Special Prayers

When I was asked to join a Moms in Prayer group I was a little hesitant. I felt that my prayers would be a lot different from the rest of the moms in the group and they might not understand where I was coming from.  I have a son with special needs. He has ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Sensory Processing Disorder. 

To better explain those terms, my prayers sound something like this: “Please God, be with my son at school today. Please help him to feel calm and safe in his classroom so that he does not feel the need to climb out the windows. Please help him to remember to use kind hands and kind words when the other kids tell him to not roll on top them in circle time. Please help him to remember that he is not really invisible and that his teachers need to know where he is at all times. Please let the other kids be kind and patient with my son when he gets too anxious or excited and starts spinning and shrieking at the top of his lungs. And please Lord don’t let him get his hands on scissors and try to cut the teachers computer cords again. Please let this day be one of the good ones.”

My son needs a lot of extra help to get him through his school day. At home, he demands a lot more of my attention than my other two. Sometimes I feel like I am the worst mom when I am too tired and stressed to react in a calm manner to his hyperactive settings. I often feel like I am not paying enough attention to my daughter and younger son and the mom guilt gets pretty heavy. For the most part I have been keeping all of my helpless feelings and guilt inside my heart and thought I would just have to bear them the best I could.

My friend just kept encouraging me to join the prayer group so I thought I would give it a try. It helped that it was at my next-door neighbors house and I could just walk across my yard. While there are times when I feel my prayers might not make sense to the other moms, they do understand the love I have for my son and they can relate to the stress and mom guilt that all moms deal with when raising kids.

As I kept coming to the group each week, I started to realize I wasn’t just there to pray for my kids, I was there to pray for their kids too. This was a support system where perhaps the lessons that I have learned might help someone else. I could be a “stretcher bearer” for another mom that might be going through a rough time.  As the Bible says in Galations 6:2, we are to “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ.”

It has been a true blessing in my life to hear my children being lifted up in prayer by other moms as well as to be able to lift other children up in prayer myself. I already see answered prayer and the power of God working in all of our lives through this prayer group.

So while I still might have some awkward prayers: “Please God let the school staff remember to put the bathroom supplies up higher so that my son will not get out the Maxi pads and stick them all over the walls,” God is teaching me more and more about His grace and how it is sufficient for me and for my son, for His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.