Why We Pray for Our Children’s Future Spouse

Each day, Mike and I pray for our children…for their development, health and happiness. As we think to the future and what it may bring, we include their marriages in the list of hopes and dreams that we have for them. Just as we pray for our own relationship and growth with one another, we also pray for each of our children and the people that they will one day marry.

Here is why we pray for our children’s future spouse.

We Pray for Their Family Relationships

Children are products of their environments. Mike and I work to ensure that our children are growing up in a happy, loving home. Our hope is that our kids’ future spouses are having that same experience; that their home lives are full of laughter and love, security and strength…empowering them to create the same one day for their families. By praying for that kind of life for our children’s future spouses, we are asking God to provide them a solid foundation that will lead to a lifetime of love and ultimately a strong marriage.

We Pray for Their Education

We pray that each of our children’s future spouses is receiving a nurturing education. The academic foundation that they are setting now will help to foster their interests and talents and will make them successful one day in the working world. Just as we are working to develop our children’s work ethics, we hope that each of our children’s future spouses’ families are doing the same. By asking God to watch over their educational upbringings, we are asking Him to help set the building blocks that will make for successful lives in adulthood.

We Pray for Their Friendships

The friendships that we have, regardless of age, affect the people that we are. If we surround ourselves with friends who make good, ethical choices, then it is easy for us to make the same, sound decisions. If, however, we are surrounded by people making not as good decisions, we are more likely to follow that path.

We pray that our children’s future husbands or wives have strong, supportive friendships that help them to make good decisions throughout their lives. These friendships that they build will help to develop the people that they will become. By asking God to put good friends in their paths, then we are praying for their ability to form solid relationships.

We Pray for Their Emotional Well-Being

There are so many factors that lead to a strong emotional state: security in their families, the knowledge that they are important and worthy of love and a strong sense of self are among them. We pray that our future son and daughters-in-law are developing their emotions in ways that will help them to overcome challenges and persevere, making them strong, confident people.

We also pray that within their emotional well-being that they will learn their own love language and how to communicate in a healthy and effective way. By asking God to watch over their emotional well-being, we are asking him to set the foundation for this important part of a loving, healthy marriage.

We Pray for Their Relationship with God

Developing our children’s relationships with God is the biggest responsibility that we have as their parents. In Proverbs 22:6 it states “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Children learn mostly by example from those they spend the most time with.

In our family we have chosen the path of homeschooling so I can be at home teaching and loving our children with God’s love. Our hope (and prayer) is that our children’s future spouses are receiving that same upbringing…that they are learning to love God and to have Him in their lives.

We know that God’s love will be one of the most important parts of our children’s future marriages. We will continue to pray that their future spouses enter marriage with that same belief and conviction. 

Carlie Kercheval

This post first appeared on Fulfilling Your Vows™.