Megan is a Young Mom who is currently working on documenting the prayers that her four-year-old recites every day. We spoke to Megan to understand the role of prayer. Below is the summary of what we heard in her own words –
Elisha is a miracle baby, following two miscarriages. Before Elisha, my prayers were more ritual than intimate. I would recite the prayers they taught me in catechism every night before bed. If it was a bad day I would pray the rosary and sleep with it under my pillow. This is how I kept close to God.
It wasn’t until I stood toe to toe with death and destruction that I realized that I needed much more than those rehearsed prayers and religious articles, I needed God.
It was during those miscarriages that I hit rock bottom. The pain and hopelessness of it all finally brought me so low, that like the prodigal son, I realized even the slaves in my Father’s house were better off than me.
What I didn’t realize at the time, was God had sent an army in the middle of the darkness to find me in my lowest of lows. The same God I had forgotten while I went to live my life, had never forgotten me. He was about to send me on a journey up out of rock bottom that would forever change the trajectory of my life.
As I carried Elisha my son in my stomach, there were many days that I wondered would this be our last day together. Never the less I thanked God each day he allowed me to carry him. I also wrote scriptures on each milestone and prophesied using the word of God that Elisha would most certainly not die, but live to declare the works of the Lord.
At my 16- week doctor visit, I was informed that I needed to go to the hospital urgently to get a cerclage (a stitch used to hold your cervix together). I was familiar with this procedure as I had it done with my daughter Claire, who died in a miscarriage. So, you may understand why I reluctantly asked my Doctor “what if I don’t do it.” Her answer, “if you don’t, you will miscarry this baby,”
The next morning as I was being wheeled into the operating room, the song Intentional by Travis Greene came on my Pandora app. He sang “Through the hurt and the pain, I know it’s working for my good… I don’t have to worry, because it’s working for me…He’s intentional, He’s never failing.” As I heard those words, I knew God was with me and we were going to make it.
After the surgery, I was informed that I had already begun dilating and the bag (amniotic sac) carrying Elisha was bulging. With God’s grace, my Doctor was able to push the bag back in and secure a tight stitch (cerclage) to keep him in place. Believe me when I say God is always on time.
The enemy thought he was leaving us for dead but little did he know God was leading us to life. God never once allowed us to be forsaken even in those darkest moments. Instead, he gave us the strength to endure through the night, courage and boldness that only comes from heaven to face our giants, faith to believe him no matter what our situation looked like, and a peace that gave us joy through it all.
I’m not done believing. For the Lord has plans for me…to prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) It’s now Elisha’s turn to believe. It’s his turn to get to know the one who knew him before he was formed in my womb. The one who gave his only son to give us everlasting life, as we accept him as our Lord and Savior.
Elisha is now developing his own personal relationship with God by expressing daily his appreciation for the people and things he has been blessed with. In his book Bedtime Prayers for Little Ones published by Winning Words Project, he shares his bedtime prayers that encourage children to have a personal conversation with God. His book encourages children to pray their own prayers by thanking God for the ones they love. It also includes fruits of the spirit such as patience, peace, and obedience.
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he rescued me from everything I feared.”