Just had to share this...........

[Emilysmom]

Since Emily was a little girl, she has always loved to say prayers at mealtimes and even in her Sunday School classes at church. Granted, it is often hard to understand what she is saying, but I have no doubt that God understands every word! Well, for some reason, about a year ago, she totally STOPPED saying any prayers at all. If we ask her to say the prayer at meal time, she will immediately say "uhhhhh no thank you.......you go ahead". And Jordan says she stopped saying prayers during Sunday School at that same time. It has bothered me, because I worried that something had happened to make her stop. I didn't know if someone had made fun of her very simple prayers, or if she had just gotten more shy or what! She will now, at home, repeat short sentence prayers that I will say........but only when it's just the family at home. I've tried asking her what's up with it, and she won't tell me.

SO.........fastforward to tonight at church. All the teens and their parents met together to eat dinner and then to sing and pray together. All the women (including teen girls) met in one room and all the men and guys in another room. We decided to go around the room so that any woman/girl who wanted to pray could do so. There were probably 20 of us. I was sitting next to Emily, and I was certain that she would not say a word. But, when it got to her turn, without missing a beat, she immediately started to pray!!!!! And at the very end, she ended her prayer by telling God "Oh, and I love you". Melted MY heart, for sure!!!! And afterward, she acted like it was no big deal at all. Gotta love that girl!

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Awwww, that is so sweet.

[jelanismom]

Oh that's sweet Susan. I bet she had her moments like we all do when we are a bit irritated by God for whatever, and now she's fine. Did you just leave it alone or ask her why she hadn't wanted to pray? I love that she ended the prayer that way. Whata sweetheart

[Emilysmom]

Dawn,
Emily has a stubborn streak a mile long.............and if we ever push her to do something she is not prepared to do, she will always be pretty firm about not doing it. Prayer is such a personal thing, and I never wanted to push her. But it made me sad to think that maybe she had been made to feel that her prayers weren't "good" enough. (maybe another one of those times when I added 2 and 2 together and came out with FIVE!!) So, for the most part, we just left her alone..........or I would ask her if she wanted to just repeat after me, and she would always go along with that. I was just totally blown away that she would be ok with praying in front of a group of moms and daughters. That can be intimidating to lots of us!!
Susan

[damarasmom]

What a very proud moment for you all! So glad she decided it was a safe place to share her prayer!!

[dpurvis]

That AWESOME!! I know you're proud of her for that and I bet that beautiful prayer made God smile!!

[Chris too]

I'll bet it had something to do with no men in the room. It is very encouraging that she returned to her prayers!

[elizabethsmom]

Wow! That's great. I, too, would be very proud of her. It would be difficult for me to pray out loud in front of others, so I think that's quite the accomplishment!
Sheryl

[cindylou]

That's so great Susan! Recently I've walked into Kaylee's room twice and found her kneeling to pray before bed. You have to know Kaylee to really appreciate this--she often is crabby these days and stomping around the house yelling at her little brother--so to see her praying makes me so happy!!!
cindy

[adnegron]

How wonderful. God has perfect timing! I'm sure he is just as proud as you are. You sound like you have a beautiful daughter, inside and out.

[CC]

;D ;D ;D ;D

CC ~

[heidiashliesmom]

Im so glad she returned to saying her prayers.. Maybe she was just playing the stubborn streak with ya for awhile

[steffaroni]

AWWWWWWWWWW Susan ... thats so sweet. olivia still to this day says Hey man instead of Amen in the end of her prayers. She's also very confused as she seems to think her Uncle Chris(Keeks) is GOD. I know he's just rolling in laughter when she prays to God. I tried to explain to her he went to heaven and is with God not GOD BUT she still prefers to talk to him in her prayers as if he were. LOL Last time I reminded her of this she told me."Oh yea MOM I just got a little confused there". Which she is infamous for saying when she knows she is doing or saying something which is not quite correct. (((HUGS))) Steff