Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
In our last program, Elizabeth, you talked about the importance of individual prayer. But prayer together as a family is important, too, obviously. Why do you encourage families to set aside time to pray together?

Elizabeth Smith:
Well, one of the reasons that we homeschool is so we can impart our faith to our children. And teaching our children to pray and to be comfortable praying is important. It’s also important for them to see how much we believe in it so that they will follow in our footsteps.

I remember one time, my son lost a very precious toy, and he was frustrated and in tears. And I said, “You know what, let’s just pray about that and see if the Lord won’t show us where it is.” And we stopped and we did. It may not seem like a monumental thing to us, but to my son it was big when that toy turned up. He knew that the Lord had helped him.

Prayer family time also conveys to our children a sense of faith in God and that we are truly trusting Him for the results of what we’re doing in homeschooling. I wanted my children to be able to trust the Lord for the little things and for the small things that happened every day and then for the big things that inevitably happen in every family.

Mike:
Elizabeth, thank you for sharing your insight with our listeners today. Now, next time, we’ll have some practical suggestions for how to develop that family prayer time. And until then, I’m Mike Smith.