Inspired by Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World

By Helen Lee, Author of Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World

The writer Philip Yancey said about prayer, “The main purpose of prayer is not to make life easier, nor to gain magical powers, but to know God.” And as parents, we seek not just to know God more deeply in our own walks with God, but to help introduce our children to the discipline and experience of prayer. This can be daunting as a parent and as a family because what can be more intimate and vulnerable than opening ourselves with humility, hope, and honesty to the all-knowing, all-seeing God of the universe? And we parents might not always feel complete comfort or satisfaction with our own prayer life. But as author Liz Ditty writes in her book Hear My Prayer: Learning from the Faith of Elijah, “An inescapable part of prayer is getting comfortable in the presence of God.” As we become more and more accustomed to sitting at the feet of the cross and being in God’s presence, then sharing the many forms this can take with our kids, our children in turn will gain a greater comfort themselves with the living God such that praying will become like breathing: necessary, essential, and life-giving.

Inspired by Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World, here are four ideas for how you can lean into the lessons of the book and create a culture of prayer in your own family.

1. Stay attentive as a family to global and domestic needs.

In the book, Kaylee, her grandfather Halbi, and their dog Keedo have an established practice of reading the newspaper together. Whether you use a printed or online resource with your kids to learn about and identify needs around the world, options abound that can help your family become more attuned to global needs:

You can use a book that is especially geared towards families, such as Window on the World, which is published by Operation World and offers stories, facts, maps, and prayer needs of 52 countries and 34 people groups around the globe. You can also go to the Operation World website and sign up for a daily email that will direct you to pray for a specific country, then print and share some of those requests with your children.

• Visit Prayercast from One Way Ministries where you will discover many different prayer plans to help you and your family support global efforts to reach people all around the world with the gospel.
• Your church denomination may have a global missions email newsletter or prayer list so that you can pray specifically for individuals and families who are serving all around the world.
• Joshua Project tracks unreached people groups around the world and creates many different kinds of online and printable resources to help you and your family pray for current needs.
• Subscribe to a daily news alert from your preferred news agency to stay connected to current events for which prayer would be beneficial.

2. Create a space with visible reminders to pray.

In Kaylee’s house, the family has a world map on the kitchen wall, and they have pinned stories that Kaylee and Halbi have found onto the map as a visual reminder to keep those situations in prayer. There is a benefit to being able to see reminders to pray with our own eyes, especially in high-traffic zones in the house where we can all be reminded multiple times a day. For many families, the kitchen is an ideal place for such reminders, but you can determine what works best in your own household. An alternative is to create a special area in the house that is more private, such as a prayer room, corner, or closet with a bulletin board with materials that are refreshed regularly.

In addition to specific prayer reminders, it can be helpful to place physical reminders to pray around your house, such as wall decals with Bible verses that encourage prayer. Kids today love embellishing all kinds of surfaces with stickers, and it’s easy to find inexpensive collections with multiple options encouraging prayer.

3. Establish a regular rhythm of family prayer and regularly introduce new ways to pray.

It’s clear that Kaylee, Halbi, and Keedo pray regularly when Halbi asks, “Kaylee, how would you like to pray for the world today?” Prayer is an established part of their daily routine. It can be difficult to create this kind of routine in the hustle and bustle of regular family life. But you can start by leaning into the rhythms you have already likely established as a family, either in the morning, before bedtime, or at mealtime, or weekly. If you are already praying together regularly as a family, think about the possibility of incorporating some extra time to also address global needs.

You can also begin introducing different ways of praying together. For example, if you are typically doing all the praying out loud as the parent, begin to encourage your child to add prayers of his or her own. You can take some time in silence to help your child understand what it means to rest in God’s presence in stillness. Or, you can do the exact opposite and have everyone pray at once, “in one voice” as Kaylee, Halbi, and Keedo demonstrate in the story.

But prayer doesn’t just have to be verbal; you can also show your kids that prayer can be done through writing, drawing, singing, or through short breath prayers. You can teach your children different mnemonic structures they can use to pray, such as the ACTS model (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication), the Five Finger model, or the Hand Model (based on the Lord’s Prayer).

4. Pray the Word!

Lastly, one of the best ways for us all to learn how to pray is to pray the Scriptures. Here is a sample collection of verses that you can refer to as guidance as you pray with your families, or that you can pray together from God’s Word (all verses from the New Living Translation). May God go before you and be with you and your families as you seek his face together in prayer!

"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.

—Numbers 6:24-26

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 4:6-7

Come and listen, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell you what he did for me.
For I cried out to him for help,
    praising him as I spoke.
If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
But God did listen!
    He paid attention to my prayer.
Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
    or withdraw his unfailing love from me.

—Psalm 66:16-20

I love the Lord because he hears my voice
    and my prayer for mercy.
Because he bends down to listen,
    I will pray as long as I have breath!

—Psalm 116:1-2

I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

He will not let you stumble;
    the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
    never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you!
    The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
The sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all harm
    and watches over your life.
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
    both now and forever.

—Psalm 121

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

—Matthew 7:7-11

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

—Matthew 11:28-30

About the Author

Helen Lee

Helen Lee

Helen Lee is an author, wife, mom of three young men—which means she lives at Costco in her spare time—and the dog mom of a Mini Bernedoodle named Simba. She has written books for adults and is working on her first middle-grade novel. Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World is her first picture book.

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