Free Friday

ever found yourself knowing you need to do something but not exactly sure where to start?  whew, me too - so glad i’m not alone!  parenting is by far the hardest thing i have ever done in my life.  isn’t it great to know God has given us help in His word.  sometimes i am so overwhelmed by raising kids and especially boys that i feel alone.  well y’all take heart we are not alone.  boys are a special bread and the Lord knows it.

Brooke McGlothin has captured this in he book “Praying for Boys”.  she not only give some hilarious stories of her own two boys to reassure us we aren’t alone in this crazy boy parenting world (i am also praying of my precious girls as well boys are just different that’s all) but she also has given us a place to start praying God’s amazing and powerful word over them.

we can’t change our sons but God can change their hearts through prayer!  y’all i’m not even kidding this book is great.

sometimes my oldest struggles with things not being fair.  as in, “they get to do (or have) that so why shouldn’t i get it too.”  one of my latest prayers for my son in this area is...
     “Let not Grayson’s heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of You, Lord, all the day.”
                                                                       Proverbs 23:17
there are so so so many just like this ladies!  Brooke has nailed it with this book!  Here is a little insight into Brooke’s head.

 Q & A with author Brooke McGlothin

What led you to write your book Praying For Boys?

My husband and I have two boys who were born just 23 months apart. I probably don’t need to say much more than that, do I?? That’s enough to keep any mama on her knees! Actually, I’ve done a lot of hard things that I’m very proud of in my life, but raising my boys ranks up there as THE hardest thing I’ve ever done. In the book, I talk about how I asked God to give me boys, and that’s true, but the reality of the day to day mothering of what I like to refer to as “those boys,” (you know, the ones who are 250% boy?) often leaves me completely worn out. I realized early on in our parenting journey that I had no power to change their hearts. And while everything in me wanted to be able to snap my fingers and produce good, godly men, the Bible just doesn’t give us that parenting formula. So in an effort to just do something, I started praying verses from the Bible for my sons…verses based on things I wanted to see the Lord develop in their hearts. It was my way of crying out to God to change them, but it ended up changing me, too. After a year or so of doing that, and of constantly hearing from moms on the MOB Society, my blog for mothers of boys, who wanted to raise godly men, but felt like they were losing the battle, I decided to create a resource that helped them learn how to pray for their sons. It seemed a simple answer to me at the time, but the longer I encourage moms to pray the more convinced I become that prayer is the most overlooked part of raising godly men.

Praying for boys not only changes them, it changes moms too. How has it changed you?

Do you remember from grade school math that any time you change one part of an equation, it changes the answer? So for example, if you’re adding 2 + 3 and get 5, and then read the word problem again and realize you should’ve been adding 3 + 3, you can’t expect the answer to still be 5. Something changed. And when even just one thing changes, it affects everything else…changes everything else, even if just a little. Praying keeps me in the right place with God. Keeping my mind focused on the fact that He is God and I am not helps me put all of life in perspective, and it changes the way I live my days. Ultimately, spending time talking to God brings me closer to Him, and helps me know Him better. There’s no better way to be a better mom than to get to know God better, and listen to Him as He directs our paths. As we change, our families will change too.

and guess what?  i’m giving a copy away!  Simple share this blog on your facebook and comment that you’ve shared it with the link.  Enter everyday until Thursday February 6th at midnight.  good luck gang.