On prayer

Over the past ten years, I have off and on followed a prayer structure suggested by Kent Ostby, a dear friend of ours and my Bible study leader when I was fresh out of college. The list is broken down into a daily list and then lists for every day of the week. On the daily list, I pray for several people, including my family: Josh, myself, and my kids. For years I have prayed that my kids would be obedient as I find myself stressing out over some of their behavior and choices. Then one day recently I realized something: I need to pray that I would be obedient and that I would change MY attitude! For all these years, I have tried to control my kids...during this prayer time I realized that I can't do that! That's God's job. My job is to love them and show them Jesus and...to be open to God working on my heart and their hearts. I've often thought what is the point of prayer if God knows everything anyway? I think this is one of the purposes of prayer. God shapes us and makes us see the truth in our lives. Although I'm still praying that my kids would know and follow God their whole lives, I have started praying that God will change MY heart towards my husband, children and general outlook on life. How's that for a plank in my own eye? :)