The past couple of years I have been contemplating the power of prayer. God seeks for us to be close to Him, and we primarily communicate with Him through our prayers.

When we pray, God wants us to be specific in our prayers. If we follow Him, he wishes to give us the desires of our hearts. What does your heart desire? One of the things I very much desire for my family is for my children to grow up and marry men and women who love and seek to follow after God with all their hearts.

Do you know that some mothers pray for their children's future spouses from the time they are born? Why would you want to do that? Think about it. Out there, somewhere, is the future wife or husband of your son or daughter. God knows who your child will marry. Will your prayers really affect who your child will marry?

Of course your child will ultimately decide who he or she will marry. What is important is that your children understand what an important decision it is to choose a life partner, so that they will not make this decision lightly. Tell your children you are praying for them. Pray with your children so that they know what it is that you wish for their lives. When your children are old enough to date, encourage them to pray about the people they spend time with. My teenage daughter and I also talk about what her future husband might be like, and we talk about good and not-so-good qualities in a future spouse. There are certain qualities about people she knows she could never live with, like men who have short tempers or are not good managers of their money. She knows she wants to marry someone who loves God, and who wants to raise a family as much as she does.

We all want what is best for our children, and the person they choose to be their spouse is perhaps the most important choice they will ever make. That decision should be theirs, but if you pray for them God will hear your prayers and will help to prepare your child's heart and the heart of their future wife or husband for the marriage that God has intended for them.