My husband shared his life story with the high school students on Sunday. Some of his story of course includes me, since I’ve shared his life for the past 23+ years. He told them about meeting me, what attracted him to me, etc. During his talk he told them about a very dark time in his life and at the end, a student asked how he was able to get through that and his answer is what has got me thinking. He said, “Honestly, if it wasn’t for Esther, I don’t know where I’d be.” The thing is, I can say the exact same thing about him! In a very large way, he has helped me become the woman I am today. And that is what I want our children and their spouses to be able to say someday. 

 Ever since my babies were born, I’ve breathed many prayers for our children and their future. But I’ve prayed not just for them. As they blinked their precious little eyes, looking up at me from their spot on my lap, I’ve been praying for their future spouses. I’ve prayed that their spouses would love God and that together they would serve Him and be blessing to everyone around them. I prayed that they would be able to lean on each other in the hard times and celebrate the good times. Simply put, a force for the kingdom of God, together.

It was weird, at first. Back then my mind almost couldn’t fathom a day where I wasn’t sleep deprived, constantly changing diapers and wiping runny noses. Let alone, imagining them all grown up and married! Several years after our children were born, on a day I was having an especially challenging moment with them, a thought struck me. Maybe their future spouse’s parents were having a challenging parenting day as well! And so, the parents of my future daughter and son in law got added to my prayers. I’d pray they would raise their children with godly love and instruction, for their own marriage and anything else God would bring to my mind. 

Then a couple years after that, another thought struck me. Here I’d been praying for their spouses, and wisdom for their parents, but I wasn’t praying that OUR children would be the partner they needed to be! And just like that my list expanded again.  

It’s been interesting, praying for someone who doesn’t have a name yet. There have been specific moments the last 17 years that I remember exactly where I was standing, when God would prompt me to pray something specific for my future son and daughter in law. Part of me wants to fast forward the next 10-15 years so I know who I’ve been praying for! And yet at the same time, I want to turn back Father Time’s speed dial to “snail pace”. It’s going faster than I ever imagined it could.

I don’t know if you’ve ever prayed for your children’s future, and if those prayers included their spouses and their future in-laws. But I’d encourage you to start now! Ask the Lord how to pray – He’d love to show you.

The future holds many unknowns. Only time will tell if our children get married. However, if their future includes a spouse, my prayer is after 23+ years together they too can say, “If it wasn’t for him/her, I don’t know where I’d be.”