Prayers for my children...

As I was praying for my sleeping children tonight, I began to pray for their personality traits that often stand out to others as possibly "imperfections" or "downfalls." For instance, Madelyn turned 3 in September and still is not potty trained. I have tried every method suggested by friends and family and read about online only to have epic failures every time. She insists on wearing diapers and when asked if she's a "big girl" or "baby" she will proudly say "I'm a baby." My father-in-law start calling her "diaper girl" to get a reaction out of her and she now refers to herself in this way when she talks to him. She is often thought of as "STUBBORN." Tonight I began praying that God would mold that part of her and form that, if you will, "stubborness" into determination and perserverance. I'm hoping that one day her resistance to authority will flourish into resistance to temptation. We call Palmer our "gentle giant" because he is so large for his age, yet so gentle and tender hearted. We don't even have to as much as raise our voices at him, but only say sternly "Palmer" and as if his bottom lip wasn't already full enough, he sticks it out there even further and lowers his head in sorrow because he knows he's done wrong. I ADORE this about him, however I know that if he continues to be a sensitive guy, growing up he will get made fun of or get taken advantage of. Tonight I prayed that he would be able to keep his tender heart as he becomes a man and that his fear of me and Dave would transfer into a godly fear of the Lord and desire to always obey Him. Ever since I found out I was pregnant with both of my children, I have kept journals for each of them. The journals are gender neutral in appearance because I purchased them so early on. I have been recording my thoughts that I have towards them and write about special moments or milestones of theirs. Tonight as I closed up their journal entries, I just began weeping. My love for them is so deep and I often wish I could just freeze them just as they are, but then I know that they wouldn't be able to become the world changers that they are intended to be.