This Lent, Cristina Turlacu reflects on how the quiet power of daily prayer not only helped her overcome loneliness and postnatal depression, but also nurtured her daughter’s growing faith—reminding us that it’s never too late to start (or restart) a prayerful journey.
I have to admit: I have days when I don’t pray. In the busyness of work, family priorities, travelling, cooking and raising a child, sometimes I forget. But there was a time when I prayed every single day. I was on maternity leave and started praying not long after my daughter was born.
What prayers did I say? Two prayers came to me, even when I was exhausted. The first was the Lord’s Prayer, which I often whispered to my daughter, thinking of God as her father.
My daughter was born at the end of 2021, and I started praying every day when she was about four months old (April–May 2022). I know this because I keep a monthly diary for her. I would whisper the prayer to my baby, holding her tightly in my arms. There were times I’d fall asleep with the words on my lips. But I did pray.
The other prayer is one I learned from my therapist years ago—the prayer of the heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
This prayer stayed with me through difficult and joyful times. I said it for myself and for my baby. At bedtime—during that ‘witching hour’—I’d pray it in silence, sometimes just once, sometimes repeatedly until she fell asleep.
my daughter began asking difficult questions that gave me food for thought: “Does God love thieves too? Is God a boy or a girl? Why is God in the sky?”
I prayed to overcome the loneliness and challenges of raising a newborn. I prayed to remind myself that I am not alone because God is always with me. I prayed for my baby’s health and for her to become a child of God. At the time, I didn’t think about the effect my prayers would have. Only later did I realise the impact daily prayer had on me, and especially on my child.
When I started attending church regularly with my daughter, she already had a sense of God. She was already a friend of Jesus. Seeing her cross her hands in prayer—without me ever teaching her—was the result of my own nightly gestures, every evening, for so many days.
READ MORE: We are calling for a 40-day prayer and fasting relay for God to bring revival in the UK
As a toddler, my daughter began asking difficult questions that gave me food for thought: “Does God love thieves too? Is God a boy or a girl? Why is God in the sky?” These were her own ideas, not conversations I started. Sometimes I think she’s too young to understand, but she constantly surprises me. She already knows Jesus and speaks about him.
she’ll say: “Mummy, when are we going to church?”
When the weekend comes and we haven’t been to church in a while, my child is the one who reminds me. In her soft voice, she’ll say: “Mummy, when are we going to church?” She seems to have an internal compass—perhaps guided by her faith—that draws her to the place where she finds Jesus and friends.
I no longer need to question it: she is a believer. There’s something in her way of being that leaves me in no doubt about her simple faith.
READ MORE: The prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit!’ is being answered this Pentecost
I believe my prayers have helped my daughter stay healthy. Apart from the normal fevers and the usual teething troubles, when I prayed every day, my daughter remained well—and happy. There is a simple happiness about her that brings calm to our home. I believe her guardian angel was present, keeping not only her but the whole family healthy too.
I remember how I overcame what I think was postnatal depression, simply by asking Jesus to watch over me. Prayer helped me do the hard things—like going to the general practitioner (GP) and seeing my baby cry—but it also helped me connect with and enjoy each day of motherhood.
No matter where you are in your faith journey, you can always start (or start again) with prayer. It can restore, encourage and lift you up in ways you might never imagine.
No comments yet