Mom and Dad started having family prayer the night of their wedding. Mom says, “We have never missed a night when we are together, even if we don’t go to bed at the same time we wake each other up.” It turned into family prayer when Brother J was born and they helped him pray. When there were enough of us, we started all kneeling in a circle, when we are all quiet and reverent Daddio chooses someone to pray for the family. When the older kids were really young we would go around the circle and everyone said their individual prayers together with Mom and Dad helping us pray. Then one day Bother J didn’t have to have help any more, he was allowed to say his prayers on his own, in his room. I don’t remember the younger kids ever saying their personal prayers with the family. I suppose Mom and Dad just helped them in their rooms. But family prayer didn’t die off when Brother J got old. We still say family prayer every night.
Family prayer continues as a nightly ritual for us. Everyone in the house gathers for family prayer. This includes any random person who happens to be in the house, there are very few friends who haven’t had family prayer with the Strongs. Mom was surprised when Daddio asked Brother D's Best Friend to pray for the family, and even more surprised that he actually did it. I guess Daddio just wants everyone to feel a part of the family and let them know they are always welcome at our house.
Brother D remembers family prayer not just as a prayer but a time when the family gathers together and we end up talking afterwards and having a good time. Praying is a good excuse to bring us all together every night. And although prayer is a suppose to be a reverent time, it has also provided opportunities for us to grow closer through smiles and laughs. Such as the time when we were about ready to pray, and Mom commented on how she felt bad for Roy, from the Sigfried and Roy show, when his tiger attacked him. She hoped he recovered quickly. Brother B told her that she should pray for him, and then said if she did he would laugh really hard. Well, instead of Brother B laughing, Mom started praying and it was only three words into the prayer that she burst out laughing. She tried again, and laughed even harder. Mom laughing in the middle of the prayer was far more than any of us kids could bare, it wasn’t but a few seconds before we all were on the floor (well we were already on the floor, kneeling) laughing our heads off. It took us at least fifteen minutes to compose our selves. And even then, as soon as the prayer was over we were all laughing again. This was one of those times when you knew that part of the reason for family prayer was really to pull the family together to enjoy each other.
Another grand thing about family prayer is how humbling it can be. As we kneel around as a family and to listen to whom ever Daddio has chosen to pray. It is very humbling to hear a brother praying for my needs, and for my health. Or to hear someone else pray that Rosalie will be able to help the girls up at Oakcrest. It is always reassuring to know that even when we are away from home, that family prayer is still including us and that we are being watched over because of that prayer, whether we be in Finland, at school, or simply down the street watching a movie with some friends we are cared for through these prayers.
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