Somewhere in São Paulo, Brazil, a mom is trying to get her middle school daughter to look up from her phone and listen to what she’s saying. They may be more than a thousand miles from where you are right now, but the scene could just as easily be happening right in front of you. Though she lives an entire continent away, that mom’s questions are not too different from yours:
- How do I help my daughter make wise decisions about what she’s encountering every day?
- What do I say when she comes to me and asks about issues related to gender and sexuality?
- What boundaries should I implement when it comes to her use of technology?
The desires of a mama’s heart echo across geographical lines. It doesn’t matter whether the woman is looking for advice in English or Portuguese, on one side of the equator or the other. Moms everywhere long to see their little girls grow up to be happy, safe, and successful.
Raquel Anderson knows what it’s like to raise daughters. She and her husband have three girls who are currently in middle school, high school, and college. They live in Brazil, where Raquel serves as part of the Aviva Nossos Corações team (Revive Our Hearts in Portuguese). She works primarily with social media, but she also helps with other digital platforms and can be heard as the voice of Dannah Gresh on Portuguese podcast episodes.
As Raquel shares Revive Our Hearts content on the digital platforms of Aviva Nossos Corações, she has found herself challenged by the truth of God’s Word. “I need these resources more than anyone,” she says.
Revive Our Hearts has helped me to focus on the right thing—not to be pressured by the world in how I parent, but to be grounded in the truth. God, in His grace and mercy, in His right time, will do what is necessary. He will do it. Our job is to cry out to Him: we trust Him, and we wait on Him (Psalm 27:14).
As God has taught Raquel dependence on Him, it has impacted how she’s raising her daughters and reaching the next generation of young women for Christ.
Steadfast and Grounded
Raquel knows what it’s like to feel pressured as a mom to cater to what her daughters want or what the world says is best for them, rather than looking to the Lord for wisdom (James 1:5). Revive Our Hearts resources have reminded her of the importance of remaining steadfast, especially when it comes to practical decisions like when to allow her daughters to use certain forms of technology.
The content has helped me to ask: “Is this decision grounded in God’s Word? Or am I making it because I want to be loved or accepted by my children?” That’s not how it is supposed to work. I want to give access when my children are ready for it; I want to give it to them when it’s good for them.
The world really pressures us and can make us feel guilty if we don’t do what they say. I want to give something to them when I know it’s going to contribute to their faith and their walk with the Lord.
Raquel understands that other moms also need these regular reminders. As Aviva Nossos Corações expands, Raquel dreams about how God will impact more families through the ministry.
The Aviva Nossos Corações podcast, which is Revive Our Hearts’ biblical teaching from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth translated into Portuguese, is currently offering new episodes once a week. Beginning in January, five episodes will be released each week. While this transition has greatly increased the workload for the team, it has also opened up even more opportunities for Portuguese-speaking women to be impacted by the message of freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. As Raquel says:
One of the dreams is that we will reach the younger girls—tweens and teens. These girls are living in this whole moment in time [that is filled with so many worldly challenges]. It can be heartbreaking to see. The world is not missing any opportunity to bombard them with ideas. As their moms, we can be doing that too, but we give them truth. May God help us.
Mother Prayers
In a recent meeting, Raquel and Nicky Lorimer, who leads Aviva Nossos Corações, prayed for the upcoming podcasts and for the women of all ages who will, Lord willing, be impacted by them: thousands of Portuguese-speaking moms and daughters and sisters in Christ who will hear God’s Word and learn how to apply it to their lives as women with the help of each daily episode. Raquel and Nicky are trusting God to revive women’s hearts and use them to reach their daughters, the rest of their family, and their communities. As you read their prayers below, pause and pray with them, asking the Lord to move in power among Portuguese-speaking women:
Nicky: Lord, thank you so much for these opportunities. It seems like time and time again, You bring provision: whether it’s through people, through ideas that you drop into our hearts, through the excitement you give us, or through the doors that we get to see You open.
We know and see so clearly that this is all Your ministry, and that You are guiding us each step of the way to be able to provide these resources. We have seen testimonies being shared already about how lives have been impacted, how marriages have been transformed, and how women’s love for Your Word has grown amazingly. So we pray that You will do more and more of that through the podcast.
We pray that You will awaken the hearts of women all over Brazil and also in Europe and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Wherever they are, we pray that You would grow in them a desire to listen as You did in my heart. We pray that they would look to You and want more of You. That’s the heart behind these podcasts. I just pray that it would be a huge opportunity for Portuguese-speaking women to rise up and grow in knowing who You are and in wanting to serve You and live their lives for You. I ask this in Your Name, amen.
Raquel: Lord, we are so grateful for all that You are doing. We know it is Your goodness and Your faithfulness, Lord. It is Your Spirit moving and inspiring and calling women to yield to You. It’s all from You, so we just want to say thank you.
Father, we pray that the women who will be listening to the content in Portuguese will be thirsty for Your truth and that they will desire to change and be transformed so they will walk in freedom. We pray that they will bear much fruit in their families and in their children’s lives.
We pray specifically for the younger generation. There are a lot of things that are new to us, Lord. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, but that only points us back to You Father, so that we remember who You are. You do not change. We can run to You and receive everything that we need to point these precious lives to You, to protect them, and to equip them to adulthood.
We pray that they will come to know You, Lord, and they will choose You and walk with You. Help us, Father, to know how to do that. Use the resources and the content that Revive Our Hearts offers. May Your name be glorified in all of this. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
Someday Hope
Someday you’ll get to see the answers to those prayers. You likely won’t get more than a glimpse on this side of heaven. But a day is coming when all nations will come before the Lord and worship Him (Rev. 15:4), and you’ll get to stand side by side with sisters from São Paulo, Brazil, and all over the world and praise the Lord in amazement at how He moved in this generation of moms and daughters.
#GivingTuesday is here! Because giving hearts are grateful hearts, would you consider making a special donation to Revive Our Hearts today? 100% of your gift will be doubled (!) thanks to our year-end matching challenge. It will be used to produce and distribute rich, biblical content in Portuguese and Khmer to women in Brazil, Cambodia, and beyond. Donate now!
Republished with permission from Blogs.crossmap.com, featuring inspiring Bible verses about What Happens When Mothers Pray.
