BOOK EXCERPTS
Prayers for Expectant Mothers
By Angela Thomas
CBN.com –
Below is just a smattering of what you will find in Angela's
book Prayers for the Mother to be.
Feelings of Inadequacy
Dear God of Abundance,
You know my fears even before I speak them, but still, I lay
them before You. I am overwhelmed by how much I don’t know,
and I feel wholly inadequate for the task of parenting.
I have read the books and watched the videos until my mind is
fuzzy from information overload. I’m not sure what’s
right. Do babies sleep on their backs or is it their sides? Should
I nurse every three hours or on demand? Pacifier or no pacifier?
Cloth or disposable? Strollers? Car seats? Bath time? Everyone
has an incredibly detailed opinion.
I see moms who try too hard and stress out everyone around them.
I fear that could be me—trying in vain to be a germ freak.
A safety monitor. A nutritionist. A pseudo-pediatrician. A makeshift
child psychologist. It’s scary. In my inadequacy, I could
become consumed with perfection for my baby. Please stop me before
I start. I want to be a balanced mother, with peaceful children
and a tranquil home. I know these things are by-products of grace
and mercy and rest. I surrender all my misguided efforts and confess
that I am totally dependent on You.
Speak deeply into my spirit; mentoring my decisions, teaching
me to be a mother. I rest in Your assurance to provide beyond
what I can give. I take heart in knowing that Your knowledge is
complete. I can quit worrying because You promise to be what I
can’t. Because confidence is mine through Christ and because
You are more than adequate in all things, I pray in Your great
name.
Amen
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything
as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.
—2 Corinthians 3:5 nasb
Used by permission. Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother
to Be by Angela Thomas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright
2003).
A Household of Faith
God of Joshua,
A new baby. A bigger family. The tribe is increasing, and we
are thrilled. A new person will surely make our home seem more
like a haven, a place to replenish and rest. Lord, teach us how
to graciously say to the world, "As a family, we choose to
serve the Lord."
Lord, I pray for a peaceful place for this sweet baby to grow
up. From her tender first days, I pray that she will know that
she is treasured. When she’s older, help us to make her friends
feel welcome and loved. Around this table, let us pray with the
hurting and the doubting, and those who would come to know You
as Savior. Bless us with laughter—roof-raising laughter.
Holidays full of tradition and memories. Sleepovers with lots
of kids. Big suppers. A guest room that’s rarely empty. A
routine that brings security. Let ours be a household of faith.
I know that my temperament and heart will play a huge role in
setting the tone for our family. And so I ask . . . please start
with me. Fashion Your servant into a godly woman and mother. Give
me spiritual health and a thirst for truth—a secure foundation
on which to build our faithful house.
Remind us each day that our time with this baby will be precious
and brief. I pray that when she is grown, she will take our heritage,
continue the legacy, and serve You with all faithfulness. Because
of Your indwelling, may our family be known as a household of
faith.
Amen
Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw
away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and
in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable
to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve
. . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
—Joshua 24:14–15
Used by permission. Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother
to Be by Angela Thomas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright
2003).
A Baby Dedication
Dear Lord of Life,
Even before birth, and the first breaths of life, I dedicate
our baby to You. I want her to be wholly consecrated and set aside
for You.
As parents, we commit to raise this new one in righteousness
and grace. We will love each other deeply. We will speak of You,
and pray to You, and look to You in our home. We will fellowship
with other believers and introduce this baby to Your disciples.
We will treasure Your Word and give it honor. We will seek out
and welcome the lost. We will forgive and ask for forgiveness.
We will practice kindness. We will love the poor and abandoned.
We will live under the covering of grace. We will give away the
grace we’ve received. We will fear You as Almighty and trust
You as Savior.
We come with uncertainties, sin, and shortcomings—all the
things that could keep us from trying. When we lose our way or
fail in our efforts, remind us to run toward the cross. Not on
our own, but by Your strength, we commit to be godly parents.
We intentionally lay our treasure before You; returning the gift
You have given. We know that Your goodness is greater than ours.
We trust in Your wisdom more than our own. We have faith in You,
not ourselves.
With reverence and devotion, we dedicate our child-yet-unseen
to You; the Lord God Almighty; Wondrous and Awesome; Esteemed
and Adored. May this sweet one honor You all the days of her life.
By grace, You will make us parents, and from grace, we pray in
Your name.
Amen
From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb
you have been my God.
—Psalm 22:10
I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what
I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life
he will be given over to the Lord.
—1 Samuel 1:27–28
Used by permission. Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother
to Be by Angela Thomas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright
2003).
That She Would Believe
Jesus,
I know that my baby will learn about Your plan of redemption
in her first few years. We will tell her the story as soon as
she can understand. She will hear about it at church and at home,
but it will be You who bring salvation. Son of God, I pray that
our child will come to know You personally at an early age. Please
don’t let her tender years be wasted apart from You.
Help us to build a home that will undergird her learning, where
the life we live matches the truth of Your Word. Oh God, we pray
that she would see Jesus in her parents. May we reflect the love
that You have given. May we give her the grace we have received.
May she come to know You as Savior, because she sees You in us.
I can’t imagine the world she will grow up in or the obstacles
she will face on the playground. I don’t know the challenges
she will encounter at school. But I do know one thing for sure.
She will grow up strong and grounded, if You live in her heart.
She’s not even here yet, but my spirit is already burdened
to pray for her. Remind me again and again that the first place
she will see You is in me. Bring me to greater maturity so that
I’ll look more and more like You; less and less like me.
Help me to give like You, serve like You, forgive like You, and
love like You. Give me Your passions to instill and Your disciplines
to model. Until she believes, I will pray.
Amen
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him.
—John 3:16–17
Used by permission. Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother
to Be by Angela Thomas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright
2003).
A Crooked Generation
Father,
I walked through the mall today and found myself staring. I noticed
a group of teenagers wearing dark, eerie clothing and sporting
incredibly weird hair, tattoos, and body jewelry. They were smoking
cigarettes and cursing with amazing proficiency. I began to think
about the possibility that my child might choose a wrong path.
Father, I know that the world we live in can be a scary place.
Our child will be confronted with decisions every day—choices
that will impact her life and the lives of all those who love
her. For Your own purposes, You have allowed it to be so. You
have called us to be in the world, but not of the world. When
Jesus prayed for His disciples, He didn’t pray for them to
be removed from the earth. He prayed that they would be protected.
In a dark and dying place, You have called us to shine like the
stars of the universe.
So, I pray that You will protect my sweet baby. I ask that our
family, our instruction, and our guidance will teach her how to
live wisely. I pray that she will turn from the things that displease
You and make decisions that will bring You honor. I pray that
her life will bear the imprint of Your truth, and that You will
guard her heart, mind, and body. Please keep her from the things
that could rob her precious life.
Even before she arrives, I entrust her life and her future to
You. I ask these things in the name of Him who faced all evil
and lived victoriously, Jesus my Lord.
Amen
So that you may become . . . children of God without fault
in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like
stars in the universe.
—Philippians 2:15
I have given them your word and the world has hated them,
for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that
you protect them from the evil one.
—John 17:14–15
Used by permission. Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother
to Be by Angela Thomas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright
2003).
The Next Generation
Dear Maker of All,
My doctor’s waiting room is full of mothers-to-be—women
who are carrying my baby’s peers. I pray a special blessing
for these who will be birthing the next generation. Their sons
and daughters will make life-changing decisions and discoveries.
Their children will conceive and establish the communities where
my baby will live. My child will join theirs in filling the earth.
The demeanor of each mother hints at her disposition. Some are
calm and pensive. Others seem stressed and already exhausted.
The first-timers stare in awe at the mothers whose laps are full
of children. And the mothers with children don’t even seem
to notice they’re pregnant again. We all seem relatively
composed, considering the feat we will soon perform and the life
change it will bring.
Lord, I wonder if these women realize that childbirth is by Your
design? Do they understand that Your very presence abides in their
wombs, creating life? Will they recognize the image of God in
the faces of their babies? Oh Father, I pray for these women,
that at this incredibly special time, their hearts will be tender
toward Your truth. Maybe pregnancy could be the catalyst that
moves them to consider their Creator.
God, I pray that the reality of Your existence would impact these
mothers, radically changing the way they will raise their children.
Let our children know a world where more people serve You. Let
godliness increase where selfishness has failed.
It is a privilege to be fruitful and multiply. It is a privilege
to bear the next generation. It is a privilege to call You God.
Amen
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and
God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over
the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on
the earth."
—Genesis 1:27–28 nasb
Used by permission. Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother
to Be by Angela Thomas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright
2003).
For Those Who Still Wait
Giver of Life,
My heart is burdened today for my friends who cannot have children.
Like Hannah, they have spent years praying and grieving for a
child who never comes. They are frazzled—worn out by doctors,
books, specialists, drugs, and procedures. Many even dread seeing
their families, weary of their sympathetic looks and tired of
the same conversation. I grieve for my sisters and long for them
to experience the wonder of new life growing and flourishing within
their bodies.
Lord, give me tender compassion when I’m with them. I find
myself talking about anything but pregnancy, overcompensating,
understating the obvious, hoping I won’t say something hurtful.
Even so, I think it hurts them just to be with me. I know some
women who can’t go to baby showers or visit their friends
with babies because their hearts are too raw and their pain too
intense. I mourn for their hurt and pray for their healing.
Most of all, I ask that You would hear their prayers. Remember
them. And grant them the answers they seek. After many years,
You remembered Hannah and opened her womb. Please see my friends
in their lament and answer their pleas for children. Let them
rejoice with Hannah, who said in 1 Samuel 1:27, "I prayed
for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
Thank You, Father, for watching over those who wait. I believe
in the sufficiency of Your grace. I trust in the perfection of
Your will. Because You bring life to the barren, there is power
in my prayer.
Amen
In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.
—1 Samuel 1:10
He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother
of children. Praise the Lord.
—Psalm 113:9
Excerpted from Prayers for the Mother to Be by Angela
Thomas. Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson
Publishers.
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