Several years ago, a friend from the UK gave Tony and me a prophetic word that we should spend some time speaking over our four kids (now grown) any promises or prophetic words that we had been given for them over the years. We chose to do that over Easter weekend that year, and all of us (including our kids' spouses) went away to a retreat center where we handed each of them a letter containing the words we had been given for them over the years, the promises we had been praying over them and so on. We read the letter out to each in turn and then all of us prayed over each person there, blessing them with anything else the Lord gave us at that time. It was a profound and moving experience for each person.
Easter weekend has become a tradition for us since that time, and each
year we do something a little different–including the spiritual
component. This year we were loaned a lake house about an hour from
where we live. Fourteen of us were there (we've taken the command to
be fruitful and multiply seriously!) and as usual, we had a fun-filled
weekend boating, playing tennis, Easter egg hunts, games and so on.
On the Saturday evening we gathered together after the evening meal. First we blessed the three younger grandkids, who, exhausted after the day's activities, soon went to bed. For the first time, this year our oldest granddaughter, Anna aged 9, stayed up for our spiritual time together.
This year, the Lord led us to speak over each person the ways in which we could see they had grown over the past year or so, how they had matured through the challenges they faced and so on. When it came to Anna's turn, she was speechless and beaming from ear to ear as her aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents told her the wonderful things they saw God doing in her life and complimented her on her character and the artistic talents she is developing. (This is the girl who was ill with Henoch Schoenlein purpura a few weeks ago). It was an evening she will never forget!