There's a set of index cards in my journal with names, situations, and scriptures. They’ve been a place for me to stay somewhat organized in my prayer life as I lift up our family, friends, our church, and missionaries.
If I'm honest, some days I find myself in a hurry once I get to the prayer part of my abiding time, so I cover the points closest to me - my husband, my kids, my work – which means some days abandoning the rest.
It’s humbling for me to think about how often I miss praying thoughtfully and deeply for people, even those I love and care for, especially my parents.
In "Five Things to Pray for Your Parents: Prayers That Change Things for an Older Generation", Chelsea Stanley invites us to pray specifically and scripturally for our parents. She covers 21 different themes to guide us as we pray, for their relationships, for wisdom, their suffering and their transitions.
She demonstrates a great depth of understanding in these themes as they relate to the lives of our aging parents, and I really appreciated how she applied scripture to each thread.
One area that impacted me was prayers as they lose their memory. We’ve walked alongside grandparents who’ve had dementia and seen the struggles and questions that arrive with memory loss. The prayers for dementia are based on Psalm 102 and I found a deep encouragement there.
You can use this book in different ways, you could pray through one theme every day, repeating every three weeks, or take one theme for the week. When specific needs arise, it would be a great resource to dip into. However you want to use this book, it’s one that will challenge you. The command in scripture to honour our parents isn't time-limited. Through our prayers we demonstrate our love, care and respect for the ones who have raised us. If you’ve felt that praying for your parents has been superficial (or absent) I’d encourage you to grab this book!
Quick Stats
# of pages: 96
Difficulty: EASY
My Rating: 5 stars!
Find it at The Good Book Company or Amazon
*A big thanks to the Good Book Company for the complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to post an honest review.