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| Author Tricia Goyer. |
Recently, I emailed with Tricia about her book and about how she encourages her six children to grow their own prayer lives.
Kristina: What inspired you to write Prayers that Change History?
Tricia: I've been a homeschooling mom
for many years, and one of my favorite things is reading about historical
heroes. Through the years I was amazed by how many historical stories involved
prayer. For example, did you know that three days before Christopher Columbus
found land his crew revolted and wanted to turn around? Columbus prayed about
it and felt impressed to ask for three more days. And it was on the third day
that they found land. I started collecting these stories, and soon I knew it
had to be a book! Yet I not only wanted to share these historical stories, but
my goal also became to teach children how to pray themselves. That excites me!
Kristina: Me, too! One of the things I like about Prayers is that it includes discussion questions that have really helped my children look closely at how they can improve not just their prayer life, but their walk with God. Would you share your
favorite historical story from the book?
Tricia: That's like trying to choose a favorite child!
There are so many great ones, but today I've been thinking a lot about Florence
Nightingale. As a young teenager Florence was praying and felt God's call. Her
journal says, “On February 7th, 1837, God spoke to me and called me
to his service.” She had no idea what that was, but she worried about doing it
as a married woman so she even turned down a marriage proposal.
Years later she felt drawn to nursing, but it wasn't a
suitable profession at the time. Nurses were known to be largely unskilled,
uneducated and heavy drinkers. Her parents were horrified. Florence left London
to serve in Russia with an army unit. She was horrified by how the injured were
treated, especially because the main cause of deaths in the Army wasn't from
wounds, but from infection. For the remainder of her life Florence worked to
transform nursing practices. Even today those practices are followed it ever
nurse today learns and recites the Nightingale Pledge.
I love that story because one young girl prayed for God to
use her. She continued to pray over the years
for God to show her His call. Once she knew the call, she prayed for
help and wisdom. Because of her prayers nursing practices were changed … and
aren't we all thankful?!
Kristina: What an amazing example of how children and teens are important to God and can really make a difference if they are focused on him. Do you have an example of how
prayer changed your personal history?
Tricia: Yes! In 1989 I was a pregnant teenager. My boyfriend was out
of the picture. I had just rededicated my life to God, and I knew I wanted to
have a different life. I wanted to go a different direction than the one I'd
been going. I started praying. I prayed for a future husband—someone who would
love me and my son. I thought it would take years for my prayers to be answered
but God answered right away. I started dating the pastor's son after my son was
born and we were married when Cory was 9 months old. We've been married for
twenty-five years and we have six children and we're in the process of adopting
four more. I was praying for a father to my son, and God had exceedingly more than
I asked for or imagined. I love how God does that. And that is just one story
of answered prayer. God has done so much more!
Kristina:
How do you encourage the prayer life of your six children?
Tricia: We pray together as a family every night before bed. We
started with the youngest and go to the oldest. John and I pray for each child
by name. Also, in the mornings John and I have quiet time together before he
goes to work. The kids see us reading our Bible and praying together. This time
is special to us, but we also feel it's an important example for the kids to
see. Kids model what they see.
Kristina: So you and your husband lead by example. Can you give us more insight into how this works?
Tricia: For my family, we try to pray throughout the day. We pray
when we see an accident on the road. We pray when we are having bad attitudes
(both the kids and I). We pray over our meals. We pray about many things. By
modeling prayer we can teach that prayer changes everything.
It's also important to read stories about people who have
prayed. Biographies of Christian missionaries and Bible stories are important.
When we see how God answers other people's prayers then we have faith that He
will answer our prayers, too!
Of course prayer isn't just about asking for things. We also
pray prayers of thanksgiving. My kids keep gratitude journals and every few
days we write down a one-sentence prayer of something we're thankful for.
Kristina: Thank you, Tricia, for sharing with us. And thanks for your encouraging new book!
Kristina: Thank you, Tricia, for sharing with us. And thanks for your encouraging new book!
Prayers that Changed History is available from Amazon for $9.83 (paperback) or $7.99 (Kindle).
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