Sunday, July 13, 2008

Including Benedict and JJ

A few weeks ago, I posted the prayer list I've been using to pray for my kids. Every day I use the list to pray for their spiritual growth and Biblical character development. I've enjoyed including our boys in those prayers, Benjamin, who will be born next month, as well as Whombie, our unknown son in Africa that we hope to adopt within the next year. But recently I've felt God asking me to also pray for Benedict and JJ as if they were my own children. (Shiloh if you are reading this, it was your comment about your prayers for little Flora that God used to inspire me to do this)

For those unaware of our adoption history, Benedict and JJ are the boys we tried to adopt from Liberia. Both of those cases fell through, and I've often wondered why God allowed us to believe they would be joining our family. I don't know all of the reasons, but I do believe that one of those reasons was to introduce me to them so I could faithfully pray for them throughout their lives.

It is exciting to be praying over these now two and three year old little boys half way across the world that I will never meet in this lifetime. I won't know the outcome of the prayers I've invested in them, but I like to imagine seeing them in Heaven someday and hearing how God moved in their lives and blessed them. They'll never know that they have a spiritual mama in America praying over them, and I'll never know what happens in their lives. It's fun to be the anonymous praying person that they won't even know about. I like to imagine the men they will become and how God will use them in Liberia and how He will develop their unique talents and gifts.

In the Bible Study that I lead on Monday mornings, we've been talking about prayer a lot lately and how you can participate in people's ministries and positively impact their lives just by praying for them. Prayer is an amazing thing, isn't it?

8 comments:

Michelle said...

Thank you Becky for that reminder! We've got a number of children that we thought would end up in our home that didn't. Six are now with their forever families in the US, 2 will remain in Liberia. I agree that prayer is powerful. I must never forget that.

Unknown said...

Goosebumps, oh the goosebumps!

Beautiful.

Mrs. MK said...

I've been praying for your Benjamin! (of course, I didn't know until now that his name was Benjamin! Are you going to call him Ben? That is on my "favorites" list!)

Sonya Lee Thompson said...

You are so right, Becky. Prayer is the most important thing we can do, but in our minds we often feel helpless and say things like, "it's the least I can do", when in God's mind, it is the MOST important thing to do! (Loved your comment on Lysa T's site today! You should do a post about it)

1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

The Jernigan Family said...

It absolutely is, we had so many people praying for Sage, and I am certain that is why everything turned out the way it did.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this. I really want to make prayer a more integral part of my life. I appreciate your example. It truly is a privilege we have to go to our Lord in prayer.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you had a post tonight. I miss you all so much! Mom

Donna Barber said...

And what peace it brings to your heart knowing that they are in God's care and your prayers. We all have someone left behind that we are praying for. Your post was a good reminder to others.