Moms, It’s Time to Fight Back (Through Prayer), with Brooke McGlothlin, Sarah Walton, and Linda Green

You are needed to fight for the hearts and minds of the next generation! From the epidemic of depression to the confusing conversations about pronouns, the enemy is after your children. But you have one proven weapon: prayer. If you’ve ever wished you had someone to show you how to use it, this episode of Grounded is here to help.

Connect with Brooke

Instagram: @millionprayingmoms/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MillionPrayingMoms
Website: https://brookemcglothlin.net/

Connect with Sarah

Instagram: @sarahpwalton/
Website: https://setapart.net/

Episode Notes

• Million Praying Moms website: https://www.millionprayingmoms.com/
• “Vonette Bright’s Vision for Prayer” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kztp3trrRnI&feature=youtu.be
• He Gives More Grace book by Sarah Walton and Linda Green: https://amzn.to/3RlFNFI
• Mary: Becoming a Girl of Faithfulness book by Dannah Gresh: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/store/product/mary-becoming-a-girl-of-faithfulness-true-girl-study/

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Dannah Gresh: Attention moms and grandmas: we must fight for the hearts and minds of the next generation. From the epidemic of depression and suicidal thoughts, to the confusing conversations about pronouns, to the ripplings of hatred from the Middle East, right to our own hometowns. The enemy is after our children, and we have but one proven weapon, and that is prayer. Have you ever wished you had someone to show you how to use it? Well, we've got you covered in this timely episode ofGrounded, I'm Dannah Gresh.

Erin Davis: I would say “yes.” I want somebody to show me how to use the weapon of prayer. I'm Erin Davis. We're here with a mission to give you hope and perspective week after week. And you already know this is true. There's a reason why you need hope and perspective week after week, which is that we are being inundated. I don't know what a stronger word would be. But I would use it if I had it every day with stories of our children under attack. 

In some parts of the world, this is very literal. I really have struggled to watch the news that is coming out of the Middle East.

Dannah: Yeah.

Erin: Even those of us who are fortunate to live in parts of the world where our children are unlikely to be kidnapped by groups like Hamas, we're on high alert. And there's so many voices seeking to kidnap our kids in another way, really, to woo our children's hearts and minds away from the truth.

Dannah: So true. Erin, you know, I want to say that even though our children are not likely to be kidnapped by an Islamic terrorist group, I want to tell you a story. It's not that they're not affected by it. I will tell you a story of one of my True Girls in the United States earlier this year I was traveling and True Girl. (By the way that is my ministry to 7–12 year old girls and their moms. As I was traveling, I met this mom and her husband and she told me about her daughter. the girl is a church going, Bible girl. The mom was a trauma counselor, which makes this story especially difficult for her. 

Erin: Wow. 

Dannah: She felt completely helpless when her daughter began having night terrors. Even with all her training, she couldn't figure out how to help her. What was the fear? What was creating that terror? This little girl had a fear that Vladimir Putin, as in the Russian guy, you know what I'm talking about?

Erin: Yeah. 

Dannah: Would sneak into her bedroom and steal her. Now, obviously, this was related to the war against Ukraine and all the headlines. The mom and dad said, we don't even have the news on when the kids are around, but she's hearing it and she's feeling it and she's being affected by it. 

Well, this mom (remember this mom's a trauma therapist) did not know what to do. 

Well as my husband and I sat there with her husband at breakfast visiting, I said, “We have to go there right now.” We drove over to her house. We visited with that sweet girl. We got on our knees, we prayed. I explained to her how I had experienced some night trauma of a different kind. And I encouraged her to memorize the same Scripture I had memorized and begin to pray when she felt afraid. 

Well, I'm happy to say that I got a letter with a picture of that girl just a few weeks later, sleeping soundly. Prayer works. 

Erin: I love that story. 

Dannah: Prayer works, it works. 

Erin: Absolutely. Pray works. I love that story because it gives us what we need—hope and perspective. It actually puts the hope in perspective where it belongs, pointed towards Jesus. 

So, I think there are many moms and grandmas joining us today who feel a version of helplessness that that True Girl mom you just described felt. And so, if that's you, I'm looking at you right through my camera lens, I hope that the Lord will just grab your heart in this moment. 

Maybe you have a prodigal. If there's a way to try to talk about it, you've tried it. And that child is not coming back to the Lord. That can certainly make you feel helpless. If you're feeling that this morning, I definitely want you to stay tuned. Because today's good news is just for you. It's going to inspire you to keep hoping and keep praying. 

But maybe you're feeling helpless because you can't keep up with the gender confusion. Nobody can. It's the most moving target that I've ever seen in my lifetime. 

Dannah: Yeah.

Erin: Maybe it is the terrible news in the headlines, and the news is terrible. Whether your concern is going to happen in your town or not, if you have any empathy at all, these images that we're seeing of children and the stories we're hearing about what's been done to them can give us certainly a stomachache. 

So, my heart breaks for the trauma these children hostages have received by Hamas, they've endured a lot. Although I'm also celebrating, thanking God and praying for the release of the rest of them, some have been released. 

Dannah: Amen. 

Erin: I want to say that my heartbreaks for the children in the Gaza Strip too. It's understandable that in this season, even the season of hope, if we're honest, we feel a little bit hopeless. But today's guest is here to tell you that nothing is more powerful than praying God's Word for those you love. You can fight back. You can become a mom full of hope and of the God who can do. I'm not the good news person today, but that feels like some really good news. 

Dannah: That is good news. I tell you what else is good news is that Brooke McGlothlin is here. She's in the Grounded house today. Several months ago I emailed Erin and I said we have got to get Brooke on Grounded. 

Erin: You did. 

Dannah: I've been following her for many years. She's one of my favorite authors, and she's the founder of the ministry Million Praying Moms right from the start. Don't you want to be a part of that? She's here with the bold claim that praying for the next generation can change the dynamics of your home. For many moms, she's the prayer mentor you've always needed. She might be the one you need today.

Erin: I need a prayer mentor. I've been honest on Grounded that prayer is not a strong part of my spiritual life. Although recently after our episode on scrolling, I felt convicted that at bedtime when I'm just sitting up waiting for my kids to fall asleep, I need to not take my phone up there. That's an opportunity for prayer. But it still feels a little clunky, so I'm eager to hear from Brooke.

Brooke is here with a cold or a sickness of some kind which you cannot catch through the internet which I'm grateful for, but her voice isn't as strong as she'd like it to be. We're praying, our prayer team is praying, you can be praying because we know this is an important conversation. 

You can count on us and every single episode holds us accountable for this to point you to God's Word. Today's gonna bring us many “Scripture snacks” as she likes to call it from the life of Mary, Mary the mother of Jesus. What's the topic? “What to do when life circumstances tempt you to whine.” Dannah, why did you have to pick that on this Monday morning?

Dannah: Because I think I was just whining before we went live about decorating for Christmas. Was I not? 

Erin: You were. We were all commiserating about how decorating Christmas becomes a mom’s part-time job.

Dannah: The teacher needs her own teaching. 

Erin: So, we'll all be listening to what Dannah has to say there. 

Now typically, this is where we share some good news. I did give you a little, little short dose of good news there. But Portia girl is locked and loaded to give us the good news. But we're gonna save that for later. It's a can't miss conversation with Sarah Walton and Linda Green. If you haven't already, when you hit the share button, tell somebody that they need to watch this episode. We count on you to do that to help us spread the word. And while you're doing that, I want to jump right into our conversation with Brooke.

Brooke McGlothlin says there is something that you can do today to change your family for generations to come. I don't think that's just hype. I think that she means it, and I'm ready to hear all about it. So welcome to Grounded, Brooke.

16:30- Grounded with God's People (Brooke McGlothlin)

Brooke McGlothlin: Thank you so much, Erin. It's such a pleasure to be here.

Erin: Well, let's just jump right into it. I think every Christian mom wants to be a praying mom. I don't think that's a newsflash that Christian moms should be praying. But most of us struggle to consistently and meaningfully pray for our kids. Why do you think that is?

Brooke: Well, I think the number one reason is because we're so busy.

Erin: Yeah.

Brooke: We just feel like we don't have time to add one more thing. Maybe we have really young children, and we feel like we're grasping for brain cells. Maybe we have teenagers who are heavily involved, and we're running them from one place to the other. Or maybe if you're like me, you have one that's breaking into the adult world. I spend some time worrying about him. I feel like we are just so busy. I don't believe there's a mom out there that doesn't experience busyness on some level. 

And so, what I strive to do is help moms look at that and say, “Let's not let the things that cause me to be busy distract me from prayer. Let's let those things, instead, move me toward prayer. 

I really think if we have that simple mindset shift, we can move in that direction much more effectively and make prayer a part of our everyday life.

Erin: Yeah, cuz I don't think the busyness toothpaste is going back in the tube. I mean, I just think it is the pace of our world. It's basketball season of the Davis house. I spend all my time on the bleachers or running a boy to practice or picking a boy up from practice. And those aren't bad things, but we’ve got to find ways to redeem the time. So that's a good, good paradigm shift. You say that prayer is the first and best response to motherhood. Even though it can be like the last response to motherhood. Can you unpack that for me?

Brooke: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really bigger than motherhood. I think as a body of believers, we often see prayer as the last thing that we can do. It's the thing that we do when there's nothing else left to do. 

And, there are times that I want to be clear, there are times when prayer is maybe the only thing that we can do in any given situation. But I think we approach it backwards, instead of looking at this amazing gift that God's given us to talk to Him, to invite Him into the moments of our days, to say, “Lord, I need all the power of Heaven in this moment.” Or, “Lord, I need you to be faithful to give me wisdom in this moment.” Instead of doing that, we reserve it for those really difficult times. And again, it's not wrong to pray in those difficult times. 

But God has said that He wants to be a part of the daily workings of our lives right now. And, frankly, if we're not taking advantage of that, we're missing out. We're missing out on the guidance and the direction and the compassion and the loving care that God wants to give us as a part of our relationship because of Jesus. 

Sometimes I have moms say to me, “Well, Brooke, you must have some kind of special relationship with God that you can do that.” I just want to reject that in the name of Jesus, because that is not something that God just gave me, that is something that He offers every single believer. It's a privilege to partner with the God of the universe in prayer, and my heart and my passion is just to get moms in particular, but all people, all of God's children moving in that direction. I really do believe that it will change the dynamic and the equation of their home.

Erin: Amen to that. Did you hear that Church? That was a call to prayer. Don't miss what that was. I'm gonna give your voice a little break and monologue just briefly, I think. But when we think about the big challenges that our kids are facing, and they are big. I'm not gonna say they're bigger than any other generation. I mean, I think of those families raising kids in World War I and World War II, during a polio outbreak. There have been some other things, but there are big challenges. That shouldn't make us afraid, it should make us mad. It should make us want to fight back against the enemy of our souls, the enemy of our children's souls. And the way we do that is in prayer. 

So Million Praying Moms has a method. I'm a girl who loves a method. Your method is: think, pray, praise. Walk us through it. 

Brooke: I'd love to. So at Million Praying Moms, we encourage moms to pray God's Word. Now, I want to start out by saying that there is no right or wrong way to pray. We're not saying that praying God's Word is the only right way to pray. But it is a way that has fundamentally changed the way that I see the world around me.

And so, this is the way that I approach prayer much of the time. When I'm coming to the Word of God, I'm wanting to look at it deeply. One of the things that I'm really passionate about is, not taking things out of context. I don't want to just look at God's Word and pray for what I hope it means. I want to actually pray, what it means. 

And the reason, Erin, that I actually even encouraged people to pray God's Word in the first place, is because of two verses. One of them is Hebrews 4:12, which as we know, tells us that God's Word is living and active. It's not like any other book out there. It's not just a history book. It is a history book, but that's not all it. When we come to it with an open heart, it has the power to change us from the inside out. 

And the good news is that it also has the power to change our children. So that particular verse in combination with Isaiah 55:11, which says that God's Word will not return to Him void, but it will do exactly what He purposes for it to do. 

So, with those two verses in mind, I just can't think of anything better to pray than God's Word itself, if it's going to move in the hearts of my children. And if it's going to do what God purposes for it to do, then that's what we want to be praying for our kids. But we want to be doing it in context. 

So, we're looking at what God's Word has to say. And it could be just as simple as opening your Bible and reading something that day, and asking the Lord to help you understand it or asking Him to make something jump out to you to engage with the Holy Spirit as He's speaking to you through God's Word. So, we're thinking deeply about what God's Word has to say. 

And then we're praying it back to Him. Sometimes the Bible gives us these perfect word for word translations. There are verses in the Psalms that are a lot of David's prayers, that maybe we could just pray back to God word for word. But more often what I find myself doing is allowing the Scriptures to inspire my prayers instead.

 In other words, I would say, “Lord, I believe that this is true. For example, in Psalm 40 it says that God will not withhold compassion from those who loves. So, I would look at that verse and say, “Lord, I believe that You will not withhold compassion from my children? Would You give my children your compassion? Would You have mercy on them today? Would you have compassion for them today? Lord, would You be true to Your Word in their lives today?”

And so, I'm just allowing God's Word to inspire what I'm praying for my family, for myself, for those that I love, and for those that God's called me to pray for. 

Now, a lot of prayer methods, if you will, start with praise. I don't believe that that's wrong. It's always right to praise God and thank Him for what He's done. But I find that sometimes if I'm being honest, Erin, sometimes I don't want to pray. Sometimes I'm mad at God for what He has or hasn't done in my life or my child's life. Sometimes I'm struggling to believe God, sometimes I'm struggling to see that God is good. I believe that He says He's good, but I'm maybe not seeing it in my everyday life with what's happening around me. I find that if I go through the think, and then pray first, I almost always have something to praise God for. 

Erin: That’s good. 

Brooke: Even if I started out in the beginning with nothing, like I can't think of anything, at the end, I always do. 

And so, it's kind of like leaving my prayer time. By putting my glasses on . . . Y'all can see I wear glasses, I wear them all the time. If I don't wear them, I can't see. But and if I don't, if I don't put my spiritual glasses on, if I don't spend some time in God's Word and allow it to change me and allow it to be a call to action in my life in my relationship with God, then I'm walking around without my glasses on. That's not good for anybody. It's not good for me. It's not good for the people in my life. 

That's why I love that particular order of think, pray, praise. It's not rocket science; anybody can do it. And I promise you that if you approach God's Word that way, it will change you. And this is why I say that prayer will change the dynamic of your home, because prayer will change you. 

Think back with me to those math equations that we all hated in high school.

Erin: I don't wanna but I will. 

Brooke: Just do it with me for a second, A + B =C, right? Every single time, you can count that if you add A plus B, you're gonna get C. If either of those first two variables, the A or the B changes, the outcome changes.

So, even if your circumstances stay the same, even if the thing that you're praying for begging God for doesn't chang, immediately, the outcome of your home, of your life, is going to change, because God is going to change you. 

And that's the sneaky backdoor reason that I love to have moms pray God's Word. Because I know that as they engage with God's Word, maybe they're coming to it for themselves or coming to it for their children. But what's going to happen is that the Holy Spirit is going to move in their hearts. And that's how we're going to get the changes that we so desperately need in our homes. 

Erin: That’s my kind of math, prayer math. I'm here for prayer math. And I totally love that the B factor doesn't have to change for the C factor to change when you're committed to prayer. So that is really, really rich. 

Here's, here's the question every mom wants to ask, does prayer work? Can you tell us a story or two of how you've seen God move?

Brooke: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, apart from what I just said, prayer will change you. It absolutely will do that. One of the most profound ways . . . I want to preface this by saying that God does have multiple answers, that He is that He can because He's our Creator, give us when we pray. God can say no. And I think we have to embrace that we have to be okay with that. God can say yes, which is what we all want. But God can also say, wait, so those are three legitimate answers to prayer. 

So, when I say prayer works, yes, it does. But we have to have the right and correct framework for our relationship with God. We have to know who God is versus who we are, as we're approaching it. 

One of the most profound answers to prayer, visual, experiential answers to prayer, occurred when my son, my oldest son, was in the eighth grade. He had a really, really hard time that particular year in school. He was getting bullied some. He had one person in particular that was making his life a nightmare every time he went to school. 

We got to the point where I literally felt like I was dropping him off at the mouth of the lion's den. That's not a statement on the way that we educated our children. It's just a statement about what we were experiencing in that moment. Iit was heavy, Erin. It was extremely heavy to feel like I was taking my child and leaving him in the place that was hurting him. 

And so, we decided to take that biblical story a step further. We began to pray that the Lord would shut the mouths of the lion. Every time we would be driving up the hill to take him to the school, I would say, “Lord, would You shut the mouths of the lions today and cause them to leave him alone?” 

And Erin, I'm not kidding, within about two weeks of praying that for my son, the person that was really giving him a hard time got found out, got taken to the principal's office, got caught in what they were doing, confessed to what they were doing. And here's the best part, because of what they were doing, their parents took their phone away. When my son came home and told me that the person lost their phone for over a month, when he came home and told me that I thought, Praise the Lord, God shut the mouth of the lion. 

Erin: Amen.

Brooke: Like, literally, He shut this person's mouth. He took their mouthpiece away, because that's what those devices in their back pockets are in this season, right? It’s their mouthpiece. It's how they can get to each other so much more easily than we used to be able to do. So, God literally shut the mouths of the lions. And that to this day is probably one of the most poignant answers to prayer, most immediate, beautiful, tangible answers to prayer that God has ever given my family. It's something that we point back to on a regular basis and say, “Look what God can do.”

Erin: What a beautiful story. You're talking lions makes me want to talk bears. I mean, there is a mama bear instinct to take care of it our way, to protect our cub at any cost. And sometimes we can't, we can't close the mouths of the enemy. But God can, so I love that. 

Really quickly before we say goodbye, give us a big vision. What can a million praying moms accomplish?

Brooke: You know what guys? This is generational work. This is not just stuff that affects you as a mom. It will affect you as a mom, but you have the opportunity in praying for your child to affect not just them, but their children, and the children after them, and the children after them. This is powerful stuff that God gives us. 

Sometimes it requires us to wait on Him. Sometimes it requires us to trust Him when we can't see Him. But we are impacting generations to come. That's why I love prayer so very much. 

I just want to say this before we wrap up to the mom who maybe is listening right now who thinks, Well, I missed the boat. My kids are gone, they're out of my home, I didn't pray for them. Maybe you didn't know that you should be praying for them until right this moment. I want to encourage you and I want to say, “It is never too late to become a praying mom. If your kids are this side of heaven, your prayers matter for them.” 

So, start today, get involved and begin praying for your children. 

Erin: Amen. 

Brooke: There is no greater work that a mom can do on behalf of the hearts of her kids.

Erin: It feels like a good place to put the exclamation point. I want to talk more to you. I want to have you back on soon because this is a rich conversation. But Grounded sisters, I hope that you will hold on to that thought that prayer is generational work. What else can you do today? That's going to impact your great-great-great grandchildren. Probably nothing. But because God's a generational God, we can partner with him in that. 

Your voice held out. Thank you for showing up sick. Thank you for pointing us to Jesus and hope. Where can women find out more about you?

Brooke: Absolutely. I would love for you to visit us at MillionPrayingMoms.com to find out some of our free prayer resources that we have. You can follow us on social at Million Praying Moms as well. Thank you for letting me be here today.

Erin: All right, well, maybe we're at 1,000,001 today because I've been re-energized to pray for my sons. It isn't an area of strength. For me it's an area of weakness. But that might be a good thing because the Lord can rush in. So, thanks for being on Grounded, Brooke. 

Portia, I'm gonna hand it over to you. We haven't seen you this whole episode. I'm ready to see your beautiful face. There it is. In some Christmas swag; I like it! 

Portia Collins: Good morning! Yes, I have on my Christmas sweater y’all

Erin: It’s Snoopy! 

Portia: I love it. Love it. And you said 1,000,001; let's say 1,000,002 Because I'm reenergized. Great, great interview. Thank you so much.

Erin: Thanks, P. 

Portia: Well, Dannah is on deck to get us grounded in God's Word. But first, another woman who has led us in prayer is the late Vonette Bright. And she had this short and simple but magnificent thing to say about the powerful influence of praying women. So, I want you to put those listening ears on. I've been telling my kiddos at church that I teach, put you're listening ears on because you want to pay attention. Then I'm going to come back, and we're going to jump into a conversation with Sarah and Linda. If you have a prodigal, you are going to want to pay attention, special attention to this interview. But first, let's listen.

35:11 - Vonette Bright Clip

Vonette Bright: Women largely hold the key to the moral factors of the nation. We're at a time of moral crisis in this country. It's just been building for a number of years. But I believe that it's time when we as women began to be very serious about praying for our individual homes, about our churches, about situations that are taking place in our cities and in our country. 

I believe that women can make a change and that our greatest source of for change is prayer. I've had a burden for a long time to see 100,000 women come together to call out to God in unity for a spiritual awakening in this land. And when one prays, God works.

36:27 Good News (with Sarah Walton, and Linda Green)

Portia: Well, it is time for the good news that you have been waiting for. This conversation is definitely worth the wait. I'm gonna let our guests introduce each other because they know each other best. So, Linda, tell me about Sarah. Sarah, tell me about Linda.

Linda Green: Well, this is my daughter Sarah. She was my youngest child following two boys. And well, we had a battle throughout our life for a number of years, but today she is my best friend, and she has also given me four of my ten grandchildren, which I am very grateful for. And she's also written Hope When It Hurts, Together through the Storms with her husband, Jeff, as well as Tears and Tossing. So it's been a joy to write a book together this past year. 

But we are thankful to be living five minutes from each other in Colorado Springs now and just rejoice over the work that God has done in our own relationship. 

Sarah Walton: Yes, and obviously, we've made the connection that she’s my mom. She was the women's ministry director at a large church in the Chicagoland area until two-and-a-half years ago. Then they joined me and my family and my two brothers out here in Colorado Springs. So, it's pretty sweet. 

We all get to be together now, which is just kind of a sweet redemptive thing God has done. That is just kind of an extra icing on the cake, I guess. So yes, as she said, it’s been a joy, especially since the journey we've had together to have that bond together.

Portia: Hey, amen, amen. Well, Sarah, you are walking with Jesus, now. You are serving Him in ministry. You are raising your own beautiful children to know Him. But there was a season when you were running from the Lord, can you tell us a little bit about that season? 

Sarah: Sure. So my parents really did a beautiful job of raising us in God's Word, in teaching us the gospel. I really could not have asked for more faithful parents. But the reality is, we all have to make that choice for ourselves, right? Our parents can do everything right in the book, in terms of spiritual guiding and all of that. But the truth is, our hearts are individual. We cannot force our children to know the truth and to believe the truth, only the Lord can truly do that. 

And so, as I was raised, I really did have a heart to know Jesus to follow Him. But it hadn't really been tested. I think we can know those truths in our head, until they're put to the test. And then all of a sudden, we're like, well, wait, that means I have to choose to say no to something. I want to follow Christ. Oh, well, that's a different story. I don't know that I'd been to the point of having to face that. 

And so, I was an athlete growing up. That was very much my identity in many ways. It was where I found my gifting and strengths and praise. And so, I was very involved in sports .I kind of grew up as a tomboy, I had all boys in my life, boy cousins, brother, two brothers, and boy neighbors. And so I was always on the street, rolling in the mud, playing sports. But when I hit junior high, all of a sudden, that boy-girl relationship changed. I started to get attention from boys in a way different than I was used to. And it really threw me. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know how to respond to it. And I was, honestly, embarrassed. I think I felt shame over receiving attention that I didn't know what to do with, and took that on as though I was part of the problem. 

And so, what I did, instead of talking to my parents, I started bottling it all up. I started to kind of stuff it down, tried to pretend none of that was happening. Then I got into high school, and I was in a very sexually aggressive class of boys. And that intensity just built even more. I dealt with some sexual abuse and various things like that. And at the same time, I had a kind of a somewhat of a verbally abusive basketball coach, that long story short, kind of ended my career which I was planning on doing collegiately. 

So, all this was happening at the same time. Unbeknownst to me, I was also dealing with Lyme disease. So, I was sick a lot. I had all these things kind of unraveling in my life. And what did I do with the deep emotions is I took them out on the people who cared about me the most. I was angry. I felt in some ways like they represented the God who I felt like I couldn't live up to. 

And so, I was angry at them for expecting of me things I felt like I couldn't give. I was in this very worldly culture, but wanting to follow what my parents were telling me to do. And that conflict within me just built and built and built. Eventually, I started spiraling into a depression. I really didn't want to live; I didn't see a lot of purpose to living. I had lost the thing that felt like it was my identity. I was being treated in a way that made me feel like a piece of meat, not a person. I was angry. I didn't understand how God could be telling me to follow this way. And yet, the more I felt like I did that, the more it felt like I suffered for the sake of doing that. I was lost. I was unraveling, and I didn't know what to do. 

And so, the safest place I had was at home. And therefore, like many kids, they're the ones I took my anger and hurt on. That created this tension in our relationship that was not pretty for a long season. 

Portia: Yeah, I can understand that. So, Linda, you know, sitting there and hearing all of that, and I know you were right there in the throes of experiencing that, I really want to ask, what did it look like? What did your prayer life look like during that season, when you are praying for your prodigal child, your child who was struggling?

Linda: By God's grace, I had been a praying mom. But looking back I realized I was trying to do what I could do in my own strength. I thought I could help Sarah when she started going through her challenges. We tried everything. 

Finally, by God's grace, it really got to the point where I realized this wasn't something I could do, it was only something He could do. And in 2 Chronicles, God led me to King Jehoshaphat, who faced three armies coming at him who threatened to destroy him and Judah. And he recognized that he was powerless against this great horde. So he prayed to God, “Oh, great God, we are powerless against this great hoard that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but you do.” And so that really threw us on our knees in a whole new way. 

And as Brooke said, how powerful it is to pray Scripture. God led me to some Scriptures that I just began to pray fervently. And to recognize that God has done this for others, God can do this for our children, for our child. It was also a time that God began to really work some scriptural surgery in my own heart, which I needed. So, I really am so thankful for that. 

So, it wasn't a quick answer to prayer, it was year after year, continuing to love Sarah in the best way I could. I will say, I recognize that this was a battle, a spiritual battle. Her struggles were between her and the Lord, and the enemy wanted to have her. I remember just holding her and saying, “I am not going to stop fighting for you.” And so, I saw that battle clearly over her. And I recognize that only God could really open her eyes and bring her to a place of surrendering her life fully to Him. And by God's kindness over a number of years, He did that.

Sarah: Yeah. I think what I want parents to hear is, her prayers ended, in some ways, in me first having to face more pain. I think that's the scary thing as a parent to say, “Whatever the cost, draw my child to you.” And what that meant for me is being put into a pediatric psychiatric ward. That was rock bottom for me. How terrifying as a parent to send your child into a foreign place with nonbelievers with a lot of other angry, hurting children and saying completely, “Lord, do what you will with her.” Those were the prayers that all of those years of praying, the compilation of those came to fruition in that hospital room. I was utterly broken. 

What that did is it brought me to the end of myself, and I literally prayed, “I either need You to take this weight off of my shoulders and be my God and show me what that looks like, or take me away.” I didn't want to live anymore unless I had a hope that I could truly stand upon. And that is really when that faith became my own. It had really nothing to do with my parents other than the fact that they kept praying for me. I think the thing that I always knew is that they loved me, that they were always going to be waiting for me to come home. They did not reject me. They didn't tell me they were so angry at me. They just faithfully prayed and were available waiting on God to do the work. 

Linda: To reiterate what Sarah said, I do think we have to surrender our children to the Lord and let Him do things His way, not necessarily our way, which can be very hard. The stakes were high for Sarah, and we knew that she could end up being deeply hurt in ways that we couldn't control. So, it was a time of surrender for a mom and dad, as well as what God brought Sarah to.

Portia: I was gonna say to our Grounded sisters, you two have shared buckets of wisdom when it comes to praying and what it looks like to pray for a prodigal child or maybe a grandchild or niece. I'm so grateful for both of you sharing your story and sharing just the power of prayer and the persistence of prayer. To even see you both sitting here today, that is just such a joy to my heart. 

Well, listen, I want to get to this really quickly before I let you go. You are a double dose of good news today, because you wrote a book together that just came out. Can you tell us really quickly about that? 

Sarah: We wrote a book, it's called He Gives More Grace: 30 Reflections for the Ups and Downs of Motherhood through the Years.

So, we have a chapter on prodigal children, specifically, where we share a little bit more of our story. But we really cover a gamut of motherhood areas. It's basically on the need for grace in motherhood. I mean, we need it in life. Right? It's in every area. 

I think as moms especially we just we carry a weight for our children. It can feel crushing at times. We are all walking down this motherhood road with slightly different journeys. And so, we hope it will really encourage moms in all seasons, in all stages, in all circumstances, that God is sufficient and His grace is enough for you. We just have to lean on Him and rely on Him. So, we tried to do it really, practically, but also in a way that encourages hearts to fix their eyes on the truth of Scripture. We are hopeful that it will be an encouragement to every mom who picks it up. 

Portia: Amen, amen. Well, we're gonna drop a link to that new book. It sounds great. I can't wait to check it out. Thank you both so much for being here with us for sharing hope and perspective and the beauty and the power of prayer. I pray God's richest blessing on both of you and your relationship. 

Linda: Thank you. 

Sarah: Thank you, Portia. 

Portia: All right. Dannah, I hadn't called you Dannah banana in a long time, so I'm gonna do it now. Dannah banana, are you ready to get us God's Word?

50:08 - Grounded in God's Word (with Dannah)

Dannah: I am Portia girl, I am. And today I want to make a very simple declaration for you, no matter whether you're praying for a prodigal or whether you're praying for grace to make it through the first year of school as a homeschooling mom, or whether you're praying for the grace to get through Christmas and all the extra responsibilities of it. I want to declare that faithful women worship when they feel like whining. 

Now, I believe that worship is a kind of prayer. It's an intercession that we must employ, especially when we feel like life isn't going the way that we really want it to. And as we enter the Christmas season, we have a wonderful example of this, Mary. 

Now, I want you to imagine with me that you're the teenage girl, an angel of the Lord has come to talk to you, and the angel says, “Don’t be afraid.” Because naturally you are when an angelic being shows up right in front of you. The angel declares you have found favor with God. And then your ears ring with words like “pregnant,” “Son,” “Jesus.” 

Now, Mary had emotions. She had intellect. She must have known how complex this was. She knew what she was hearing would be to her fiancé, Joseph, to her mom, to her dad, to her neighbors. But the mother of our Lord doesn't succumb to the fear. She doesn't question God's plan. She simply says, basically, “Yes, Lord.” 

Right about there, many of us would have whined. But what does Mary do? She doesn't whine. No, she says “yes.” And then we find that she sings. She goes off to her friend, her cousin Elizabeth, and she sings, she worships. 

Now, we find her whole song In Luke 1:46–55,]. I hope maybe you'll pick up your Bibles and read that whole entire song and meditate on it this week. But I just want to read you the first two verses. They say, “Mary sang, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.” 

I love those words. Her soul magnified. Her soul magnified the Lord. This song is so special that we have a name for it: Magnificant. That name simply means magnify. And through this song, Mary magnified God's name by worshiping, instead of whining. 

Now, you and I both know that the word magnify means we make something bigger than you ever thought. How can we make God bigger? I mean, He's already pretty ginormous. Can we actually make Him bigger? I think that's a really good question to ask. We magnify God's name much the way we use a telescope to magnify the moon. 

Now, the moon is already huge, right? It doesn't need to be any bigger. But when we use a telescope to magnify it, we have helped seeing the moon through our very limited human vision. 

Magnifying God works just like that. There are some things we do that help us focus on who God is, and see just how big He is, even though our understanding is so limited. Worship is one of those tools that we use, like a telescope, to see the bigness of God. It helps us put His hugeness in proper perspective through our human eyes through worship. We draw close to Him, and as a result, we can magnify His name to other people, making God's greatness more evident to them. 

Through Mary's worship, God was magnified. He was made bigger, bigger than what? Bigger than her problems, bigger than her fears, bigger than the pain she would face, bigger than her hopelessness, bigger than her anxiety, bigger than her plans, because, hey, she probably had some. Worship does that for us. It makes God bigger than all of those things.

Do you have some problems? Do you have some fears? Do you have some pain? Do you have a prodigal? Do you have some scars in your past? Do you have some plans that are being disrupted? 

Maybe you need to magnify God through worship so that He gets bigger than . . . well, bigger than you, bigger than me. 

My friend, let us learn this Christmas season from the mother of all mothers—Mary, a faithful woman who worships when she feels like whining. 

Now, I've got to confess something to you. Just a few days ago, my husband and I were in the living room, and he started teasing me about being a Christmas Scrooge. 

Now, I'm not really, but all of it does overwhelm me sometimes. It overwhelms me to decorate; it overwhelms me to bake; it overwhelms me. It's just extra stuff, right? It overwhelms me the way that you feel when you have a house full of sick kids and you have laundry to do and fresh beds to make. 

I think sometimes I'm quick to run to worship Jesus, when the headlines are scary, or when I have a grandbaby in the NICU. But friend, I want to encourage you this Christmas season, not to forget to worship when you're putting up the Christmas tree or when you're putting it away because somehow that's always harder. I want you to not forget to worship when you have sick kids and you can't go to that Christmas party at church with your girlfriends. I want you to worship instead of whining, because it's good practice for when it really matters. My friend, let us be women who worship when we feel like whining. Portia.

Portia: Oh, Dannah, Dannah banana, what a good word. Like what a good word: a faithful woman worships when she feels like whining. I'm gonna tell you this, “Get out my business, Girl.” Because that was for me. Thank you, Dannah.

Dannah: That was for me. Oh, it was for all of us. It was for me because I was whining about Christmas work just before we got started today. I feel terrible about that, because I was about to teach. But I gotta tell you that that teaching is actually from one of the chapter titles in a new Bible study I wrote for tween girls and their moms to do together. It's called Mary: Becoming a Girl of Faithfulness. 

I just love how God's truth is God's truth whether we're ten years old, or whether we’re ten times ten. We never outgrow God's truth. And so ten-year-old girls need to know to worship instead of whining, but so do I at my age )which we shall not mention).

Portia: Absolutely. Ditto in my age, hold that up again, because that looks good. I think that makes a great mom-daughter Advent activity. And you know, get this guys, Dannah’s book, Mary: Becoming a Girl ofFaithfulness, is available at our online bookstore at ReviveOurHearts.com. 

So, you can run right on over there and get it. You know, I'll add this, we know that you, our Grounded sisters, need more than a bunch of resources on prayer. We often offer books and things like that, and there are some good ones out there. Okay, so that's not to take away the good work that people have done and pushing us toward a prayer. But more than anything, you need the Spirit's help to keep praying bold prayers—for your children, for your grandchildren, for your nieces, for your neighbors. 

This is the part of our podcasts, videocasts, when we love to give you the good stuff. One of the best things that we could ever give you is the prayers of other women. So that's the good stuff we want to offer today. 

Let's create our own prayer wall. Write the first name of a child in your world. Maybe it's your child or give us a list of several children. Look at that list and pray for each other's kids. Pray for those babies. You heard it from Brooke. Praying moms, we really can push back against the darkness. And the time has come to fight for the hearts of our babies. And the battle is not just won by doing all the things and being all what I like to call rah rah. The battle is won on our knees. So, let's get to praying.

Erin: Let's get to pray. You heard it. You got your marching orders. Can't hear you, Erin. Oh no, I don't have audio. You girls do it without me.

Dannah: Erin has lost her mouthpiece. I hope Brooke wasn't praying for her to silence. Erin's mouth. I don't think she was, but I think I know what she's gonna say, because we've got some great comments. Wow, are they good ones. Let me read a couple. There is this one Rashanna was blowing the thing up with.

Portia: Rahsanna is always blowing it up, Baby.

Dannah: “Prayer is generational work, and that's the real generational wealth.” Take that to the bank.

Portia: Say it again.

Dannah: “Prayer is generational work, and that's the real generational wealth.”

And Jenny, she has some advice here. “When I can't at all think about what to pray, I run to the Psalms. Run!” She wrote that, and that is a good thing because the Psalms do teach us how to pray. Hmm, good stuff. 

What a great program today. I was so blessed. I'm just sitting here listening to you talk, Portia. I thought this just made me want to pray.

Portia: Do it. 

Dannah: Do it. I guess I will. Well, ’tis the season my friends have envy. Oh, if we're honest, it can be a season of major comparison. Right? And nothing steals our joy more quickly. Jen Schultz will be our guest next week. She's going to show us how to conquer our insecurities so we can build the kingdom together. Let's wake up with hope together next week, on Grounded. 

Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts Ministries calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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