Day 98: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Today we continue our "almost selfish praying". Yesterday, Lauren took the opportunity to pray over her part as mother and today I will pray over my part as Ember's father. Again, this is not for our own benefit. We want to ensure that the role we each play in Ember's life aligns with God's design for godly parents, and that we make the best decisions in molding and shaping our daughter.

Today I  pray for myself, as Ember's father:

Dear Heavenly Father, I am so emotionally confused, feeling so many different things. As I think of myself as a father I reflect on my earthly father that you blessed me with. I pray that I can take his example and add Your Word and guidance to be the best father that I can be for Ember.  Help me to be a real man, following the biblical definitions of a godly husband and father that I am supposed to be. I pray that you give me discernment and discipline to be a good example to my daughter. I know that she should learn of you through her father, who should be the spiritual leader of the home. Show me the things in my life that would cause her to stumble on her path to you. Grant me the knowledge and the insight to make the best decisions for her care and education (with my wife's help of course). I pray that her mother and I would show her a healthy and loving relationship and that she would grow up feeling safe and secure in her home. Show me the times to teach her and the times to allow her to make her own mistakes. Show me the limits of discipline and the power of grace. God I do not feel equipped for this responsibility so I am counting on you to show, lead, and guide me to be the father that Ember so desperately needs. Please grant me these request not for me, God, but for the well being of this beautiful daughter you have blessed me with. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Day 99: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

For the next two days we will be praying almost selfishly, because we are essentially praying for ourselves as Ember's parents. However, this is not for our own benefit. We want to ensure that the role we each play in Ember's life aligns with God's design for godly parents, and that we make the best decisions in molding and shaping our daughter.

Today I  pray for myself, as Ember's mother:

Lord, I am so completely grateful to be given the opportunity to be a mother. I am praying, for Ember's sake, that you will help me to be a good one. Help me to be the woman, wife and mother that I am supposed to be, so that I can be a good example to my daughter. I know that she will learn how to be a godly woman from watching her mother, so show me anything in my life that might hinder her from learning that lesson well. Help me to grow and mature in whatever areas are needed for me to become a fit shepherd for my daughter. Give me the knowledge and the wisdom to make the best decisions for her care and education (with my husband's help and insight of course). I pray that her father and I would model a healthy and loving relationship for her, and that she would grow up feeling safe and secure in her home. Lord teach me how to be a loving caregiver, a creative teacher, and a fair disciplinarian. Help me to know when to hold on and when to let go. Lord, I ask that Ember would not inherit the negative traits of her mother, such as perfectionism, anxiety, and a critical spirit. Help me to deal with those things and not pass them on to my daughter. Give me the strength to bear the load of responsibility that is about to be placed on my shoulders, and lead me and guide me in Your path so that I may show my daughter the way.

Day 100: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

Both Shane and I have a passion for prayer and feel that it is one of the most important disciplines of the Christians life. Over the past year we have seen just how powerful prayer is. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray without ceasing, and we really believe that when we keep open the lines of communication with our Creator, everything changes...our attitude, our perspective, our behavior...everything! We have set our hearts upon becoming increasingly faithful in prayer this year, and we feel a special need to pray for our unborn child. So, today, we start our 100 days of prayer for Ember Faith.

Just as our Lord taught his disciples to pray and just as He prayed in the garden, we begin our prayers for Ember by asking that, above all else, His will be done.

Thank you, Lord, for choosing to bless us with Ember. We surrender her life to you right now and ask that you would have Your perfect will in every part of it. May we always strive to seek Your will for her and for our family. Help us to accept whatever Your will might be and to walk in it continually. We pray that Ember would learn to seek Your will above all else in her life and that she would recognize Your goodness, Your power, and Your ultimate authority. We believe Your promise in Jeremiah 29:11 and we declare it over our daughter:

"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Lord, have Your will and Your way. This is what we pray today as we wait for Ember to arrive. Keep all three of us in the center of Your perfect will. We can not thank you and praise you enough for all that you have done! You have done great things! May we never forget that.

 

Ministry Monday: A New Year, A New Journey & A Spark of Faith

We (The Kings') are in a totally different place then we were last year. So much has changed in our lives over this past year, and we find ourselves here, in 2013, at the beginning of a new journey in life and ministry. We shared about some of the most recent changes in our life in an update post back in November, but today we want to give you a more detailed look at what is possibly the biggest ministry opportunity that we will be taking on this year and for the rest of our lives: the ministry of raising a child.

Back in August, I (Lauren), received the best birthday gift ever, the news that we were finally expecting our first child. After almost 4 years of a heartbreaking struggle with unexplained infertility, it took a little while for the shook and disbelief to wear off. To some extent, we are still reeling from the shock of it all, but we are so happy and excited, and we feel extremely blessed! In November, we discovered that are baby is a precious little girl, and we are anxiously awaiting her arrival in April.

As soon as we found out that we were expecting, we began talking about meaningful names for our new addition. To us, a name is a very special thing, and we wanted our child to have a name that meant something special and reflected how God was at work in our lives and would be in hers as well. So, for our precious little girl, we have chosen the name Ember Faith, our little spark of faith.

Here is the story behind that name:

In early August, before we knew that I was pregnant, we took my 2 younger brothers on a late summer camping trip in the Smoky Mountains. Daniel, who is 9 years old, had never been camping before. So, this was a chance for us to teach him some things about camping and the great outdoors. One of the things that we taught him was how to build a fire and how to cover up the embers of the fire with ashes at night so that it would be easier to build a fire again the next morning. All through the night, the glowing embers of the fire would be stifled beneath a thick layer of ashes, but in the morning, we would dig through the ashes to reveal the faintly glowing embers. Then, we would blow on those embers and watch as the oxygen caused the embers to spark into flame again. We would then add some kindling and more wood until we had a nice morning fire.

Weeks later, as we were thinking of meaningful names for our child, we thought about our love for the mountains and camping and we remembered our recent camping trip. The name Ember popped into my mind, and as soon as I said it out loud, we both fell in love with it. The name Ember Faith, our little spark of faith, would describe perfectly what God had been doing in our lives. He had removed the ashes that were smothering us, and with the breath of His Spirit, He had reignited the embers of our faith. 

Over the past year, our faith has become stronger, we have learned to trust Him more fully, and He heard the desires of our hearts...giving us the opportunity to become parents, an opportunity we thought we might never have.

Today, marks 100 days until Ember Faith is due to arrive, and for the next 100 days, we are going to post prayers for our little girl. We both feel very strongly that this 100 days of prayer for Ember is going to make a huge difference in her life and ours. We welcome all of our family and friends to join us on this journey and pray for us as we begin this very special ministry of forming, shaping and guiding a life entrusted to our care.