Showing posts with label Four Steps of Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Four Steps of Prayer. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Praying in a MITI Group Changed Her Life, Helped Her Mothering and Improved Her Quiet Times


By a MITI Mom in Greece

Using the MITI Four Steps of Prayer has changed my life and redeemed my mothering. My first experience with Moms In Touch was in the fall of 1995 in Belgium. At the time, my children were 9 and 5 years old. The previous five years of my mothering journey had been especially challenging. 

At the International Chapel, I learned about the Four Steps of Prayer and praying in one accord using the Word of God. While I did not feel comfortable praying out loud at first, I could feel the Spirit move me when the other mothers would pray for the group’s children. I marveled at how Scripture had so much to say about every concern I had for my children. I learned how God cares so deeply for my children and how much He wants them to belong to Him and walk in His paths.

Spending concentrated time in Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving and Intercession every week, I soon started praying similar steps during my private devotional time. As I searched the Word for praise passages, I discovered more about God’s character and names. I could focus more on who God is and less on my concerns. Thanksgiving, with a focus on a grateful heart, was an antidote to my concerns. Praying short prayers of thanksgiving during the day helped to retrain my thinking and lifted my spirit. Scripture replaced old “tapes” of distorted thinking and gave my mind something true and beautiful to reflect upon.

Intercession for my children became a way to heal my mothering. I knew that I was not a perfect mom, just a mom who imperfectly loved her kids and was throwing herself at God’s feet in praying for her kids. I prayed for myself too, asking God to strengthen me and guide me as a mom. I felt so weak in many ways, yet I knew that God was strong and loved my kids with a perfect love. Encountering so many different situations where I did not have the wisdom or power to face, I could lift my kids up to the One who had all wisdom and power, and who could make all things work for good in my kids' lives.

God also used prayer to heal my relationships with other mothers. The process of raising children in a culture different from the one in which I was raised was an isolating experience at times. I felt that there were few women with whom I could truly relate who shared the same sense of motherhood in regards to spiritual stewardship.

God would prove me wrong when, as praying mothers, He wove us together as we became transparent with one another and with God during our prayer time. Our hearts entwined as we prayed for each other’s children. Moms from abroad supported us in prayer and we discovered that the heart of mothers beat the same for their children all over the world.

During my years of praying for children and schools here in Greece and the challenges our youth faced, I developed a heart of mercy toward the struggles of my Greek sisters. My passion increased in spreading the word that God loves them with an everlasting love, that He is intimately concerned with their mothering and that He wishes to partner with them in raising their children.

God used Moms In Touch and the process of praying with other mothers for our children and schools, to heal so much in my life. He has taken my struggles and concerns for my kids and continuously taught me how to surrender. He transformed my desire for solutions to challenges into a passion for prayer and for God Himself. This is a gift that will remain with me no matter what season of motherhood I find myself in. I have the assurance that in all circumstances, God is present with His everlasting love and sovereignty.

Friday, June 3, 2011

A Lasting Gift for Her Graduate

By Szonja Rozsa
A MITI mom from Chelsea, Michigan

I have been a MITI mom from the time my children were in preschool, and they are now both in college.

Two years ago, as my daughter was preparing to graduate from high school and then to turn 18, I had the strong desire to give her something meaningful and lasting to acknowledge these two significant events in her life.

After thinking for a while, I remembered a challenge I heard many years ago at a Moms In Touch International conference: "What legacy do you want to/will you leave your children?" This question and the talk it was part of made a great impact on me and the direction our family took as we raised our children. I remained a stay-at-home mom and led a MITI group (and was an Area Coordinator) for many years.

I certainly saw no greater gift I could leave for my children than the legacy of praying God's word for them.

Now I realized, I needed to share those prayers with my daughter.

I decided to purchase a Bible with wide margins, and I embarked on the huge task of highlighting and dating every scripture I prayed for her over 14 years, writing the personalized prayers on the margins of the Bible. (I am soooo thankful for those weekly prayer sheets that I saved through the years!)

Well, I was NOT finished by the time graduation and her birthday came, but I did wrap up the Bible, telling her that it was a gift I had been working on since she was a little girl. She had grown up knowing about our weekly prayer time, the Four Steps of Prayer, the women who prayed for her regularly and the fact that I was praying not only for her daily practical needs but also claiming scripture for her. Still, she was puzzled about what the gift could be—until she opened it.

It took me almost two years to finish. When she came home for Easter this year, I was finally ready to give her the Bible, with all the highlights, dates and prayers in it.


In God’s perfect and sovereign plan, the week before Easter, the chapel speaker at my daughter's college talked to the students about praying scripture for people. Many of the girls in my daughter's small group and on her hall had never heard of this before! They were so excited about it, talking among themselves how they would start praying scripture, even for their future children. My daughter was sharing with me how surprised she was to hear that not all moms/parents pray scripture for their children. She grew up assuming this is what everyone does.

As she started to flip through her "finished" Bible, very soon tears started rolling down her face. Later that night as I went to tuck her in, she told me that when I first gave her the Bible after her graduation, she did not really appreciate it much, but now, as she was reading the verses and the prayers, she saw that so many of them have already been answered. She was overwhelmed by the Lord's faithfulness and love to her through the answers she has already experienced.


Thank you, Moms In Touch International, for your ministry to so many of us and thank you for your prayers and commitment to continue to call, encourage and train moms to pray in this most effective and eternally meaningful way!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Blessed to Pray in a MITI Group ... No Matter in Which State or Country God Has Us

By Stacey Antolik
Georgia State Coordinator


MITI is like some of the most popular fast food establishments. No matter where you go in the world, you can expect the same happy meal. 

The Four Steps of Prayer include praying Scripture—the bread of life—like the meat and potatoes. Praying in one accord with one or more moms is like the seasoning of salt, which enhances the flavor of what is offered. The beverage is the safe environment of pouring out our hearts like water in the presence of the Lord. 

I have had the privilege of praying in groups and serving in leadership in Georgia, Florida and now back in Georgia. With every MITI group, I receive the same happy meal—each with a slightly different flavor, but with the same basic ingredients.

No matter where we live, God uses our prayers to impact our children, schools and the next generation. My theme verses are Psalms 78:6-7, “ … so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”

As Georgia State Coordinator, I have a passion to share this life-changing ministry one mom at a time to impact others worldwide for Christ! My prayer is that you will join in this army of praying moms.
Click here to read a testimony from your State Coordinator.

Have YOU experienced how praying in a MITI group is the same no matter where you live? If so, we'd love to hear! Just click "Comment" below and hit "Preview" when done.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

From Desperation to Hope

By Bev Romans
Heartland Regional Director
Moms In Touch International

School concerns were troubling me, as my distraught second-grader hated going to class each morning. My heart was heavy, and I knew something had to change—for him and for me. As I explored various options during that difficult season, God allowed me to hear about Moms In Touch International (MITI), and I sensed this was His direction. 

So, in the fall of 1989, with two sons just starting third grade and kindergarten, and with trembling knees and a desperate heart, the first MITI group in our community began. Feeling totally “unqualified” to lead a prayer group, I was right where God wanted me to be—dependent on Him.

As God showed me the need for my sons and their school, He taught me how to pray in praise, silent confession, thanksgiving and intercession, and how to pray in one accord with others. Not all our groups’ prayers were answered in ways we expected or on our time schedule, but my heart was being made more malleable as I continued to call out to God alongside like-minded moms. 

It became obvious that this God who called me to pray was faithful to all His promises. His faithfulness carried my son (and me) not only through elementary school, but successfully through college and into a career in the area of his giftedness.

In 2002, God nudged me to step into the Area Coordinator position in north central Kansas where I could encourage others to pray. A few years later, He called me to serve as the first Kansas State Coordinator, and I am currently the Heartland Regional Director. 

What an incredible GIFT to see God moving across the Heartland in answer to the prayers of moms who humble their hearts to cry out to Him for the lives of their children! My prayer has become that others, too, will experience the gifts of peace, hope and joy that God gives through prayer in a MITI group.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

How has praying the Four Steps of Prayer with other moms impacted your life? We'd love to hear! Just click "Comment" below. When done, hit "Preview."

Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Best Use of My Time

By Pam Imig
Wyoming State Coordinator
Moms In Touch International

In 1998, our older daughter started seventh grade. I had always been an attentive volunteer parent, but that changed in junior high school. Volunteers were no longer welcome on a regular basis in the classrooms, and, as a parent, I did not feel needed or wanted. This sense that I could no longer protect my child from what was being taught was especially hard with my first child. I felt disconnected and out of touch.

One day a friend invited me to join her Moms In Touch group. I had never heard of Moms In Touch International, but quickly realized what an amazing blessing to pray weekly with other Christian moms for our children and schools. I found a way to connect with my daughter’s school through prayer, and I learned how to trust God with my children as they grew—to trust that He loved them so much more than I ever could, and He would guide them.

Praying through the Four Steps of Prayer each week—Praise, silent Confession, Thanksgiving and Intercession—helped relieve my fears and focus my prayers in hope as we prayed Scripturally. Peace came! Answers came! Wisdom came! I prayed for my children to control their tongues, and God began to help me control mine! Everyone in my family has been touched, changed and blessed by God through this ministry of prayer.

Throughout the years our group grew, divided and reached out to form new groups. Years later, and now as State Coordinator, I have a passion to encourage other women to persevere in prayer for children and schools. I agree with MITI Founder Fern Nichols when she says the best thing a mom can do is “spend consistent prayer time with God.” Please join us. It just takes one other mom to start.

As you come together in corporate prayer for your own children and for the children and staff at their school, you will see why so many moms have found the MITI hour of prayer to be the best use of their time.

To read a testimony from YOUR local area, click here.

We'd love to know what God's doing in your life through Moms In Touch International! Click "Comment" below. Then hit "Preview."