On a recent Instagram story I did about our 5 children sharing a bunk room for over three years, I had a lot of responses regarding the hearts of siblings toward one another. There were questions about fighting, children who love their own space thus making it “too late”, and how it all worked.
It began when I was expecting my daughter. My son is naturally very connecting and endearing. He was only two, but as excited about a baby as a 21 month old could be upon her arrival.
He naturally wanted to share his little football with her while she sunbathed her jaundice away in front of the dining room window. It was quite tender and dreamy in that season.
In December of 2010, our lives changed as my husband’s boss sold his aircraft and we were left with no job and no way to stay in our current city and three bedroom home. We moved into my husband’s grandmother’s recently vacant 2 bedroom home and that’s when the room sharing started. This was also when we had no TV service (still don’t nearly 14 years later) so we were listening to messages on CD in the evenings while I sewed. It was kind of “Little House” and it moved us through our fresh grief of leaving South Carolina.
One of the speakers we listened to had many children and he was very well versed in scripture. He had an offer for a free prayer card with prayers over your spouse and another with prayers over your children. When it came in the mail, I began to use it. My oldest was 3 and my youngest was 1.
Moms, I have had to discipline these kids for fighting. I assure you they are human just like your children. However, I believe in the Word of the living God and He has shown himself faithful. Today, my oldest two are 16 and 14 and they happily announce that they are best friends. As I write this, they are both in my daughter’s room (she just moved to this week) playing their electric guitars together.
If you ask them their favorite family memories, they will tell that it was the trip to Asheville where we all shared one hotel room at the Grand Bohemian or staying in the one-room cabin at Beulah Camp with cots wall to wall. Our children are proof that not a word from the mouth of the Lord will fall to the ground and he is a God who answers prayers.
Here are three of the prayers we have faithfully prayed over and with our kids for the last 13 years. It was no secret to them that we didn’t want outside friendships until the inside ones were rock solid. I believe praying out loud over your children reveals your heart to them in ways they don’t soon forget and invites them to partner with you for God’s care over their lives.
I hope this gives you a starting point. If you start these prayers, expect the enemy to notice. Pray all the more. Don’t stop striking the ground (2 Kings 3: 18-19) for your children and their relationships. These relationships are intentional by God. Divinely planned birth order and number of kids. The leader came first because God said so. Sharing these truths with your kids can help combat power struggles because when we share these things, we get to teach servant leadership. (You see what the Lord did there?)
I cannot wait to hear back from you on how the prayers of a mother are important to the God who made her children.