Potty Prayers

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

I honestly can’t believe I haven’t written a Potty Prayer about this verse yet. It’s one of my absolute favorites, and also one that I struggle with constantly. I have gotten away from my quiet time and reading my Bible in the mornings. I jump right in to reading other blogs (some Christian so that’s good, right?) and reading email and before I know it the morning is gone.

Well, that’s not good at least for me. Whenever I have a choice to make in my life, I remember this verse and look to God first. I need to continually do that, every hour of every day of every week. Whether I realize it or not, I make choices all the time — not just major choices, but choices on how I’m going to spend my time. Am I going to check my email now? Am I going to read my Bible? Do I turn on the radio or sit in silence praying?

Prayer: Lord, help me to constantly remember I am making choices. Guide me to make the right choices even in the little decisions I make all the time — most of the time without thinking. Make the right choice (Your choice) obvious to me so I know without a doubt that it’s from You. Thank You Lord for my renewed sense of being just what You have made me to be.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. — Genesis 2:24 (NIV)

Back in June I went to my family reunion. Since then I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what a family is. I can understand this verse in the context that a husband and wife shall become one flesh, but that doesn’t mean they are to ignore their parents (honor your father and mother stuff). Many times it is hard to draw those lines — you know those boundaries where we shouldn’t cross.

I remember when I was younger and living in West Virginia where most of my family was at the time, we would have huge dinners at our house around the holidays. Thanksgiving would bring aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and many more to our house. The women would gather in the kitchen and help my Mom fix all the food. Being the Daddy’s Girl that I am, I was always with the guys watching football

It was a lot easier to keep up with what was happening in our extended family then. We were all apart of the same community. When we moved out of state, it was harder to keep up with some of the extended family. In today’s world, we often get caught up in our own busy schedules and rarely have the time to check in with extended family. We get to know what’s going on in our children’s friends’ lives and totally loose touch with our nieces and nephews.

We have all kinds of different families — our church family, our school family, our blood family, our blood and adopted family … etc. Our parents, our brothers and sisters, should not be forgotten when we “leave and cleave” to our spouses. So be sure to schedule some time (make it a priority!) to check in with your family.

Prayer: Lord, please help me reach out to my family — as awkward as that may be. I may feel like I’m talking to a perfect stranger, but I’m often nicer to perfect strangers than I am family. Lord, give me direction on how much to be involved with my family (and my husband’s family) and also to know when I am stepping over lines — when I should just let people deal with their issues. Help me to be a good witness of Your love to my family. Family are some of the toughest people to witness to because they have seen all of my ugliness. Use me for Your glory Lord. Bring Your glory out of mistakes I’ve made. Help my family to see Your love in place of my ugly sins.