Pray For Your Children's Future Spouses

One of the best pieces of advice I received after becoming a Christian was to pray for my children’s spouses. My son was 11 at the time and who he would marry had never even crossed my mind. I remembered asking Ms. Lois - oh how I loved Ms. Lois! - what was I supposed to pray and how.

She led me in my first prayer for Richard and his future wife. To provide for him a Godly wife, that if she was not a Christian to put someone in her life to lead her, to begin to prepare her now to be a helpmate, a good and Godly mother for their children, to provide for him a woman who loves the Lord, with a soft heart, who earnestly seeks His will in her life and the life of her family, and to lead them in the path that they would meet and know they were the meant for each other. It became one of the prayers I said on a regular basis. Sometimes a sense of urgency would press upon me and I would pray for that faceless, nameless little girl who would one day be my daughter-in-law, that whatever she was facing right then in her life that God would keep His hand upon her.

I think back about how it looked to us like he wanted to date every girl in Central Arkansas before he finally settled down. Occasionally he would bring someone to the house for lunch or dinner but we’d never see her again. I’ll never forget, he went frog giggin’ - yes frog giggin’ one night with a bunch of his friends and he came home talking about this girl he met and that was it...he was hooked! She gigged more than frogs that night.

When he began using the "L" word I knew it was time for me to get to know this girl a little better. She had been to the house but seemed a bit shy and reserved. Of course, we are such a loud, energetic bunch I really don’t think she stood much of a chance. I began meeting her for lunch periodically and I soon knew that this was the girl I had prayed for - because even I was beginning to really love her.

She was intelligent and had a sense of humor - two things she definitely needed to survive in the Kyzer clan. She was generous, kind, sweet, and I could go on and on. Can you believe she even made sure to include me in the wedding plans and preparations? I even got to go to the photographer’s studio with them the day her wedding photographs were made. Never once did she make me feel like I was just the mother of the groom. It was not just her wedding - it was their wedding. That was just the beginning...

Richard and Cheri have been married for almost 9 years now. (WOW, has it been that long?) They have two wonderful, bright, talented, and lively little boys; Hunter and Gage. Still to this day I could not ask for a better wife to my son, a better mother to my grandchildren, a better daughter for me. Yes, God went way above whatever I could ever have imagined or expected. It’s just like Him, isn’t it?

So today, I am passing on that gem of a piece of advice I received so long ago from my "spiritual mentor." Pray for the future spouses of your children no matter how old they are. Do it today, do it now!