Allison Bottke - One-Minute Prayers™ for Your Adult Children

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

A list of Bible versions used is included in the back of this book.

Cover by Franke Design and Illustration, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photo Bertrand Demee / Photographers Choice RF / Getty Images

Published in association with the Steve Laube Agency, LLC, 5025 N. Central Ave., #635, Phoenix, Arizona, 85012.

ONE-MINUTE PRAYERS is a series trademark of The Hawkins Childrens LLC. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the trademark ONE-MINUTE PRAYERS.

ONE-MINUTE PRAYERS FOR YOUR ADULT CHILDREN

Copyright 2015 Allison

Bottke Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-6243-8 (padded hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6244-5 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

For Alicia

An adult child for whom many have prayed and whom God has redeemed and restored for a great and glorious purpose.

And for my Serenity Group.

I love you all.

A New Day Is Dawning

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

M ATTHEW 7:7-8 NLT

Contents

My Fellow Parent,

When our children officially become adults, the pendulum of legal responsibility might change, but the responsibility of the heart never does. We love them with every fiber of our being regardless of the choices they make. We ache for their security, and we long for them to find their purpose and appreciate their gifts and blessings. We desperately want them to feel the peace, joy, grace, and love of God.

Our assignment to pray for our adult children has no expiration date. Moms and dads everywhere continue to go to their knees in passionate prayer for their kids regardless of their age or the state of their relationship.

I love my adult son, and I have many joyful memories of our times together. However, Im one of many parents who have struggled for years with how and when to apply tough love. Ive tried to fix, rescue, and change my sonto no avail. Ive watched him hit bottom and bounce more than a few times. Ive talked, cried, and prayed with him through inch-thick security glass, prison bars, and salty tears. I have felt the bitter sting of guilt, shame, fear, anger, and despair as a parent. In these desperate places, Ive grown closer to the God who loves meand my adult child.

It doesnt take a village to reach God. It takes one heart willing to stop for one minute to pray. One heart that is open to say, God, please give me direction and peace. Please hear the longing of my soul. And God, please be with my adult child and keep him (her) safe. We serve a God whose love, grace, goodness, and miraculous power are only a prayer away.

You may be blessed with a strong and healthy relationship with your adult child, or you might be in pain and quiet desperation. Either way, you can rest assured that God can and will show you His face and His love. We must believe unequivocally that God will hear and respond to our prayers for our childrenin His time and according to His purpose.

But how can we ask God to give hope, peace, love, or direction to others when we ourselves are hopeless, restless, guilty, or lost? We can pray effectively for our adult children only when we pray effectively for ourselves. The two go hand in hand. Scripture teaches us that the prayer of a righteous man avails much.

We strengthen the bond of our relationships with our adult children when we come before God with prayerful, humble, repentant, teachable, and righteous hearts.

I invite you to join me in doing that now.

I introduced the Six Steps to SANITY in my book Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Children: Six Steps to Hope and Healing for Struggling Parents . These steps now appear as the guiding principles in all the books in the Setting Boundaries series from Harvest House Publishers. I mention them in many of the prayers in this book.

It is my prayer that God will continue to use these six steps to speak wisdom and truth into the lives of His children who long to grow closer to Him and to those they love.

The Six Steps to SANITY

S STOP my own negative behavior

A ASSEMBLE supportive people

N NIP excuses in the bud

I IMPLEMENT a plan of action

T TRUST the voice of the Spirit

Y YIELD everything to God

My Angelic Support Group

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

P SALM 91:11

Im so thankful to You, dear Lord, for bringing me to this place of hope, healing, and sanity.

Thank You, too, for showing me the part Ive played in the ongoing drama of my sons (daughters) chaotic life. Lord, Ive been running on the gerbil wheel of insanity for too long as Ive tried unsuccessfully to change, fix, and rescue him (her). Help me break my habits of enabling and judging. Reveal to me the things You want me to change in my own life so I can pray more effectively for those I love. Let others hear You through the words I speak and see You in the way I live.

I cant do this on my own, Father, so Im thanking You in advance for sending Your angels to stand guard and be my heavenly support group on earth. I praise Your holy name for the grace, mercy, and love You have given me.

The A Step in SANITY

Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their labor:

If either of them falls down,

one can help the other up.

E CCLESIASTES 4:9-10

Jesus, Ive made plenty of poor parenting choices. Please forgive me and create in me a pure heart and clear vision so I can walk confidently in Your will.

Lord, I praise You for the supportive people You send into my life. They help me look at my situations and circumstances objectively so I can respond to my adult child more rationally and less emotionally. Please help me overcome any silent shame or fear I may carry that keeps me from telling others the painful truth about my child. And please help me to listen with an open mind and heart and not to be judgmental when others share their stories.

I thank You in advance for guiding my head, heart, hands, and spirit to the lessons You will teach me daily from Your Word. Please help me to consistently utilize the SANITY Stepsnot as temporary stopgap measures during times of crisis, but as the building blocks of a new way of life.