My biggest prayer for our kids

I listend to this on my run with the kids this morning 

and the words remind me of one of the verses that is some of my biggest prayers for my kids:

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8. 

My prayer is that they would taste and see that the Lord is good at a young age and then over and over again throughout their growing up years so when they are faced with other things the world tries to offer them for satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, or purpose they won't even have an appetite for it because they have already tasted and seen that the Lord is soooooo good to them.

This verse and prayer is so near and dear to my heart because it is probably the one thing that eventually saved me when I started to taste and see what the world had to offer me.  I grew up in church and genuinely experienced the Lord's love and presence in my life. I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and felt the power of Him.  I went to camps and youth group and retreats. I read my bible and journaled about it. 

Then after high school I got involved with an unsaved guy and made some poor decisions in our "relationship" and found myself in a place I never imagined myself in.  I refer to it as my rebellious wandering phase simply because I knew what I was doing. I knew I shouldn't. I knew it wasn't right. But I did it anyway. 

When the fun ran out and the sinful decisions actually caught up with me, those experiences I had growing up of "tasting and seeing that the Lord was good" was what brought me back to the Lord. It wasn't someone giving me advice. It wasn't someone telling me I was making bad choices. It wasn't someone preaching to me. It wasn't a worship service. It simply was my background of experiencing our good, good God in the past and wanting that again. Sin is fun for a while. But eventually the consequences catch up with you. And It wasn't so good anymore. But God is always good. After tasting and seeing what the world offers, I went running desperately back to the Lord. Thankfully he is a grace filled forgiving loving God who always welcomes us with open arms.  

So that's what I pray for my kids 1. That maybe they won't ever have to see the hard way that the world isn't worth pursuing for goodness, but if they do 2. That they would have those experiences of "tasting and seeing that the Lord is good" to fall back on and lead them back to Jesus. 

Right now they're 3 and 1 so I just look crazy to them as a I pray these things out loud as we run. But someday they'll appreciate it, just like I thank God now for all the time my parents spent on their knees for me. I probably thought they were crazy too, and now I'm joining the crazy club :)