Perhaps if you are reading this you are a grandmother.  Or maybe you know a grandmother, or are married to a grandmother, or fondly remember your own grandmother.  Whatever your situation, we invite you along with us to be involved in the lives of grandchildren.   God has placed in our hearts a passion and vision to pray for the next generation so that it may be one of strong character and great faith.  We so desire that you join us in this journey.

Over a year ago, the three of us sat down together to consider how God could use us in the lives of our grandchildren.  We were all relatively new Grandmothers, but each had the same passion - to pass on a legacy of genuine faith.  Similar to the description in II Timothy 1:5 “I have been reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your Grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice,” we wanted to fan the flames of faith in the coming generations. 

Like so many grandparents today, we don’t live near most of our grandchildren.  Interacting with them frequently isn’t possible.  Yet, we all desired to have a daily influence on them.  We decided this could be accomplished through intentional prayer.  Thus, the idea of a daily devotional prayer book specifically for grandmothers was birthed. 

The story of this book actually began earlier when the Lord led one of the authors to pray through the book of Proverbs for the character development of her grandchildren.  As the three of us discussed this practice and studied the book of Proverbs, we realized that while these verses contained directives by which to live, it is ultimately the inward working of God’s grace which manifests itself as godly character.  With this as our foundation, we spent time individually and together identifying those character traits we desired the Lord to develop in our grandchildren as found in the Book of Proverbs.  After compiling a list of traits and grouping them into twelve categories – one for each month, we asked the Lord to guide and direct our prayers.

It was exciting, yet sobering, to realize that if we prayed “effective and fervent prayers” on behalf of our grandchildren, that our sovereign and good God promised to hear those prayers and answer them. As the Lord gave form to our prayers, He also gave us the desire to reinforce the development of the character traits through applications.  Thus, on each day’s entry, we have a verse from Proverbs, a prayer specific to that verse, and an application that is the practical working out of that truth. 

We know there are limitations to the prayers and activities as written.  It proved too awkward to write each prayer for both grandsons and granddaughters, and so we alternated.  One day, our prayers utilize the feminine pronouns for our grandchildren and the next day, the male pronouns.  The prayers, however, are designed for both boys and girls.  We encourage the reader to pray the prayer on behalf of a grandchild, perhaps inserting the grandchild’s name.

We also realize that in our variety of applications some may be more appropriate for younger children and others for those that are older.  Each application is meant to be a jumpstart for the reader’s own creativity.  We acknowledge and delight in the diversity of our readers, and would encourage them to adapt the application section to their unique locations and resources. 

In categorizing the character traits, we recognized that often there was overlap of two or three characteristics contained in a single verse.  The reader may think that a verse categorized in “Gracious” might be more appropriate in “Wisdom.”  We wrestled with this dilemma, prayed through the verses, and made the best decisions we could.  We are well aware, however, that others might have chosen differently.  

We are three very ordinary women; three grandmothers who believe in the faithfulness of God.  Our hearts’ desire is simply and profoundly to implore the Lord to equip the next generations to stand strong in their faith.  While we want our grandchildren to know that we are praying for them – regularly, specifically, fervently; we want even more that they know our God is the One who will hear and act on their behalf.  It is our earnest prayer that our grandchildren have a personal faith in Jesus Christ which will equip them to be godly men and women able to influence the world with the gospel.    

We pray for you, dear reader, a sense of God’s presence and leading as these prayers are uttered on behalf of this next generation.  We pray that your own faith will be strengthened and that you will experience God’s blessings.  Finally, we pray that God would enable us all to leave a legacy of faith so that He might be honored and glorified.  May we proclaim together Psalm 89:1-2:  “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.  I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.”