"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying..."Every night, before Jonathan goes to bed, Keith and I read a few verses of Scripture with him from his "God Promises" book and pray with him. There are several special people in his life that we pray for every night by name. If we leave someone out, he will remind us once we say "Amen" and we will have to stop and pray for that person. On Christmas Eve, he began praying by repeating the names of people Keith uttered prayer for. Now, when it's time to pray before a meal or especially at night he quickly says "I-me!" and points to himself, meaning HE wants to pray.
Now you have to remember that A) he is not even 3 years old yet, and B) he has a huge speech delay and has only recently begun saying meaningful sounds and forming words. It is a beautiful thing for us to hear him say any word... but to hear him talk to God is the most amazing blessing! When he prays, he squeezes his eyes shut and buries his head in our arms. He speaks quietly and his little voice takes on a whole different sound. He makes little sighs and grunts and murmurs that we cannot understand, and then will occasionally say the name of a loved one very quietly. When he's done, he'll raise his head and say "A" or "Meh" for amen. When we open our eyes, he's grinning from ear to ear and looking at us expectantly.
Most nights, it brings tears of joy and gratitude to my eyes. Each night, I think of Romans 8:26...we don't know what we should pray for or how we should pray...the Holy Spirit prays for us with moanings and groanings that cannot be expressed in words...and the Father that knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying. Listening to Jonathan pray illustrates these verses to me. He doesn't know how to pray... He cannot always express himself in words so he just sighs and grunts and murmurs as he prays, just like the Spirit intercedes for us when we have no words...and I believe our Heavenly Father knows exactly what that sweet 2-year-old is saying.
Tonight, his prayer was something like this (translation in parenthesis.) "Ah (God)....unh...sigh...I-ya (Daddy)...hmmm...Ma-ma...sigh...hmmm...Meh (Miss Mel)...smack...uh...Me-Me (Keith's mom-MeMe)...A! (Amen!) It is humbling to hear your 2-year-old pray for you by name, but even more humbling to think that the Holy Spirit prays for us by name all the time.
