Prayers for the Mother of the Groom

Almost every Christian mother of a son will face the day he and his beloved burst through the door with grins and dreams and a shiny ring on her finger. From that moment on, life becomes a blur of to-do lists, calendar negotiations, fancy meals, and dressing rooms. We hope for blissful bonding times with our daughter-in-law to be, bestowing formal blessings on our son as he prepares to move on, and a little pampering for ourselves as the day approaches. The reality is often far from the vision as we attempt to weave those ideals into our already hectic schedules, and deal with the people who make them hectic. Before we know it, the momentous day is a memory, and we have barely thought about praying over anything other than the meals.

After my first son’s wedding came and went in the way described above, I began to be convicted about my lack of prayer support for him and his bride during their engagement. The spirit was willing, but frankly, the flesh just didn’t have focus. I needed help. So I looked and looked, typing every keyword I could think of into the Amazon search engine that might reveal some hidden jewel of a prayer guide for mothers facing a child’s wedding. Then my daughter’s wedding came and went. By the time my youngest son was engaged a year later, I had given up on finding a practical guide intended to cover the sacred ceremony in prayer. So I began to write one.

Each of my children’s weddings was decidedly different: one was an outdoor destination wedding, one in an historical venue, and one in our home church. While the festivities and stressors were still fresh in my mind, I brainstormed a list of topics, including things that were successful and things that went horribly wrong. The subjects fell pretty neatly into six loose categories: planning, relationships, spirituality, daily living, individuals, and execution. The details just spilled onto the page as I began writing prayers which included everything from physical and spiritual protection, to adequate parking and dealing with difficult people. Several days are simply intended as a breather for praise and thanksgiving. Several days still make me cry when I read them. Every day brings the reader before the Lord, full of anticipation for how he will answer our entreaties, empowered to live as a tool of reconciliation in this lost world.

The purpose of Prayers for the Mother of the Groom is to remind Christian moms who are facing a son’s engagement to start where we’ve been taught to start since the first time we folded our hands and bowed our heads — kneeling before the throne of grace. The daily prayers serve as a guide, an encouraging voice of someone with similar experience, and a focal point for the worries, praises, and requests which come while facing the mysterious and sacred once-in-a-lifetime event.

 “I regard no man as poor who has a godly mother.” – Abraham Lincoln

Through daily topical prayers, Prayers for the Mother of the Groom gives the Christian mom a tool to help organize her jumbled thoughts, maintain an eternal perspective, and display a Christ-honoring demeanor throughout the engagement and the wedding day itself.

The heightened awareness of a mom’s need to pray fervently and effectively is never greater than the days and weeks before her child makes the biggest commitment of his life. Even those moms who measure their spiritual disciplines as lacking may come to a crisis of conscience when they realize the lion’s share of their time to influence their son is coming to an end. Prayers for the Mother of the Groom answers the call of the Christian mother to cover her son in prayer during those fleeting days before he says “I do.”

Traci Matt is also the author of two best-selling homeschooling titles available at Amazon.

http://mommynificent.com/2016/12/22/booknificent-thursday-179/