My sister-in-law, Gwendy, passed along this great idea to encourage us in raising a generation of prayer warriors!

by Gwendy Kem

Not long ago we received that dreaded, shocking phone call that a dear friend had passed away of a heart attack leaving behind a precious family of four high school and college kids. This experience has kept me thinking about my own family…since we don’t know how much time we will have with them, where are we succeeding and failing in spiritually training our own kids!?! We have always prayed at dinner time and at bed time with our kids but how can we initiate meaningful discussions about who and what to pray for and remember to consistently pray about these requests? How can we bind our family together and learn compassion from the heart of God in a way that only prayer provides?

We used to keep a family journal of things we were thankful for and prayer requests, but it would often get tucked onto a shelf or left in a kids room and we would lose track of the family tradition. So I decided we needed to reinvent this special family time and go deeper with our kids.

Now, I am always trying to cut back on clutter around the house, but I am backing off my “Anti-Fridgeville” mantra for this idea! Besides, I wanted this concept to be in a prominent place in our home and what is more prominent than the old refrigerator door!!! We created a board on the refrigerator door that displays what we are thankful for as well as what we are praying for. At the dinner table I have a small stack of little papers and a pencil. We discuss what we are thankful for and our prayer requests. It is a great time of family enrichment. Then the kids write down their notes on the papers and we place them on the board. I also think it is great for the kids to do the writing on their own. As often as we visit the fridge we are reminded of what is on the hearts of the members of our family and are reminded to keep our hearts in constant prayer!

The board I used is a nifty Seagrass Bulletin Board that I found at Target. (I am sure similar items can be found at many craft or discount stores.) I used the little 3M Velcro attachments to adhere it to the fridge door in order to keep it free from any surface damage. Then I just used basic scrap-booking concepts to label one side for prayer requests and the other for things we are thankful for. It’s really not that difficult and you can see it blends in with the color of our refrigerator. So let’s just call it Fancy Fridgeville!

This concept could be as big and fancy as you want it to be or it could remain as simple as what we are doing. I have one friend who would make the frame a mosaic tile project with all sorts of family details in the art!! I may get to that someday, I’ll keep you posted!

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thes. 5:16-18

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