In a previous blog post I talked about how, for me, parenting for faith meant praying for my kid before he was even conceived. I prayed for his future, his health, for everything about him. And then when I got pregnant I carried on praying! (Click here if you want to read the whole post.)
I think that pregnancy, or the time leading up to an adoption, is the most amazing time to get spiritually ready for parenthood, a time for seeking God and drawing close to Him as you get ready for your family to expand. So, I’m delighted to be able share with you a fantastic resource that can help you on that journey.
It’s called Prayer Journey into Parenthood, written by Claire Daniel and it’s designed to go alongside you on the journey to parenthood. It’s a devotional guide with Bible reflections and prayers and space for writing your own notes. You could work through it from beginning to end or use the contents and pick and choose themes.
The themes include things like, ‘what’s in a name?’, ‘are you prepared’ and ‘the best person for the job’. They go from the first positive pregnancy test throughout the journey of pregnancy, or preparation to foster or adopt, right into early parenthood. They are such good, relevant themes and wonderfully written devotionals and I know I would have loved to have had a linked bible verse and prayer guidance to look at each day throughout my pregnancy.
I’m a very reflective person so I think the questions in the devotionals are fantastic. Things like, ‘Is there someone you can invite to pray for you and your unborn baby at this time?’, ‘What is stopping you from embracing all the excitement and joy of your journey through pregnancy?’ or ‘Does your faith ‘show’ to the world, like your baby bump?’ So many of my friends have said that pregnancy and early parenthood are the times where they have had the most faith questions and I know that I was so constantly in awe of the incredible nature of pregnancy that it had a profound impact on my faith. This book provides opportunities to think deeper and explore faith in relation to pregnancy and parenthood and gives guidance on where to look in the Bible and ideas for what questions to ask yourself or what to reflect on. It could be done individually or could be used for couples to pray together.
It would also be a great keepsake to look back over with your kid when they’re older to talk about what it was like preparing for them, or to look back on the next time you’re going to be welcoming a child into your family.
So, if you, or someone you know, is expecting a baby then I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to you! Particularly if you’re like me and love having a little prompt to reflect but don’t always manage to find consistent time to do it. This is the perfect resource for sitting down for a more leisurely moment with a cup of tea (baby bump stage) to have a read or for reading whilst you brush your hair (early parenthood stage, if you’re lucky enough to find time to brush your hair!) Also, practically, it’s spiral-bound which is a big tick for me as it can be written in easily and it can be left open on a page to come back to later.
If you like the sound of it then you can click here to go and order yourself (or someone else) a copy.
I use affiliate links in some of my blog posts. This means that if you click through and buy something I earn a small commission at no extra cost to yourself. Thank you so much for your support.
0 Comments