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.

Knitting Our Hearts Together in Prayer for Our Kids

By Rhonda VanderPloeg

Arizona State Coordinator

The bulletin ad read, “Come to a Moms In Touch Informational; a new group is forming for Blue Star Elementary School.” My heart did a little leap. I knew this was God’s answer to my pleas to teach me to pray and to be a wise mother. Soon our home was the meeting place for this new prayer group in Holland, Michigan. I found myself discovering the Lord in a whole new way as we focused on one of His attributes each week. The short, focused prayers drew me closer to God’s heart. I also enjoyed the support of other moms, and saw my children and school impacted by God’s power to answer prayer.

Since that time in 1994, Moms In Touch International has been a constant in my life. When the Lord moved our family to Arizona in 2003, I expected to again pray in a Moms In Touch group. Sadly, I soon realized that most moms in my area had never even heard of Moms In Touch. They were missing the joy of seeing God’s power through corporate prayer at work in their children’s lives.

Ready or not, I was drafted by the Holy Spirit to start the first group for our new school. Renewed passion burned in my heart for this ministry. I had a vision like never before. I wanted to share this power with other moms and spread MITI throughout my entire state.

What a privilege and thrill to be Arizona’s State Coordinator. I love to see firsthand how the Lord works in so many lives through the discovery of this simple prayer format that knits our hearts together for the sake of our kids before the throne of grace.

Rhonda VanderPloeg, Arizona State Coordinator, lives in Mesa. She has been married since 1984 and has five children from elementary school to young adults. She loves to discover and learn about God’s creation during quiet moments hiking in the desert.

What is YOUR Moms In Touch story? 
Click on POST A COMMMENT below to share. 

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!