6 MONTHS

If you had told me last August 29th that one year from now I would have consistently written one blog post on prayer every week for 6 months, I would have probably laughed at you. One, I was struggling to keep a consistent prayer life so how could I possibly be advising others about it. Two, I am too busy. When the idea first came, I was excited but even more overwhelmed. There was no way I’d actually keep up on this. I have a track record of not sticking with weekly tasks. But God is faithful and sovereign and He knew that during these last 6 months I was going to need a better prayer life to help in trials and struggles!

This post is just a little recap and time of reflection. The themes covered on the blog were Praise, Jesus, Confession, Thanksgiving, and requests. In addition to the blog, I’ve been facilitating a texting group with many of the young women in my church. What a blessing! Each week I send out a challenge and throughout the week we get text messages from each other that remind and encourage us to pray. If you don’t have someone you pray with regularly, you are missing out.

Personally, I have become more consistent in setting aside time to pray and I have seen my attitudes and perspectives change. Thoughts of God pop up far more often than they used to. I still struggle with lots of stuff like trials, temptation, sin, pride, stress, anxiety, and a bit of depression, but how I handle the situations is changing. Instead of relying on myself to get through, I spend more time relying on God.

I’m excited to see what God has in store for the next 6 months! I Praise God for His greatness, thank Him for his faithfulness, humbly ask for His continued convictions, and request His strength and wisdom. I also pray for the people who read this blog and the women in my texting group that God would work in our lives to keep us devoted to Him through prayer and His Word!

As a bonus, here are my favorite posts to recap the themes. Just click on the title to read the full article.

ATTRIBUTES
“Maybe our doubt and wrestling with God’s direction is because we forgot who He is or don’t know Him well enough in the first place.”

HOW DID JESUS TEACH PRAYER
“They could have asked Him how to preach, teach, heal, evangelize, organize ministry, defend the truth, understand the Torah, or have ultimate wisdom in life, but the disciples asked Jesus to teach them (drum roll please!)……. how to pray.”

HOUSE CLEANING
“But if you keep avoiding alone time with God specifically to reflect on your life and confess your sins, it will be like avoiding a clogged sink.”

FOOTPRINTS IN THE MIND
“If we neglect maintaining the trails [of our thoughts] that explore God’s Word and prayer, we are likely to spend our time either staying at home in our comfortable short paths of mindless entertainment and troubles of this world, or we might be maintaining and creating darker, more treacherous paths.”

TRUE REPENTANCE
“When we repent, do we confess our sins because we don’t want the consequences, or because we want God to blot our sins and create a new heart within us?”

HOW TO LIVE A THANKFUL LIFE
“A life of thankfulness that is fueled by a deep desire to know God will obliterate entitlement and selfishness which in turn will keep us from blaming others and instead help us take responsibility for our actions.”

PRAYER REQUESTS
“I think the words ‘plea’, ‘request’, ‘petition’, and ‘appeal’ all bring really interesting aspects to defining what a prayer request is.”

WHAT DID JESUS REQUEST
“It can be helpful to see what godly people in the Bible requested and learn from what they did… So what things did Jesus ask God for?”

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