John 3:8 (NRSV), “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

This past Sunday, I served as the worship leader for the 10:30 AM service. At the end of the service, the pastor opened the altar for those who wanted to come, kneel and pray. As is my custom, I pray in the Spirit while those at the altar pray. Well, one man who came to altar asked me to pray for him. He told me that he was a cancer patient. His very words were, “I am a cancer patient.” I prayed with the man. When I finished praying, I looked up and saw that the man had been crying. His face was covered in tears. I was taken aback because I didn’t realize that the man had been sobbing while I was praying. I prayed for him again at home and am still praying for him.

This experience of witnessing the crushing emotions of this man as he faces a devastating disease has reinforced to me that I have to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit gives us insight into the things we cannot see. The Holy Spirit teaches us how we are to pray, what we are to do, and what we are to say. Whenever I pray or intercede for someone, I always ask the Holy Spirit to tell me what I ought to pray. In reflecting about the man at the altar, I realize that I also have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when it comes to being a wife and mother. I need the Holy Spirit to teach me how to minister to my family because there will be times when they, too, will be crying and I may not witness it or realize it. And I have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit so that I will know when and how to minister to their needs. My husband may not always verbally express his wants and needs. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Holy Spirit will help me know when my family needs ministry and how to minister to them. I just have to be sensitive to his leading.

My Job as a Parent

My Aunt Karen, my spiritual mother and mentor, told me that my job as a mother is to nurture who God has already created K to be. The statement is simple, but I think that it’s profound. I don’t have to try to make K into who I want or expect him to be. All I have to do is nurture who God’s created him to be. In order for me to do that, I have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit!

In marriage and parenting, it’s easy to look at our spouse and child(ren) and assume that we know what they want and need. However, if we truly want to be godly wives and effective parents, we need the Holy Spirit to take us deeper. We need the Holy Spirit to show us how to minister to those unspoken areas in the lives of our loved ones. I believe that is the lesson here. It starts with sensitivity.