Last week our 17-year-old left Alaska for a band trip to California. It was the first time he had flown without my husband or me, and although he was totally unfazed by it, it felt like a big milestone to us. It was also a humbling reminder of his plans to go out of state for college after graduation next year when he will be totally on his own (and any illusion of control we have over his life will be gone!).

When he left at 10pm Sunday night he was in good spirits, definitely excited at the prospect of traveling and playing music for four days. But early Monday morning during a layover between flights we got a text from him. He couldn't sleep on the plane because he had bad stomach cramps and thought he may have contracted the stomach virus our two younger kids had gotten the previous week (which we thought he'd escaped). He ended the text with "please pray for me."

Enter 3 hours of blind praying while he was unreachable while flying. We didn't know for sure how to pray, so we threw ALL of the spaghetti at the wall:

Please don't let him be sick...

If he's sick, please heal him - immediately!

If he is sick and you choose not to heal him, please let him make it to the bathroom if he has to throw up...

and my go-to prayer for any situation:

Whatever happens, let him know you're real and that you're there with him...let him see your hand at work, whatever the outcome.

Have you ever been here, faced with a situation that's completely out of your control and the "only" thing you can do is pray?

These are the times when I have absolutely no idea how I could survive this life (and parenthood) without prayer. Even when I'm confused about what to pray, I know I can connect with God and lay it all out there...trusting that he does know, and that he cares more deeply than I could imagine for my loved ones.

The truth, though?

We're never in control...and prayer is always the right (and usually most powerful) thing to do! It just takes times like these to highlight how utterly powerless we really are, and to remind us of The One who actually is in control.

This week's guest on the Praying Christian Women podcast knows all about these out-of-our-control situations with our kids, and what it's like for prayer to be your lifeline. Mary DeMuth is the author of Love, Pray, Listen: Parenting Your Wayward Adult Kids with Joy, and joins us for an absolutely power-packed conversation about the process of letting go and "praying from a distance," how to know when to speak truth in love to your adult children (and when to stay silent!), how to deal with feeling envious over the perceived successes of other peoples' kids, and so much more!

This conversation has something in it for everyone, regardless of whether you're a parent. Mary's wisdom and encouragement is just what you need this Monday, so pull up a chair and join us (you will be blessed)!

P.S. When he landed, we received a phone call that our son had indeed gotten sick. He had vomited on the plane and felt awful, even saying he wished he'd never gone on the trip. I'll be honest - I was disappointed. I'd hoped God would spare him sickness. As I expressed my disappointment through prayer, I felt God reminding me that difficult situations like these can serve to make us stronger and more resilient - things I definitely want for our son. So I kept praying that last prayer - for God to use this situation to show our son that he was real and to be with him every step of the way.

God was absolutely with him and got him through a long day of walking, a band clinic, a performance, and not arriving at the hotel until almost 8pm that night (after traveling since 10pm the previous night). Just as we'd prayed, he was able to make it to the bathroom each time he got sick throughout the day. He pushed through and woke up the next day feeling much better, and was able to enjoy the remaining 3 days of the trip (and nobody else got sick!).