Waiting Well: Prayers for Prodigals

How to Thrive in a Season of Waiting

The following post is inspired by the events detailed in our true story, Unconfined: Lessons from Prison and the Journey of Being Set Free, by Lily Taylor. We hope it will help you find joy and purpose while you are waiting on restoration.

1.  Christians are better in community! You are not alone. No matter what has happened to you or in your family, you belong in the Body of Christ. Someone else in your church or bible study has brokenness in their family too. God designed us for community. Galatians 6:2 says that Christians must “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Hannah was married and very much wanted to have a child, but was unable to conceive for many long years.  She sought solace in her church and was not embarrassed to tell her priest why she was crying in church one day.  The priest prayed for her, and Hannah began to believe that God would ultimately answer her prayers. Had she not been in church, she might never have heard this encouraging word. 

2.  Build a Christian support network into your life.   If you don’t yet have a network of healthy people to lean on for guidance and support, it can take a bit of time to develop, but it is invaluable to weathering life’s storms.  If you already have a group of friends who love and support you, nurture those friendships.  Sometimes, you need wise counsel and emotional support to help you stand strong in faith, while waiting on the promises of God.  Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”  I believe this scripture reminds us that building and cultivating friendship is important to having victorious faith.  Celebrate your friend’s victories, and stand with them when they are in a battle.  Simply doing life with other Christians can help you keep your own life in balance.  During all the years that Hannah longed for a child, she apparently nurtured a close relationship with her husband, Elkanah, and worshipped with him regularly. 

3.  Fill your mind and spirit daily.  When you are in a season of waiting it is easy to get discouraged and to start to doubt that God is going to answer your prayer. Closely guard what you fill your mind with.  Instead of spending time binge watching a television program, spend some of that time listening to Bible-based podcasts or Christian teaching.  One of our favorite tools is the Daily Audio Bible app.  Listening to the spoken word of God will reorient your mind completely. Sometimes I have to listen to it twice to start my day! We try to post beautiful promises from scripture on our Lily Taylor social media channels often.  Consider re-posting these promises to your own social sites, and sharing them with others. 

4.  Serve others in need.   Perhaps one of the things you have been asking God to do is to bring someone into you’re your child’s life who can effectively speak truth and life to them?  Why not start doing that very thing for someone else’s child, who needs your help?  Philippians 2:3-11 reminds us that we are never more like Christ than when we humble ourselves and serve others – as He did.  Hannah did not live near the temple where she worshipped, so she promised God that she would dedicate her son to His service.  If Hannah gave up fellowship with her beloved son to honor the God who answers prayer, we can surely give up a few hours a week to serve in a prison ministry, or a local foodbank, or anywhere that there are men and women God wants to reach with His love! 

Prodigal Son Prayer

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 reminds us that “two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.”  Please remember that Skip and I are WITH you. We care about every prodigal child coming home, as we want our sons to return to God. If you haven’t read the other articles on our “Pray for Prodigals” website, I encourage you to read them. And send us your prayer requests.  We will walk through the waiting together…