Guest Post: Amy's Prayer Warrior Journey, Vol.5

Friends, I asked Amy to share five posts with us, so today is the last installment of Amy's Prayer Warrior Journey. Please show your appreciation in the comments section! Thank you.

And would you prayerfully consider sharing with us yourself?  It doesn't have to be weekly. You can share whenever the Holy Spirit puts something on your mind. He will guide you. Consider that sharing with us will give you some accountability as you get started on a daily prayer journey.  If you are interested, please e-mail me at christine4431(at)ymail(dot)com  

Amy's Prayer Warrior Journey, Vol. 5

Christine's call to begin praying every day has been such a blessing to me. The Holy Spirit spoke through her writing to call me back to a structured prayer time. As I've mentioned before, for whatever reasons, I had let my prayer/devotion time slip away. I remember telling my husband I didn't even know what to say when I did pray. 

At the time, I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and full of complaints. I felt as if I was drowning in my life. I knew I needed to spend time with God, but just didn't know how to begin. Christine reminded me of the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) acronym to use as a guideline. That was so helpful as I committed to begin praying each night at Christine's encouragement. 

 

At the beginning, I adhered strictly to the ACTS outline.  It helped me stay focused and prevented me from just going before the Lord with my needs/concerns.  That time of adoration was so beneficial and I realized I had been leaving that out.  

During the first few weeks, God taught me so much just through my prayer time.  I was able to remember his goodness, faithfulness, awesomeness, and truly see all the blessings in my life.  As the weeks went on it was so good to spend time quiet before the Lord, praising Him, sharing with Him, and having anxiety relieved.  

Now, as I pray, I don't have to be so strict in the way I pray.  As Christine has noted in her posts, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal things to me that I need to pray for.  Because I am praying consistently, I am able to pray for more people and repent of sins quicker than before.  

I would encourage everyone to set aside time, even a short amount of time, to pray daily.  It is such a blessing! 

Here are links for Vol. 1, and Vol. 2, and Vol. 3, and Vol. 4

12 Reasons to Love Your Daughters

I love to write. It's soothing. It's cathartic. It's a window to the heart. After words flow free, and the last line is punctuated, I feel lighter.

But it's also complicated and messy, requiring hours, months, years, before true beauty emerges. Some say it's a craft, some say an art.

Blogging archives make it easy to look back at old work......and cringe.  Yes, all writers, professional or amateur, cringe at their old work. The 10,000 hour principal is at work here. The more you practice, the better you write.  So old stuff stinks, and new stuff rocks. And finally, after ten thousand hours, you're an expert. (Or so it's said.)

Last night I wrote something that made me cringe the next morning. Yet I didn't want to delete it. It contained something my heart felt, and something my mind knew. I wanted to share it. When the kids went with Daddy to the park, I spent some time trying to fix it. It was too long, too unclear, didn't use examples or anecdotes, contained too many ideas, and the title didn't fit.  I can spot good writing, but I can't always produce it in the time available to me.

After revisions, which I posted, I still hated it.

So, to ward off further frustration, I will post lists for a few days. It's hard to mess up lists. Every writer knows that and uses lists when other words and ideas won't flow.

Top 12 Reasons I Love My Girls

~ They cuddle with me a lot.

~ Their pretty hair smells divine.

~ The look in the mirror at their behinds, mimicking Mommy.

~ They have beautiful smiles.

~ They love to bake with me.

~ They love to boss their brothers, repeating whatever Mommy says.  "You're fooling around in there! Be done with your shower in three minutes!" (Okay, right now it's just the two year old doing this, in her less-than-perfect enunciation of the English language.)

~ They are so sensitive, you have to speak sweetly to get the best results.

~ They always want to do it themselves. The boys are happy to be served.

~ Some day, Lord willing, I'll be able to hold their babies for hours, while they catch up on the house. Sometimes I think I was born to hold babies.

~ They are as gentle as they are stubborn.

~ When they put on a dress, they feel special.

~ They love their Daddy.  So do I.

(Updated)The Prayer Warrior Life: Be Vigilant

When you start a spiritual practice and get through that initial fight with Satan, it's all good. Even amazing. Whether it's newly disciplined Bible reading, or disciplined prayer, or disciplined giving, or regular hospitality....whatever, you feel triumphant. You've established a habit.

Let's face it, forming a habit that doesn't include chocolate or other obvious delight, like a lazy Sunday nap or a sunset beach walk, is hard. It can be so hard it hurts.

Are you praying daily? Congratulations!

Realize something now, though. You can never relax in your spiritual habit.

Oh, I know what you'll say. But the habit feels entrenched. This will last forever.

No. You're still on a slippery slope. Never let your guard down.

You can't say:

Well.....the thirty minutes of prayer will still happen tonight--it's part of who I am now--but right now, I really need to......

Before you know it, something else interferes (especially if you're a mom).  Satan still whispers that you need this or that instead--maybe not as loud as when you first began your habit quest, but rest assured, he's still there, making ugly.

Why must you be so vigilant? It has to do with that beautiful, tragic gift called free will.

I've written before that I'm a Calvinist, basically believing that God chooses us. We don't have the capacity to choose him, as spiritually dead beings.(Feel free to disagree, as always.)

But what about after salvation is secure? Once we're chosen--saved and written in the Book of Life--do we have the capacity to choose God over ourselves?

Let's explore that.

Our salvation awakens our spirit and allows us to hear God.  The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and he whispers guidance.  He nudges us in the right direction.  Our part? Yes, I'll go there.  I'll do that.  I'll say that.  We still must apply ourselves....we still must exert our free will and say....Yes, I'll obey.

Obedience and free will don't act as a team. No surprise there, right? One is always vying for first place.

And yet, nothing good happens in our spiritual lives without the daily practice of dying to self. Obedience knows she must die to self. But free will? She's always looking for a party.

The Holy Spirit reigns in free will. If we let him, he'll channel free will to glorify God.

The problem is that, over time, with complacency, we grow less receptive to the Holy Spirit's nudges, making it harder for Him to affect heart change....making it harder for him to reign in free will.

Without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. We are nothing. That's why we must keep our ears and our hearts tuned in. That's why it's so crucial that we develop, and keep vigilant about, a prayer and Bible reading habit.  

So the answer to the question: Do we have the capacity to choose God over ourselves once we're saved?

Is yes.....if we're praying and reading the Bible habitually.

Pray for your yes. Pray about your spiritual habits...that the Holy Spirit will reign in your free will. Start your day with words such as these:

Our Father, help me to die to myself today. Help me to choose you all day. Help me to read and pray today, as planned. Increase my sensitivity to your Spirit. 


Notice the as planned part of that prayer. Be intentional. Have a plan, even if it requires (at first) sticky notes in several rooms. For example, in the bathroom, pray for husband...reminded by a sticky note on the mirror. In the kitchen, pray for the kids.....reminded by a sticky note over the sink or the stove. This may sound crazy to those with two kids. But to moms of many (or moms of littles), it isn't crazy.

Crazy is the number of times they've fluffed their husband's work shirts, due to all the interruptions.

The number of kids you have, the number of years or months between them, and the age of the youngest, will determine how innovative you must be. Caring for a baby and a two year old at the same time is probably the most challenging. I've done it twice. My prayers are with you on that.

But don't wait on this. Sit down with your husband and brainstorm ways you can make prayer and Bible reading habitual. I could give you more specifics, but each family situation is too unique. I think your husband would be better at helping you come up with strategies. Plus, you'll need his help with the kids, probably, to make your spiritual practices habitual. Bring him into the equation now, because after all, he's your spiritual leader, not some mommy-blogger wannabe.

Your ability to choose Him daily...to hear Him...to obey Him, depends on it.

Tears of Hope

I just couldn't carve out any writing time last night.  That always discourages me.  Writing ministers to me, somehow.

The answers to the literary questions are posted in yesterday's comments. I'll have time to write an Author's Corner post soon--not that it matters so much, I know.

This morning, as one side of the french toast grilled, I read this.  It's the latest of Kristen Welsh's African updates.  Yes, her kidneys healed, and she just concluded her amazing time in Africa.  The last day brought buckets of tears.

Now I know why I had no writing time last night.  It was because God wanted her post to spread like wildfire, changing hearts everywhere.

Please read it.  It is so powerful (and not long at all--many pictures, fewer words).  I hesitate to copy and paste it here, as it contains pictures of her visit with one of her sponsored children.  Seems inappropriate to repost it here.

Name That Novel

At the writing of my last Author's Corner, we were just starting Miss Hickory, by Caroline Sherwin Bailey--a 1946 novel that won a 1947 Newberry Medal. It's very imaginative, entertaining, delightful......until the end.  When I read the very last page, and turned the page to find no more story, I was shocked.
 


What....that's the end?  Who ends a book like that?   For kids?  Who. does. that?  (I said none of this in audible tones--it was dismay all in my head.)

My son Paul looked at me, started crying, and said, "That's all there is!?"  I tried to stay calm and cool, not really saying what I thought.  I'm a happy ending kinda gal, but I don't want to project that propensity onto my children. Plus, Peter hadn't reacted yet.  I didn't want to influence him one way or the other.

Turns out, Peter just accepted the ending.  No problem.  Meanwhile, Paul, who must be a happy ending kinda guy, got real mad at the author....stomping to the bathroom to brush his teeth for bed, crying in frustration.

The fact that Paul was so affected hints at how much he loved Miss Hickory, the main character.  He did love her.  She was spunky, bossy, full of reprimands.....yet caring too.  Her antics and her commentary entertained, as did the details of her hard winter, passed in a borrowed robin's nest.

I hesitate to say too much about these books, lest I ruin the story for someone.  You'll like Miss Hickory, sure enough--especially if you like nature--but if you prefer happy endings.....well, don't bother with this one then.  The ending is more bizarre than sad, but it leaves you with the same emptiness.

Just ask Paul.

The next day I searched our bookshelves for another Newberry winner.  My goal is to read all of them aloud before the kids grow up...or at least, all of the morally acceptable ones. We had some with content too mature for their ages (like Jacob Have I Loved), which I need to read first before approving (Did anyone read that one?  I read mixed reviews on Amazon), and then some with a grade level too low, technically speaking, to be a read aloud.

One library in the area places all the Newberry and Caldecott winners in one bookshelf.  I love that!  So easy.  But I couldn't get there in time for the night's storytime, so I settled on a short fourth grade book we had at home.

I'll give you some hints and a passage.  See if you can guess the novel.

On a night when the moon gazed down like an evil eye, the young prince appeared in Jemmy's chamber.

"Boy!  I need a manservant."

Jemmy saw that the prince was wearing a black cloak and carrying a wicker basket the size of a sea chest.  "What you up to now?  Walkin' in your royal sleep, are you?"

"I'm running away."

Hints:  adventure, comedy, humor, fables, folktales and myths, won a Newberry Medal in the 1980's, 4th grade equivalent, three words in the title

Can you name that novel?

Following that short book, we started another Newberry winner, which we're nearly done with.  Here is an excerpt:

Rachel and Jerry were in the habit of having discussions as to what was the most important of anything--the most important, or the prettiest, or the best, or the funniest.  For instance, in the dictionary, almost their only picture book except for Mr. Pye's books of birds, they had excited discussions over which was the prettiest fish on the shiny colored page of fish, or the prettiest bird, or butterfly.  One favorite discussion of theirs was the one they had whenever they played train, calling out like conductors, "New York to Boston!"  Which was more important, they asked one another, New York or Boston?
"New York," Jerry would say.  "Because it has the Museum of Natural History in it."
"Boston," said Rachel.  "Because it sounds more important."
"Why?"
"It just does."
Rachel couldn't explain the reason she thought Boston sounded more important than New York, but it probably had something to do with the roundness of the letters, the B and the o's.  For the same reason she thought London sounded more important than Paris, though Paris sounded prettier.  Sometimes, since Jerry was one year older than she, she wondered if she, too, should not say, "New York."  Still, to her, Boston sounded rounder, bigger, more solid--more important.

Hints:  Won a Newberry medal in the 1950's, mostly because it so beautifully, so accurately, captures the essence of childhood.  No, it doesn't move at an exciting pace, and the sentences are long, even sometimes awkward.  But it deserves to be a classic, nonetheless.  The story never leaves the head of a nine- or ten-year-old.  Brilliant!  Set in a typical, 1950's middle-class neighborhood.  Contains an endearing, hilariously funny, church pew dusting scene.

Can you name that novel?