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In my life prayer has made all the difference. My prayers are to the God of the Bible, the all-powerful creator of heaven and earth who raised Jesus from the dead. I have an adult child who struggled with various challenges (alcohol, drugs, mental illness, self harm) since adolescence. If you’re like me, I finally realized I had no power to change my child. How do we Iive with the hurt, the sadness and loss that comes with this reality? How do we cope with what we can’t change or fix? How do we not become another victim, losing ourselves along the way? Can we find peace with our pain?

I found peace by surrendering my daughter to God (many times), then I shifted my focus to taking care of myself. There are many ways we can give our children to God and care for ourselves, but the best way for me has been through the practice of prayer.

Today is June 2nd the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. The founder is Judy Douglass. Her theme this year is “Thy Kingdom Come” based on the Lord’s Prayer because we need God’s guidance and help how to pray as parents of troubled children.

What can we do to help our children? Is there anything? I discovered something that made all the difference: Prayer. I’ve experienced many answers I never thought were possible. I also found some great books that helped me pray. I included them at the end of this post for you. And on this day (or any day of the year) you can submit your child’s first name to the Prayer for Prodigals website and many will pray for them, today and all year long. Send their first name to: hope@hopeforhurtingparents.com and we will submit it for you. OR you can join the website yourself and add a request anytime. Go to: prayerforprodigals.com and follow the prompts.

12 Step recovery programs encourage struggling family members to pray. Every meeting ends with The Lord’s Prayer. My Judeo-Christian faith encourages me to do this too.

Philippians 4: 6 (NIV) encourages me to pray about anything that’s on my heart: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Prayer is my way of letting go, of surrendering what I have no control over. How could I do that? With God’s help. He is my source of hope and strength. And I can trust him because I know he loves my child even more than I ever could.

I believe prayer is the most powerful force in the universe, one that is often untapped. We tend to pray as a last resort, after we have tried everything else. However, there is no magic formula to get the results we desire. Prayer does not remove our child’s free will, or their ability to choose, but in my life, prayer has made the difference. My intercessions have not forced my daughter to do anything she did not want to do, but they have been a mighty resource of help and hope.

ASK OTHERS TO PRAY

One of things I did was to ask others to pray with me for my daughter. I knew I needed help. Many friends who cared about me and about her joined in praying. Maybe thousands. I will probably never know. But what I do know is that I have seen God move. Their prayers accomplished amazing outcomes. I credit prayer with saving her life more than once. She’s had many close calls: Near overdoses. Car accidents. Severe cutting incidences. Mixing alcohol and drugs. Dangerous predators. I believe the power of prayer is the sole reason she is still alive today … and she agrees. God protected her from great harm. Bad things did happen, but through the intercessions of many people, she survived and I was able to cope with what I thought I never could. Friends, I have seen miracles only God could do.

Through prayer my daughter found hope. I did too. Prayer kept her from giving up and ending her life. Prayer brought loving, caring, compassionate people into her world who sacrificed themselves on her behalf: Counselors. Emergency room nurses. Teachers in high school. Kind strangers. Faithful friends and mentors. God did the impossible. Every need was met. Counseling. Safe places to live. Several stints in rehab. And most of all – hope.

PRAYER WAS THE CATALYST

Prayer is the catalyst behind God’s care and provision for His people.

Prayer brought about many more unexpected blessings:

• Finding purpose for the pain – for my daughter, for me, and for our whole family.
• My daughter wrote a book – Purpose for The Pain  (a collection of Renee’s journal entries).
• A faith-based support group for hurting parents (we started our first group in 2009).
• A new ministry my husband and I began (2011): Hope for Hurting Parents.
• Hope for Hurting Parents support groups expanded all over the country (in over 24 states), in a few other countries, and online.
• A Facilitator Guide and Parent Notebook in English and Spanish that we published to help others start support groups, plus a team to assist them.
• I wrote a book – You Are Not Alone: Hope for Hurting Parents of Troubled Kids and a companion study guide
• My husband wrote a book – Moments of Clarity: Wisdom from the Father of a Prodigal.

photo cred. ktmd entertainment on unsplash

Dear brokenhearted parent, if you haven’t talked to God in a long time you might want to give it a try again. He cares deeply about you and your child. He loves to hear from his children, the same way we do. Come to Him today. He’s waiting. His arms are open wide.

These are a few books that helped me pray for my daughter when I didn’t know how to anymore. More are listed on our website. You can also go to this confidential, password-protected website to post prayer requests and find still more resources: prayerforprodigals.com

Stormie Omartian’s books:  The Power of a Praying Parent and The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children

Prayers for Parents of Prodgials by Linda Clare

How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones by Dutch Sheets

Praying Prodigals Home by Q. Sherrer and R. Garlock

Praying for Your Addicted Loved One by Sharron Cosby

Praying the Scriptures for Your Teenagers by J. Berndt

A final word from the holy Scriptures about prayer:

“. . . pray . . . on all occassions, with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18) NIV