Peace & the Single Mom: By Jennifer MaggioSample

Prayer is the first strategy, not the last.

I must admit that in my early years of teaching single moms Bible study, I was terrified of public prayer. I was convinced I wasn’t going to do it right, say the wrong thing, or not sound spiritual enough. And the more I thought about that fear, the more I realized I felt that way about praying in my personal prayer time, too. Was I praying good enough to the Lord? Was I doing it right? Do you know what I learned? My Father wants to hear from his daughter, the same way we want to hear from our children. The words don’t matter near as much as the heart behind them does. He loves us and wants to know what is on our hearts.

Step 2 to experiencing peace as a single mom: Pray about everything.

Get good at prayer. No, I don’t mean eloquent or perfect in word choice. (In fact, Jesus rebuked the haughty spirit in which the Pharisees often approached public prayer in Luke 18:10-14.) I mean, get good at falling to your knees and getting before the throne of God to petition the Lord about all the things that burden you and tempt to consume you with worry, the things that are stealing your peace. I am living proof that prayer works! Our prayer accomplishes much. I had a praying mother and grandmother. I had friends and Sunday school teachers who believed in God for my life when my life was ugly, chaotic, and confusing. I’ve prayed over my children in a way that I knew shifted the atmosphere in the room in a way that only a mother could have.

In the most anxious moments of my life, I can take my burdens to the Lord in prayer, and so can you. We can cry out to the creator of heaven and earth. We can call out to the one who is in the mountain-moving business, the one who has faithfully delivered us from past hardships and trouble. We can pray without ceasing, day and night, making our requests known to him. The more engaged in prayer we are, the more we can palpably feel the presence of the Holy Spirit with us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to lay down worry. Pray about old wounds of abuse. Pray about festering unforgiveness. Pray about rejection and insecurity that has caused you to make poor choices. Bring it all before the Lord. Peace will flow as we confidently rest, knowing that God hears our prayers and is working things out on our behalf.

Points to Ponder:

• Take the time to write down a Scripture on prayer. Meditate on it this week unless you memorize it.
• Get in the habit of praying with your children nightly.