First Response: Pray
One of the joys of my role is meeting with individual students to offer support and encouragement. At the end of each meeting I offer to pray with and for them, and almost always they gladly accept. Children love to pray and they love knowing someone is praying for them.
Yet in my own life, prayer isn’t always my first response to stress or worry. Even when my own children are in need, I can let doubt, pride, or simple forgetfulness get in the way.
Recently, my daily devotions have reminded me again of God’s power and provision through prayer, not only in the stories of others, but in the many ways God has faithfully answered my own prayers.
The Bible is clear about the transformative power of prayer. Paul writes:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:6–7
Praying with and for our children is a great privilege. It shows them how deeply we care, and it points them to a God who is powerful and attentive to every detail of their lives.
Lately, the first verse of a much‑loved old hymn has been echoing in my mind. I offer it as an encouragement for us all to spend more time praying with and for our children:
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!
- Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1855)