishes are for our kids.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But first, Lord, we just thank you.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for the gift of motherhood.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for Christian parenting.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for the lives of all of these heroes of faith.
• 10:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you that you used ordinary folks like me to accomplish your well and that we get to be a part of it.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so Lauren, I'm just grateful for that.
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think about all the grandparents in my life, the mentors, the aunts and uncles that really had kind of heritage of faith in my family and it's rickling into my kids.
• 11:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: and my future green kids.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I thank you for that.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, I praise you for Noah and his faithfulness to you that we can learn from his life that we just need to be bold enough to say yes to things that feel crazy and may we have the courage this year to do that in our own lives.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But also Lord, I pray that we support our kids if they feel God and that you can them to do something that we don't act like they're crazy, that we support them and their journey of faith.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: We pray that through this journal and through this school year that our faith deepens as a family,
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: more and more every day Lord, I don't want to look the same this day as I do next next year next school year.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to grow every year and every day.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Also pray that the character of our kids will point to you that people will see them in their school or community and say, what is up with that guy?
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they would not be upheld as this hero, but they will say, he's got Jesus in his heart and he is living for God and that is what makes them so different.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, we pray that you will do only what you can do in the lives of each child this year.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each mom listening knows exactly or almost too exactly what's happening in the hearts of their kids.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: They know that they're struggling or they're far from God or they're doubting God and Lord, you know even what's underneath that, the things that they're not saying.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so Lord, we trust you with those kids.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We trust you with those stories that we wish we're a little neater or tidier.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we pray that you will do things more
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: like above and beyond what we could even imagine this year in each of our kids lives.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, let their faith be personal, let it not be forced, let it be something that they are running for because you have drawn them close.
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, we honor you.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I honor you with this podcast.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray that your Holy Spirit will work through this microphone that you will correct any things I get wrong on the biblical sense and that you will just do something that I can't even imagine through this very podcast and we give you all the glory and Jesus name.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek bonus episode and will join Courtney every Monday on part in the mess as she prays to the Christian parenting prayer journal, a great cloud of witnesses.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can grab your copy in the show notes and remember mama.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Prayer is the most powerful thing you can do for your kids and your grandkids.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: God hears every word.