“Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for all the members of our new family. Although we may not be joined by blood, we are brought together through the sacred covenant of marriage.
In this new phase of our family, we are expecting that there will be growing pains. All members have to adjust to new lifestyles, situations and authority. Help our members love each other as the family that we are. Help us to accept each other and encourage the good character qualities that the Lord has placed within each of us. Help us to diminish the qualities that will hold any of us back from the blessings that God has for each of us. Allow us to be a supernatural support system for each other.
We know that satan will try and exploit our vulnerabilities as we are learning how to live together. We choose to dedicate this blended family to God. In this, we are making a stand that the ways of the Lord are the rules of the home.
We will work in love, not strife. We will work in truth because the truth will set us free to deal with our issues and problems immediately, before they have a chance to settle into bad behaviors or unbridled emotions.
Lord, give us as parents the wisdom to deal with each individual personality in the best way possible. Show us how to guide each child into being their own unique individuality that you have created them to be, under the blessing of following your instruction for discipline.
Bless us with the ability to correct and discipline with an attitude of love and protection. We know that it is better for our children to experience the pain of discipline at home, under a safe place and in a loving way, than for them to experience discipline in society.
Our goal as a family is to take these two separate homes and create a new home. This home will be a haven of safety and warm refuge for the cold world.
Guide us to lead our children into a deep and intimate relationship with you, that way when they leave this home, they will be firmly grounded in the foundations that will set them up for a life of success.
We know that your way Lord is not the easy way. We are deciding today to not take the easy route, but to follow the will of the Lord because this will reap big dividends for our children’s future and the generations to come.
Our temporary discomfort is an investment in the future and this is what we will anchor ourselves in when times get rough.
Today, we are dedicating our house and the lives in it to you, Lord. Thank you for the gift of marriage, children and family. We give ours back to you, trusting that the Lord’s arms are the safest where place all of our most precious gifts could reside.
In Jesus’ precious name, blend this new family together in perfect godly harmony, and give us as parents the patience to trust that you will do what we cannot do. Amen.”
Author: Julia Shalom Jordan