Creative Praying

Yep - still cold, snowy and winter out there. Ava from time to time goes to this window to check out the outside "situation". I'm trying to teach her to say, "snow", but I think she thinks I'm saying, "no"...so, that lesson is not going well.

Happy Monday, by the way. I hope your weekend was refreshing. Mine was. Somehow I still always feel SO sleepy on Monday morning, though. Brad had the opportunity on Saturday to head down to Hope Ministries with 5 of our teens and help the homeless in Des Moines. Something I love MOST about my hubby is his passion for the lost...and the broken of the world. He's taken the teens twice now to serve with this ministry and each time he has great stories to share. Saturday they actually went to the tent camps to visit the homeless who are surviving in tents down by the river. Sad. If you are interested in finding ways to get involved with something like that - and live in Des Moines - I attempted a link above. Don't hold back!

There isn't a lot of "new and exciting" in our life right now, which, is okay for me. However, there is now a little more music in our home. :) Brad has picked up his guitair again (literally) and is taking some lessons. I love hearing him play the same two verses over and over...

Ava, as you can imagine, is captivated by this wooden "toy" that daddy has. And from time to time Brad lets her strum a cord and she does a silly dance then just walks away. We've found that if we let her try most anything just once - she's satisfied and then goes on with her business. I, personally, am thrilled that he's playing. I love the sound of guitair and have visions of romantic serenades or mini-worship sessions in our living room. I've been missing music... well, home made music!

Can I ask you a question? How's your prayer life? Do you pray? How? What methods do you use? Where do you pray? What do you pray? Who do you pray for?

Prayer is something that sometimes boggles my mind. Somedays I feel like I'm walking around in a state of prayer all day - thinking about people, bringing them before the throne. I pray while folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, picking up toys...

But then other days, which sadly seems like most days, I have SUCH a hard time praying. I try to sit and focus and end up thinking of something else or doing something else. I try to pray through scripture but get caught up or dare I say... bored?! (just bein' honest) Sometimes I start praying and just end up crying, which is great...but... ... ...

And I've heard from so many people that they have this experience as well. Am I overthinking prayer? Boggling, see. We do know that prayer is our way of communicating with the God of the universe - our personal, intimate, loving God. I think one of my biggest obstacles is - I just get overwhelmed by how much there really is to pray for. Sick people, lost people, jobs, children, salvations, missions, money, wisdom, teens, parents, soliders, churches, terrorists, presidents, directions, ... and the list could literally go on a full blogs-worth! Over the years I've heard a workshop or two about prayer. Mind you, I did go to a bible college. I've heard ideas about keeping a prayer journal, a prayer box complete with dividers and 3 x 5 cards, a prayer shawl (no joke) that you wear only for prayer times to keep you focused. I've sat through intense prayer groups, prayer meetings at church and prayer walks down hallways and over soccer fields. Each effective (I guess) at the time. Yet somehow, as I continue on in my own walk of faith I have to fight to keep prayer ALIVE in my life. Don't get me wrong. I am so grateful for the ability that we have to pray. I'm thrilled with so many ideas and suggestions for prayer times. I'm thankful for creative friends, RA's, teachers and parents who have given advice on the topic over my lifetime...

Maybe Elizabeth George states how I feel the best,

"It's fun to talk about prayer and easy to think about prayer. But to actually put your feet - and heart - on the pathway to prayer, to make your desire to pray a reality, requires discipline."

Discipline. Ding, ding, ding.... and there we have my biggest issue. On the days that I just can't seem to simmer down and get to it - it's about my lack of discipline. I allow things and issues to overwhelm me rather then just stopping and bringing them to the feet of Jesus. Ever battle with that one?!

In college, my soph. year I had an incredible RA, Jennie Bensen. She was wise and funny and personable and loved to have a good time. But over all of that - she was deep and godly and sought God in her life. On her desk she had this rolodex style picture frame. I noticed it often because she had all these missionary prayer cards in it. Strange, I thought. Those things usually just ended up in my bible because I felt guilty about not taking one and praying for missionaries. So I would very sly-like take one from their table, smile at them, slip the card into my bible never to be seen again... eek. (just bein' honest, again) But here she had page after page of them. Eventually I got around to asking her about it - she explained that was her method of praying for missionaries. She would slip their cards into the slots and each day flip it and pray for a new missionary. GENIUS! Long story (obviously) very short... I have one now. And instead of just all missionaries I have now added unsaved family members, far away friends, new cousins (babies) and friends battling infertility. It is my visual reminder DAILY to stop and pray. And, for the most part... it's been working!

So, I'll ask again. What are you doing with your prayer life? Have a creative way? And, who are you praying for? Now for me... it's time for some quiet time, and looks like today I'm praying for the Nikitins. :)