Day 58: Prayers for Ember Faith

Today, I am picking up where we left off in our prayers for Ember before she was born. We were praying for the community that surrounds Ember, the support system that will help us raise her in the ways of the Lord, and this day's prayer was to be for her church family.

Church is so important to her Dad & I. We were both raised in church and have come to understand the power of sharing life with a community of believers. The Church provides a framework to support and grow our faith; it provides opportunities for us to learn, worship & develop relationships. It gives us hope and encouragement...at least that is what it is suppose to do. Today, we pray for Ember's church family, the one she belongs to now & the ones she will be a part of in the future.

Dear Heavenly Father, You ordained the Church to be the Body of Christ, His hands & feet to a dark & desperate world! We are thankful for the wonderful group of believers that you have allowed us to be a part of. They are & will continue to be a huge part of Ember's life. They have been such a blessing to our little family. We pray that our church will continue to do what You have called it to do, reaching out to individuals & families with Your love & grace. We pray that You would guide our church as we seek to do Your will. Help our family to be a productive part of this body of believers. Lord, we also ask You to lead us and guide us to the body of believers you would have us to be a part of in each season of our lives. We pray the same for our sweet daughter. We pray the she would always recognized the importance of being an active part of a body of believers, and we pray that You would  prepare future church families for her & guide her to them. God, surround her with Your people at every stage of her life! We pray this in the strong & powerful name of Jesus.

King Family Update: New Joys & New Challenges

This post has been a long time coming, but I (Lauren) have finally taken a moment to catch my breath & reflect on the past 8 or 9 months since the last blog post. I've avoided posting because in some ways I feel like a failure. We announced our plans to post our prayers for Ember for 100 days before she was born, and then when life got busy we failed to keep that commitment. However, I truly believe that it is never too late to begin again.

Our precious daughter is now here with us & it is more important than ever that we continue to pray for her. I had to realize that our failure to finish the 100 days of prayer in no way negated the 40+ days that we did pray for her and in no way prevented us from continuing that commitment now (which was a difficult concept for me to wrap my perfectionist mind around at first). In fact, I now feel like I am better prepared to pray for my daughter because I am beginning to understand her needs better. I am beginning to develop in my role as a mother and understand what Ember needs from me physically, spiritually & emotionally. So, I will recommit myself to praying for her & finishing what was started before she was born!

Now, for the rest of this update, I want to share a little bit of our story these last several months. It has been both a time of new joy & new challenges. Some days are more joyful & some are just more challenging, but God is teaching me to praise Him & trust Him through it all.

Ember has been teaching me patience from the very beginning! Her due date was obviously not on God's time table. I watched April 17th pass me by with no sign that Ember was ready to make her entrance into this world. A week later, with the threat of medical induction looming over me, my midwife suggested trying castor oil to get things moving naturally. Well, it worked! After a slow & fairly easy early labor at home, I was finally admitted to the Birth Center at 11pm on Wednesday, April 24th. What followed was 7 hours of intense, unmedicated back labor.

At about a quarter till 6 on Thursday morning, the situation became a little desperate. I was in the final stages of pushing, and the nurse was having a hard time finding baby Ember's heartbeat. The midwife rallied me to give it everything I had in a few final pushes, and finally she came...my beautiful little girl entered this world quietly, no cry to be heard. I was slightly aware that something was not right, and in my mind I kept praying, "God don't let me suffer for nothing. Please let my baby girl be ok!" I heard my mother right beside me praying a similar prayer out loud. The nurses & midwife worked for what seemed like several minutes, and then finally a little faint cry and a few seconds later a louder cry! After a little help, baby Ember finally started breathing on her own! God was faithful! He had given us a Little Miracle.

I won't lie, the weeks & months since that day have been difficult. Besides the normal challenges of becoming new parents, Ember had several challenges we had to overcome. She had feeding trouble & lost over 12% of her birth weight. We had to take her to several consultants & therapists to work through those issues, and we spent long hours everyday trying to make sure that she received the nourishment that she needed to grow & develop. On top of that, she failed her newborn hearing screens & we had to take her to a couple of places for further testing, but praise God, today, she is a beautiful & healthy baby girl.

God saw us through all of those difficulties, and He has given us a little girl with such a beautiful personality! She smiles & laughs & keeps us on our toes, and she is the living personification of joy in the midst of our struggles. I am so thankful for that!

Lord, help me to realize everyday what a blessing Ember is! Help me to recognize Your faithfulness & trust You to see us through the next challenge!

Day 59: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

On day 80 of this countdown, we prayed that Ember would develop healthy and loving friendships, and today as we continue to pray for a strong community to surround our little girl as she grows and learns, we want to pray again for those friendships that she will develop. Our friendships can make or break us, so we pray that God would send Ember friends who would stick by her and encourage her through thick and thin.

In 1 Samuel 20, we see an awesome example of friendship in the lives of David and Jonathan. Jonathan recognized the annointing of God on David's life, and even though Jonathan was physically in line for the throne of Isreal, he knew that God had appointed that job to David. Jonathan was faithful to help David even though it made His own father angry enough to attempt to kill him.

How wonderful it would be for Ember to have friends who recognize God at work in her life and encourage her to follow Him and find His purpose for her.

Dear Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for the blessing of friendship! We want to thank you for building a community around us that will support us as we begin this journey of raising our precious little girl. Thank you for the friendships that you have enriched our lives with, and thank you for the new friendships that you have lined up for us as we begin this new chapter of our lives. We pray that you would send Ember special life-long friends that would point her to You. Friends that will hold her up and not drag her down...Friends that she can laugh with and cry with and share her heart with...and friends that will protect her heart! This we pray as we await the arrival of our precious little gift!

Day 60: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

As we continue our Ember Faith Prayer Countdown mini series on community today we want to pray for Ember's extended family, specifically uncles, aunts, and cousins. I (Shane), just as Lauren did, had many fond memories of my Grandparents. One of the things I most enjoyed about going to to my Grandparents house was knowing that my cousins were there. In fact one of my cousins just posted this on her page... I totally agree!!!
                               
Despite how fun playing with our cousins were when we were little they are just a fraction of our extended family. I have an uncle who took me to the movies regularly and another one who would pass on to me his "out dated" electronic devices... (what I mean by out dated is... THIS NEW PRODUCT A is Awesome!!! then the next week they add part B to it... so he buys product B with the new feature and give me the one that is "out dated" by a week.) I had a great uncle that taught me to fish... I COULD GO ON BUT YOU GET THE POINT. My extended family poured into my life and even today if I needed help I know my family would be there. In today's culture that is not always the case. I want Ember to have an extended family experience like both Lauren and I have enjoyed.

     As I was prepping for this post i searched out for a passage about extended family and this is the one that summed up what we want for Ember...

‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. Leviticus 25:47-49 (NKJV)

   This passage depicts a situation where family can reach out and redeem or help a family member in need.It is my desire that Ember never finds herself in trouble... (I know unrealistic) so this is my prayer... that in those times of need one of her brothers or her uncle or her uncle’s son may redeem her; or anyone who is near of kin to her in her family may redeem her. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the family you've gifted me with, the fun, the games, the support, they all have meant so much to me and now i just pray that you bless Ember with a supporting family as well. I pray that her family will be the example that they should and that as they seek you Ember can see you in them. Allow her to cherish the gift of family and give her family a desire to be invested in her life. In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for a godly community that will support our daughter. Amen.

Day 61: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

As we continue to pray for the community that will surround Ember and be a support network for her throughout her life, I (Lauren) remember how important extended family was to me when I was growing up. Today, I am specifically talking about grandparents. My grandparents always made me feel loved. They may have spoiled me a little bit, but they always made me feel special. They would help my parents out by buying things that we needed. My dad's parents, always bought us much needed clothes and gave us money for school trips, and my mom's parents would often bring us dinner and a couple gallons of milk when they came to visit. I was very blessed to have both sets of grandparents involved in my life, and I want the same thing for my daughter. I think grandparents play a key role in supporting and encouraging children and providing the kind of community in which they can succeed. So, today, I want to pray for Ember's grandparents.

Father, we thank You for our parents, and we pray that they will be actively involved in the life of our daughter. Lord, we ask that You would help them to be good and wise examples for Ember and show Your agape love to her. May they realize the important role that they play in the lives of their grandchildren and always look to You for the wisdom to fill that role. This we pray as we await the arrival of our precious gift, Ember Faith.

Day 62: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Today we want to pray for a close community for Ember. This will begin a series of prayers for her community, with today being focused on community as a whole and the coming days focused on specific parts of her community.

Why is a community important? Who is our community? I'm so glad you asked... Both of  these questions have biblical answers.

First Why... The question of why we need community was answer by God in Genesis 2:18

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 

                                                                                               Genesis 2:18 (NKJV)

God created man to be a social creature. We need a community around us simply because God knew that it would not be good for us to be alone.

This brings us to the who...

Jesus gave us an example of community by calling 12 men to go with him and partner with his purpose. They would share meals, stories, insights, and a common purpose. Jesus came into the world, lived in the world, and ministered to the world but there were times when he separated himself from the world and drew near to his close community (His Twelve Disciples). Our community should be like Jesus', close friends and family members who we share meals, stories, insights, and a common purpose with. Simply put... people that will support us and encourage us and people who we can encourage and support.

Part of my community is the radio station where I (Shane) work. These friends were the first to throw Ember a baby shower. As we were "showered" with things that Ember would need I began to think about how wonderful it is that both Lauren and I are part of several different communities that rush in to help when needed, encourage us when we are down, and share life experiences with us as friends. We want our daughter to always be a part of a close community that will support her throughout life.


Dear Father, I thank You for the community that You have already begun to form around Ember. We see this gift of community through the out pour of support displayed by those who have given us their well wishes and prayers and thrown us baby showers. I pray that You will continue to shower Ember with not just any community, but godly community. When the world becomes too much for her to handle, may she have Christ centered communities to run to. In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for a godly community that will support our daughter. Amen.

Day 63: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

We hope that throughout these prayers, it is abundantly evident that we care deeply about our daughter and about her becoming who God has created her to be. God has a calling on each of our lives. Many people believe that God only calls certain people to ministry, but in reality,we are all called to serve God. As we fulfill the general call that God has placed on all those who know and love him (think the Great Commission in Matthew 28), He begins to reveal to us His specific call on our life (to be a teacher, architect, worship leader, counselor, etc.).  Today, we pray that God would reveal to Ember her life's calling and that she would live according to His purpose and plan for her.

You see all things;

You saw me growing, changing in my mother’s womb;

Every detail of my life was already written in Your book;

You established the length of my life before I ever tasted the sweetness of it.

Your thoughts and plans are treasures to me, O God! I cherish each and every one of them!

How grand in scope! How many in number!

 If I could count each one of them, they would be more than all the grains of sand on earth. 

Their number is inconceivable!

Even when I wake up, I am still near to You.

Psalm 139: 16-18 THE VOICE

For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. 

Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.

Deuteronomy 7:6 NLT

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, 

for you have been called by God.

Ephesians 4:1 NLT

Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that You would give us a desire and give us the strength to live out the calling  You have placed on our lives. Lord, reveal to us our specific calling and help us to walk in that calling. We want to show our daughter what it looks like to live in the center of Your purpose and plan. May Ember know that You have a purpose for her life! In Your perfect time, reveal to her the specific calling You have given her. May she find joy in serving You and living out Your plan for her. This we pray as we faithfully wait for our precious daughter to be born!

Day 64: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Psalm 139: 13-14 THE VOICE 

For You shaped me, inside and out.

    You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath.

 I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.

    You have approached even the smallest details with excellence;

    Your works are wonderful;

I carry this knowledge deep within my soul.

God created each of us with great attention to detail. Our features and our genetic code is unlike that of anyone else. God also gave us special gifts and abilities that are unique to us. For example, David was a talented musician, as well as a great leader...of sheep and of people.

 One of the servants said to Saul, “One of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player. Not only that—he is a brave warrior, a man of war, and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him.”

                                                                       I Samuel 16:18 NLT

God gave David's son, Solomon, great intellect, the ability to reason and understand. He also gave him great leadership skills like his father before him. Then, the Lord sent to Solomon people that He had blessed with the unique talents and abilities that would be needed for Solomon to carry out his plan for building a beautiful temple for God's spirit to dwell

“It is because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king! Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, gifted with skill and understanding, who will build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.  

“I am sending you a master craftsman named Huram-abi, who is extremely talented. His mother is from the tribe of Dan in Israel, and his father is from Tyre. He is skillful at making things from gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and he also works with stone and wood. He can work with purple, blue, and scarlet cloth and fine linen. He is also an engraver and can follow any design given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father.

                                                                        2 Chronicles 2:11b -14 NLT

We are each uniquely crafted with certain gifts and abilities, and the Lord has a purpose and a plan for us. We are each a small piece in a beautiful puzzle that God is putting together. Today, we pray that Ember would discover those unique gifts and abilities that the Lord has blessed her with and that she would use them to serve Him and fit into His puzzle.

Father, our Creator, thank You for Your attention to detail. Thank you for making us so unique and so complex. You tell us that we are made in Your image. Help us to understand that we each reflect a unique part of who You are. As parents, help us to recognize and further develop the gifts and abilities that You have blessed our daughter with, and help us to use our talents well so that we might set a good example for her. Lord, may Ember understand how special and talented she is, and may she also recognize that You made everyone special and talented in different ways. Lord, we pray that Ember would use her talents to serve You and that she would encourage others to do the same. This we pray as we patiently wait for the arrival of our precious and uniquely crafted child, Ember Faith.

Day 65: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Psalm 139 is a beautiful acknowledgement of God's love for us and His foreknowledge of us. It is a reminder that He uniquely created us, He has plans for us, and He is always with us. Today, we begin to pray a short series of prayers for our daughter inspired by the 139th Psalm.

Psalm 139:1-12 NLT

O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave, you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

Today, we pray that Ember would know and feel God's presence.


Dear Heavenly Father, we cannot fathom Your love for us. You know us better than we know ourselves, and You are truly the only one who is always there for us. It is certainly an honor and a privilege to know and feel Your presence ever with us. Lord, in the good times and bad help us to realize that Your presence has never left us and will never leave us. God, we pray that You will make Your presence known to our daughter. May Ember live with the wonderful knowledge that You are always there right beside her, listening and loving her, comforting and calming her, and gently guiding her. Lord, may she feel Your presence in her darkest hours. May our daughter always desire to be in Your presence. May she seek You with all her heart and always find that You have never left her side. This we pray as we faithfully wait for the arrival of our precious daughter, Ember Faith.

 "...and lo, I am with you always, 

even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:20b NKJV 

Day 66: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

A few days ago, I (Lauren) was reading in Daniel 3 and felt led to pray a prayer for Ember, asking that God would give her a boldness like that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel 3:7-18 NLT

7 So at the sound of the musical instruments, all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

8 But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Long live the king! 10 You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments. 11 That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up.”

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in, 14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? 15 I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn't  we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

When faced with a situation that went against their beliefs, values, and principles, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up for what was right. Their lives were at risk, but they knew that speaking up for the God they served and staying true to Him was more important than their life here on earth. It is my prayer that I would live with that kind of boldness and that I would teach my daughter to do the same.


Dear Father, You are so worthy of our praise and our devotion. You have done so much for us, and now we ask that You would give us the strength to stand for You. God, as parents, we want to teach our daughter to stand for what is right, so help us to act with boldness everyday. May our daughter live her life with conviction and boldness, proclaiming what is right in every place and in every situation, no matter what the risks may be. Help her to have confidence in Your truth and to act accordingly. This we pray as we await our little gift.

Day 67: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Today, I (Lauren) am feeling a bit weary. This pregnancy is beginning to wear me down, and if it were not for the supernatural strength of the Lord, I would be a complete wreck. Despite aches and pains, sleep deprivation, and crazy mood swings, I feel a strength beyond myself, and I know that the Lord is with me, holding me up. God is so good!

It is an amazing feeling to live beyond your own abilities, and we pray that our daughter will experience that in her life! So, today, we pray that we would continue to rely on the Lord's strength as we guide and care for Ember and that she would learn to rely on His strength to get through everyday.

Lord, thank You for being our strength everyday! Thank You for sustaining us in the good times and bad and giving us the ability to do more than we could have ever imagined. We are trusting in Your strength to sustain us through the ups and downs of parenting, and we ask that You would be our daughter's strength from day one. Father, would You give Ember the strength to live beyond her own abilities and do amazing things for You? We pray that You would grant her not only physical strength, but strength of spirit and strength of character. Lord, sustain her through every calm and every storm in her life. May she rest in Your strength, Lord, and not grow weary from trying to do things in her own strength. This we pray as we wait for the arrival of our sweet and precious gift, Ember Faith.

A prayer for strength from God's hand:

Please Be My Strength

By Gungor

Day 68: Ember Faith Payer Countdown

As we continue to pray for Ember's life through this Prayer Countdown, it is quite obvious that we are quickly approaching the day of her arrival. That being said, we are taking classes, doing research, and studying up on childbirth. See, Ember will be our first child and that means we are wading into uncharted waters. The more we learn, the more we realize how unpredictable childbirth can be. If the labor is too long, if the umbilical cord is in the wrong place, if she is not turned the right way, maternal deaths, still borns ... I could go on, but I believe you get the point. I (Shane) have to admit a little fear has crept into my heart. I am desperate to see my little girl, but part of me says she will be safer just to stay where she is... I know for a fact that my wife DOES NOT AGREE. Anyhow, for today, I just want to pray for Ember's safe arrival and for us to be doing everything in our control to ensure that safe delivery.

Dear Father, today I come to you in somewhat shame... knowing that you did not give us a spirit of fear, but all the same, some has crept into my life. In some ways, Ember's Birthday still feels around 68 days away, and in other ways, it feels like there is not enough time to prepare for it. I pray that You will grant us wisdom on what we as parents should be doing to ensure her safe entry into this world. I pray that You would guide the decisions and hands of the medical staff that will surround us. Even now God, I pray that you would position Ember in a way that will provide her with a safe and healthy birth. I pray for Ember's amazing Mother, that You will grant her the strength and the motherly instincts that she will need. God, please protect my family through this wonderfully traumatic event. In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for safe arrival of my sweet daughter. Amen.

Day 69: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Today, we pray that Ember will realize who she was made to be and find her true identity in Christ.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

                                                                         Romans 12:1-3 THE MESSAGE

Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that Ember will realize very early in life that to be true to herself means that she has to be true to You. You created her, You formed her and You know who she is meant to be. Help her to see that and to surrender her life completely to You.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I’d even lived one day.

                                                      Psalm 139: 13-16 THE MESSAGE

Lord, help our daughter to find her true identity in You. Help her to understand that as she loves and serves You, she is living her life to the fullest! May she never seek to find her true self in the many empty wells of this life. May she stand apart from this culture and never lose her identity in the crowds of this world. God, we pray that You would show her each day how special she is, how precious in Your sight! Lord, give her confidence in who she is in You. This we pray as we await the arrival of our unique and precious gift!

Remind Me Who I Am

By Jason Gray

Day 70: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

When we felt like we needed to do the 100 day prayer countdown for Ember, we sat down and made a list of the traits that we hoped she would have and the areas of her life we wanted to pray over. Our list did not cover all 100 days, but we knew that as we continued on this journey God would reveal more and more things that we would need to pray for. One of these revelations came to me (Shane) while preparing for a message I am planning to preach.

 This coming Sunday, I have been asked to preach the morning service at my church. I had been praying and seeking what God wanted me to focus on for a few weeks. Last weekend while at Conclave, a Youth Minister's Conference, Kyle Idleman was talking about a time when his pastor asked him to preach the Easter Sunday message...and it hit me... the Sunday that our pastor had asked me to preach was right before Valentine's Day. I continued to pray and seek God's guidance and felt like a love themed message was the direction that I was to go. Another speaker at the conference, Derwin Gray, spoke about ministers putting their ministry before God. As I listened to Mr. Gray, I thought of this verse in Revelation Chapter 2 and felt that it would be the perfect Valentine's message and a necessary area of prayer for Ember's life as well.

 I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 

                                                                                                              Revelation 2:2

I know that on previous days we have prayed for Ember to seek God, know God, and love God... but if she develops those for a season and then walks away how does that benefit her? We desire that Ember would develop a lasting love for God and that she will never leave her first love.

Dear Father, I pray that through Ember's works, labor, righteousness, and ministry that she would never leave her first love... You. God I pray that she will always remain in Your presence and never forget that You loved her first and thus deserve to be her first love! In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for the person my daughter will be. Amen.

Day 71: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

If Ember turns out anything like her mother, she will be easily distracted by life and find it hard to filter out all the noise and focus on the important things. This can probably be said of most of us today. Our world is filled with noise, and the noise gets louder everyday. Television, radio, billboards, magazines, newspapers, politics, internet, social media, new technologies, and much much more are crowding out the important things in life, the things that should be our main priorities. In the middle of all of this, we are drowning beneath the heavy weight of expectations and responsibilities that God never put on us. The bottom line is that we need to learn to hear God's voice, and that is our prayer for Ember today, that in the midst of all the noise, she would hear God's voice.

This song has been the cry of my heart for sometime now, and it is my prayer for Ember and for the two of us as Ember's parents.

Stop the World

By Mathew West

Dear Lord, we pray that You would help our daughter to filter out the noise of this world and to hear You clearly. Give her eyes to see You and ears to hear Your voice in a world that is blind and deaf to Your work and Your ways. God, we pray that as her parents, we would also be able to sift through the noise and hear Your voice when it comes to making decisions for our family. Help us to set a example for Ember by spending time away from the chaos listening to You. Lord, make it clear to our daughter that time spent listening to You is time well spent! This is our prayer as we wait to meet our precious little girl!

Day 72: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Recently, I (Lauren) started singing a new song to Ember. Well, it's not really a new song, but it is one that I had not thought about singing to her before. I hadn't even thought about the song or heard it for many many years. I was introduced to it as a young child through a cassette tape that I owned called "Kid's Sing Praise." It's amazing just how many of the songs on that tape that I can remember! Anyhow, the one that I have begun to sing to Ember is "Give Me Oil In My Lamp."

Give me oil in my lamp 

1. Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.
Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning,
Keep me burning till the break of day. 

Sing hosanna, sing hosanna,
Sing hosanna to the King of Kings!
Sing hosanna, sing hosanna,
Sing hosanna to the King! 

2. Give me joy in my heart, keep me singing.
Give me joy in my heart, I pray.
Give me joy in my heart, keep me singing,
Keep me singing till the break of day.
Chorus 

3. Give me love in my heart, keep me serving.
Give me love in my heart, I pray.
Give me love in my heart, keep me serving,
Keep me serving till the break of day.
Chorus 

4. Give me peace in my heart, keep me resting.
Give me peace in my heart, I pray.
Give me peace in my heart, keep me resting,
Keep me resting till the break of day.
Chorus

This song just popped into my head in the shower one day, and when I started singing it, I realized how appropriate it was to sing to Ember and how it embodied so many of the things that we have been praying for her to have in her life...love, joy, peace, etc. The first verse really stuck out to me because it asks the Lord to keep our lamps burning (a reference to the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25), and Ember's name reflects that very request! Our little spark of faith...the hot coal that can be reignited into a flame so easily...that's our Ember! Today, we pray that she would have plenty of oil for her lamp, that she would persevere in the faith.

Definition of PERSEVERE

: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counter influences  opposition, or discouragement

Oh Lord, we pray that Ember would always carry Your spark within her...that spark of life and faith! We pray that despite the opposition and counter influences in this world that she would press on and persist in seeking after You, loving You, and serving You. God, we are so thankful for the spark that You have ignited in our hearts, and we pray that we might pass it on to our daughter! We are so thankful to You for reigniting our flame of faith by sending our precious Ember to us, and we ask You to watch over her and keep her. Keep her on the path that leads to You. May her lamp continually burn strong and bright! We pray this prayer as we expectantly wait for our little spark to be born!

Day 73: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Today, I (Lauren) have been extremely grateful! I had a dream about the birth of my baby girl, and when I woke up, my head and heart were filled with images of soft peachy cream skin, big hazel eyes, and soft wispy red hair. I don't know what Ember will really look like, but I do know that no matter what she looks like, I will be so thankful for her...we both will. As we get closer to her arrival, our awe and gratitude increases. I hope that we are always able to recognize the good gifts of God and be thankful for them, and I want the same thing for my daughter. So today, we pray that Ember would possess an attitude of gratitude.

Dear Father, we are so thankful for the gift of this child that You are giving us. Our hearts burst with joy each time we feel her move. It is always a wonderful reminder of Your awesomeness and Your loving presence with us. Lord, we pray that we will always feel this gratitude in our hearts, and we pray that our daughter will also be grateful to You for all that she is given. We know that all good gifts come from You, so we ask that You would give us and Ember hearts that worship You and thank You for ALL THINGS!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

                                                                                        James 1:17 ESV

 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father.

                                                                                        Ephesians 5:20 GNT

Father, may we teach Ember to be thankful in both good times and bad. When things are difficult, help her to focus on all that she has to be thankful for! May the gratitude that she holds in her heart sustain in her darkest hour. May she never lose sight of all that You have done for her and all the good gifts that You have given her. This we pray with grateful hearts as we await the arrival of our precious Ember Faith.

Day 74: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

This weekend as we continue to offer prayers for our unborn daughter, we base some of them on subjects and thoughts from Conclave 2013, a training event for youth leaders. We attended a Break Out Session this weekend called "New: Helping New Believers Lay The Foundations For A Lasting Faith." This class was led by Andy Blanks of Youth Ministry 360. 

Mr. Blanks was talking about the need to build a foundation that could withstand fall backs in faith. It is unrealistic to think or expect that students will never question their faith or deal with doubt, so our obligation as leaders is to equip them with the tools to work through those questions and doubts. With a graph illustration similar to this one he stated that we should see an overall upward growth despite momentary drops. Although there will be many drops along life's journey each drop is followed by an even more intense search for God and desire to be close to Him. This results in the overall upward growth. The tragedy is that many young people are not given a solid foundation that is built to withstand the questions or doubts. After introducing us to this concepts he went on to give us some pillars on how to build that foundation.

This concept of spiritual growth is what we pray will be in Ember's life. To see constant spiritual growth, she will need to really know who God is, develop a hunger for His Word, desire to follow Jesus closely, and have adults in her life that will display and encourage such growth. This sort of spiritual growth will help determine if Ember will have the lasting faith that we desire her to have.


Heavenly Father, today we pray for Ember's spiritual growth. We pray that she will never be satisfied with the depth that she knows You, that her thirst for You will never be quenched, and that all of her time and energy will be focused on allowing You to make her who You want her to be. God, grant Ember steady spiritual growth and a firm foundation for lasting faith. In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for the person my daughter will be. Amen.

Day 75: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

As young children, our minds are very pliable, and very early on, we begin to think according to certain patterns. We become optimists or pessimists, dreamers or realists, and I believe that our environment has a lot to do with how we think. The shaping and forming of young minds is very important, not just for the development of reason and intellect, but also for emotional and spiritual development and well-being. I (Lauren) will be the first to tell you that as followers of Christ, there is a big spiritual target on our heads, and our mind is the bulls-eye. Satan knows that infecting our minds is the best way to destroy us. He has so many ways of sneaking in and planting poisonous thoughts of all kinds: unholy thoughts, doubts about God, lies about who we are, unnecessary fears and concerns. He creates chaos and confusion within us. Knowing what how Satan uses our minds against us makes me extremely passionate about praying for my daughter's mind and providing her with an environment that will help to form her mind in a positive, Christ-centered way. So today, I want to look at some verses of scripture that talk about our minds and pray for Ember's mind.

What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
it will become a place of refreshing springs.
The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

                                                        Psalm 84:5-6 NLT

• A mind set on a spiritual journey with God will be blessed with strength even in times of bitter trouble and sorrow.

I cried out, “I am slipping!”
but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

                                                       Psalm 94:18-19 NLT

• A doubt-filled mind can find comfort in crying out to the Lord.

O Lord, listen to my cry;
    give me the discerning mind you promised.

                                                         Psalm 119:169 NLT

• The Lord will give us a mind that can discern between right and wrong, His will and the will of man. We must ask for and desire this kind of mind.

But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

                                                           John 14:26-27 NLT

• Through the gift of His Holy Spirit inside of us, God gives peace to our minds. Our minds don't have to be in a state of confusion and chaos. They can be untroubled because of the Spirit reminding us of God's goodness and the truth of His promises.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

                                                               Romans 8:5-6 NLT

• We will only experience peace in our minds when we give the Holy Spirit control over our minds.

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

                                                                 2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT

• Satan blinds minds to the truth. 

  Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

                                                                   Philippians 4:6-8 NLT

• We can rest our burdened minds by giving them to God in prayer, and in response He will give us peace to guard our minds from Satan.  Our minds do not naturally think positive and good thoughts all the time, so we need to train our minds to think about good and positive things and not negative things.

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

                                                                       Romans 12:2 AMP

• We can know what God's will is for us, what direction He wants us to go, if we let our minds be transformed and made new by His truth...His Word. We must let our minds be shaped and formed by Him!

Dear Father, thank You for the gift of Your Spirit to keep our minds straight! Lord, we pray that You would help us to surrender control of our thoughts to You. We ask You to continue forming and shaping our minds according to Your Word and to form and shape our daughter's mind as well! Help us as parents to do our part to provide an environment that trains Ember's mind to think on all that is "true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable." Lord, we ask that You would guard our daughter's mind. Help her to see past Satan's lies and not entertain thoughts that come from him. Lord, reveal to us thoughts that we believe that are only lies from Satan. Help us to root them out and to teach our daughter to see them for what they really are, deceptions crafted to keep our minds and our lives in bondage. Give us and our daughter discerning minds according to Your promise! May our minds be filled with Your peace and not chaos and confusion as we are faced with the task of raising our daughter according to Your Word. Fill Ember's mind with Your peace as she faces transitions in her life and hears voices from every side telling her things that do not line up with Your Word. May you give her clarity of mind that dispels all doubts and confusion, so that she may know what Your perfect will is for her life. This we pray and wait faithfully for You to perform as we anticipate the arrival of our precious daughter.

Day 76: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

For tonight and this weekend, we have been blessed with the opportunity to attend Conclave 2013, a training event for youth leaders, where Kristian Stanfill is leading worship. Tonight, he led us in singing the song "In Christ Alone." During the 4th verse, I (Shane) felt impressed to lay my hand upon Ember's "temporary home" and pray and sing those lyrics over her. In some ways these words echoed our first prayer for God's will in Ember's life, reminding me that in all areas of her life, God will be and already is in complete control. So from birth to death, this is and always will be our prayer for our sweet little baby girl.

I Christ Alone: Original 4th Verse Lyrics 

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Could ever pluck me from His hand

Til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I stand

Our Prayer Over Ember

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ that we pray would be in Ember

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus, command her destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man 

Could ever pluck her from Your hand

Til You return or call her home

In the power of Christ may she stand

Day 77: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Humility... if you ask my wife I'm sure she will tell you that this is something I (Shane) need to learn rather than teach... so praying for another person (even my daughter) to have a humble heart is a little awkward. Being a radio announcer and being the master of ceremonies of various concerts puts my life in the bright lights of the stage. The hardest thing for me to do is to juggle between taking pride in my accomplishments and being humble when a listener compliments me on how my "show" was that day. My answer customarily is... "I am just glad that God can use this crazy mixed up guy to bring you a blessing". While I do genuinely mean that, it thrills me so much to know that "I" did something that mattered to someone else. When I have those calls or comments I rush to "brag" to my wife about what was said about me. Webster's defines humility as "the quality or state of being humble" and humble as "not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive" I am a spotlight junky, meaning I really enjoy the attention. Christ the King of Kings was born in a feeding trough, lived homeless, washed feet, and served the rejected all to point the attention to God, His Father. While I want Ember to have talents and gifts and to have opportunities to use them, I pray that she will not get the big head or rub people's noses in the fact that she may be better than they are at a particular thing. I hope that she can gracefully receive a compliment and project the glory to God keeping none for herself.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that I would learn humility so I can exemplify it to Ember. I pray that she will acknowledge you as the provider of her strengths, talents, and gifts and allow you to receive the praise and glory for them. When a compliment comes I hope that she will receive it with a humble heart, and when she wins, I pray that she will not be pulled into the bright lights of a stage of fame, but reflect your light to the spectators. Allow Ember to develop a humble spirit in all she accomplishes. In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for the person my daughter will be. Amen. 

Worship Wednesday: Changing Grace!

Today, as I was spending some time in worship and listening to what God was trying to say to me, I had this thought and had to tweet it...

Some Christians specialize in condemnation, but I am determined to listen to Christ instead. Condemnation never changed anybody!
— Lauren King (@kingencounters) January 30, 2013

If you are like me, you may have suffered under condemnation long after accepting Christ and surrendering to Him. Living under the weight of condemnation stalled much needed change in my life and kept me from worshiping God. Over the past several years, I have been learning what God's grace really means. I've been learning to live under His grace and let it change me. Before, I was living under the constant sting of condemnation, full of guilt and trying to change myself for the better. I don't know why it was so hard for me to understand that I was living under a burden that had already been lifted, but I have discovered that there are many believers like me.

In our student ministry, The Underground, we have been confronted by several students who are suffering from the lingering effects of condemnation. They have turned to Jesus; they have a heart to do what is right and to follow Him, but their parents, their friends, or even their own flesh has told them that they can't be free of all that they have done wrong and they will never be able to change. Sadly, some people in the church hold other believers under condemnation instead of lovingly encouraging change in their lives. This is so damaging. We can't make people change by dangling condemnation over their heads.

Accepting God's grace and rejecting condemnation has plunged me into deeper worship of the Savior! When we realize that we are free from condemnation, God's grace becomes so precious to us...it's meaning becomes so clear, and we can't help but worship Him for the gift of His grace. God's gift of grace and our response of worship then initiates the Holy Spirit to activate godly change in our lives.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

                                                                                         Romans 8:1-4; 31-34 NLT

Our God is a God of love and grace. His grace changes us and sets us free...and that is something to rejoice about...something to praise Him for!

I want to share the song that helped to inspire these thoughts today. It is a song about what it truly means to surrender to Christ and be baptized, a song about living under God's changing grace.

Changed

By Rascal Flatts

Day 78: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

2 Chronicles 1:7-12 NLT

7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

8 Solomon replied to God, “You showed faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. 9 O Lord God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! 10 Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?”

11 God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people— 12 I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”

It seems as if God is speaking to us today saying, "My children, what do you want? What will you ask of me?"  We have an open invitation to lay our request before Him, to show Him our list of desires. Many many times, our list has looked nothing like Solomon's list of wisdom and knowledge...yet we need those two things so desperately in our lives. That is something that Solomon understood. Yesterday, we prayed that our daughter would embrace wisdom and seek it all her life, and today we pray, in much the same way, that she would desire knowledge and be given that knowledge.

Dear Lord, we thank You and praise You for giving wisdom and knowledge to all who ask. God, we especially thank You for the wisdom and knowledge that we have received at certain times with assurance that it could have only come straight from Your hand. Father, we pray today that You would flood us with the knowledge of how to love and take care of a child. Help us to seek knowledge that would make us better equipped to carry out Your call on our lives, both our call to the ministry of the church and our call to the ministry of parenthood. Give us a deeper knowledge of You so that we may share that knowledge with our daughter and others. Help our sweet Ember to be full of knowledge relevant to Your call on her life. Help her to earnestly search for opportunities to gain knowledge. Give her knowledge of Your saving grace, Your loving character, and Your will for her life. May her heart never become puffed up because of the knowledge she has, but help her to see that knowledge as a precious gift from You to be used for Your glory. May she also put her knowledge into action everyday, always acting and speaking with wisdom. This we pray as we await the arrival of our beautiful gift, Ember Faith. 

Day 79: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

If there is one thing that we want from God more than anything, for ourselves and for our daughter, it is wisdom. Wisdom saves us from many troubles and mistakes in life, and wisdom helps us live life according to God's plan. God is the ultimate giver of wisdom...we can find wisdom nowhere else.

Let's look at a definition of wisdom. Wikipedia says (emphasis mine):

Wisdom is the judicious application of knowledge. It is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgments and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions (the "passions") so that universal principles, reason and knowledge prevail to determine one's actions. Wisdom is also the comprehension of what is true coupled with optimum judgment as to action.

The book of Proverbs deals almost completely with wisdom and the attainment of wisdom. In chapter 2, we see that wisdom has many benefits. It is so valuable that it is described as a treasure!

Proverbs 2:1-12

New Living Translation (NLT)

My child, listen to what I say,

and treasure my commands.

2 Tune your ears to wisdom,

and concentrate on understanding.

3 Cry out for insight,

and ask for understanding.

4 Search for them as you would for silver;

seek them like hidden treasures.

5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,

and you will gain knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord grants wisdom!

From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.

He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.

8 He guards the paths of the just

and protects those who are faithful to him.

9 Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair,

and you will find the right way to go.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will fill you with joy.

11 Wise choices will watch over you.

Understanding will keep you safe.

12 Wisdom will save you from evil people,

from those whose words are twisted.

Today, we pray that Ember would seek after wisdom and make wise choices.


Lord, we thank You that You grant wisdom to all those who seek it. Help us to be seekers of wisdom and ultimately seekers of You. Help us to make wise choices when it comes to raising our daughter, and help us to teach her how to make wise choices for herself. God, we ask that as the giver of wisdom, You would give our daughter a wisdom beyond her years. Help her to grow strong in the knowledge and understanding of all that is right and true and to put that knowledge and understanding into action. Lord, we pray that our daughter would desire wisdom more than anything else in her life. Give her a passion to seek after wisdom and to display wisdom in all that she does. May Your guiding hand of wisdom ever be upon her, and may wisdom keep her safely on the right path. This we pray as we await the arrival of our own priceless treasure, Ember Faith.

Day 80: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

                                                                          1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

Today, as we come to the subject of love, we realize that we have already prayed that Ember would know God's love and that she would be full of love and compassion. However, since love is the greatest virtue that we can have, it doesn't hurt to double or triple up on prayers regarding love in her life. So, today, as we pray for the virtue of love in Ember's life, we pray that she would develop healthy, loving friendships.


Dear Father, we are so grateful for the loving and supportive friends that You have given us! We pray that Ember would be surrounded by the love of friends, that she would have healthy friendships. We pray that You would place special people in her life that she can share with. May she also learn to reach out and offer her love and friendship to those who are outcast and alone. Help her to be a good friend, showing Your love to all those around her. Lord, help us to be about sharing Your love and building relationships, so that we might lead our daughter by example. This we pray as we wait for the arrival of our precious baby girl.

Day 81: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

                                                                          1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

To hope means to desire and look forward to something with confidence and expectation. Hope is what keeps us going! As one of the three essential virtues for our spiritual well-being, it is developed in us through faith and understanding of God’s love and grace toward us. The hope that we have as Christians is a longing and expectation for God to fulfill His promises to us. Today, we pray that Ember would have that hope in her life.

Dear Father, our hope is in You! We know that You hold our future and we are waiting expectantly for You to work out Your plans in our life. We know that the You have good things in store for us. We have hope that You are working all things out for our good and Your glory. God, help us to convey that hope to our daughter...help her to feel it. We pray that Ember would have a heart that longs for You and expects You to do a work in her life. Lord, we know that the opposite of hope is despair, and we pray against any feelings of despair in our daughter's life. May she know that her future will always be bright if she keeps her eyes on You. This we pray as we wait with expectancy for the birth of our precious daughter, Ember Faith.

        

Day 82: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

                                                                              I Corinthians 13:13 NLT

When times have been tough in our life, we have found this scripture to be so true. Faith, hope, and love are the three things that we have had to hold on to, and those things have sustained us. So, we begin to pray today that Ember would have all three of these virtues.

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

                                                                                          Hebrews 11:1,6 NLT

Basically, faith is trusting God. Trusting that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Faith or trust in God is crucial to living an abundant Christian life. The more faith we have in God the more our lives will reflect the fruit of the Spirit, and we will have a full and abundant life. Today, this is what we pray for Ember, that her life would be full of faith and trust in Christ, her Savior.

Lord, we pray that You would increase our faith and trust in You. We pray that You would fill our  daughter with faith. Help her to see You for who You are and know that she can trust Your Word. Help us to demonstrate a life lived with faith, so that Ember may learn from us that You are someone to have confidence in. This we pray as we wait for our precious little girl, entrusting her to Your loving care.

Day 83: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

As I (Shane) look back on my life and the mistakes I've made, some were out of ignorance... simply not knowing any better, while others were due to a lack of self control or discipline. As I write this prayer for Ember to possess discipline, I hear the words of one of my former youth leaders echoing in my head... "I know I shouldn't do it, but I'm gonna do it anyways." He explained to us that this was the downside of God giving us freewill because we will always have the freewill to disobey Him. As Ember learns the difference from right and wrong and between being in or out of God's Will, I pray that she will have the self control and discipline to abstain from evil and walk with God. We need discipline in our lives not only to keep from making mistakes but also to keep us doing the very things that we should be doing. Discipline and self control are just as much about walking down the right road as they are about not taking the wrong one. We want Ember to have the self control to stay away from the junk of the world while the discipline to maintain a Christ like life.

Dear Father in Heaven, we pray that Ember lives a life full of discipline and self control. This trait will serve her well to steer her from making painful mistakes and equip her with a desire and dedication to follow the right path and ultimately to follow you. Grant our daughter possession of this trait to enhance her life in You. 

Day 84: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, 

Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].

                                                                          Galatians 5:22 AMP

We are continuing to focus on certain biblical virtues in our prayer time, and today we are focusing on gentleness. I love looking at the Amplified version of the fruit of the spirit here. We see that the word translated gentleness is much deeper than our definition of gentleness. To be gentle in this context means to be slow to anger, reacting calmly. It means to remain humble and teachable, not to be harsh and abrupt with people, and today we pray that the Spirit would grow the fruit of gentleness in Ember's life.

Dear Lord, You have been so gentle with us, gradually working out Your will and Your way in our life, making us a new creation. Help us to follow Your example and treat our daughter and those around us with gentleness. Give us the strength to hold back harsh comments and attitudes when faced with difficult people. Teach us to walk in meekness of spirit. Lord, may our daughter learn from us to exhibit the controlled strength that is the essence of gentleness and meekness. Help her to react calmly, to be slow to anger. May Ember be known for her gentleness and meekness of heart and action. This we pray as we await the arrival of our precious little gift.

Day 85: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

It's hard to believe that in 85 days (give or take a week or so) we will have a tiny baby girl to love and care for. There are so many things we want for our baby girl and so many things that we want her to be. We are continuing to pray that she would develop a life full of virtue, and today we pray that Ember would live faithfully.

Dear Lord, Your Word tells us that You are faithful, and throughout our lives You have proved that You are faithful to Your promises. We have learned that we can trust You with our future, our dreams and our finances. You were faithful in fulfilling Your promise to give us the desires of heart when You sent us this child, and we are trusting You today with our daughter's life. We pray that she would develop faithfulness in her life, faithfulness to You and others. Help her to always keep her word and to be a loyal friend. Give her assurance of Your faithfulness, and help her to trust You with her whole life. We ask that our daughter would be full of faith, and that she would be trustworthy and reliable. Help us, as her parents, to keep our faith in You and Your promises and to be faithful and trustworthy in all that we do, so that we may set a good example for our daughter. This we pray as we as we faithfully wait for You to allows us to hold our sweet Ember Faith in our arms. Thank you Lord, for doing all these things! We believe that you will do it!

Day 86: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

One of the most foundational truths of the Christian faith is that God is good. We must believe that God is good in order to put our faith in Him and trust Him with our lives. God's goodness is the culmination of His mercy, His grace, His care, and His love and compassion towards us. It is the essence of His character, and since we were originally created in His image and as Christians are instructed to be like Him, goodness should be the essence of our character as well.

There is only one problem...since the fall, we are imperfect and incapable of good. Goodness no longer comes natural to us, as Paul expresses in Romans 7.

 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

                                                                                                Romans 7:18-19 NIV

We are only able to be good because of Christ living in our hearts bestowing His goodness upon us. That is why goodness is a fruit of the spirit. Goodness is akin to love and kindness, but it goes deeper than that. Goodness is more of a condition of the heart out of which we operate with kindness and compassion towards others. It is a combination of honesty, integrity, and compassion, and today, we pray that goodness would become the essence of Ember's character.

Dear Father, goodness seems so unattainable to us sometimes. We try to be good and do good on our own, but we fail terribly. We need Your Holy Spirit to fill us with goodness, to make us like You. Give us pure motives in all that we do. Help us to raise our daughter in the knowledge of Your goodness, and to set an example for her by living a good life. Lord, we pray that you would place deep within Ember, the desire to be good and do good. We pray that she would understand that goodness comes only from You and that she would rely on Your strength to be the good person she was created to be. Lord, You have given us all the tools we need to lead a good life, and we pray that You would remind us of that. May our lives and our daughter's life be reflections of Your ultimate goodness. This we pray as we await the precious gift of a child that You are sending to us!

We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love. If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful.

                                                                                              2 Peter 1:3-8 CEV
                                                                                   

Day 87: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

                                                                                        Ephesians 4:32 NKJV

We could always use more kind-hearted people in this world. Kindness for our fellow man is certainly a dying art in this day, but our Lord instructed us to be kind to one another...and what better way to show God's love to the world than to act with kindness.

Today, we pray that Ember would be full of kindness.

Lord, it is Your kindness that leads us to repentance. We are grateful for Your kind actions towards us, and we seek to reflect Your kindness. We admit that kindness is not always easy for us. Some people are just very hard to be kind to. However, we desire to set an example for our daughter. We want to show her how to treat others, so help us to be kind to one another and all those we come in contact with. God, we pray that Ember will learn to act with kindness at an early age, and that people would recognize her kindness and in turn see You in her. May her life be marked by intentional acts of thoughtfulness,  proving that she has within her a selfless heart like Yours. This we pray as we wait for our sweet child to enter into this world.