A Work In Progress

A Work In Progress

Monday, June 30, 2008

The Discipline of Prayer


"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten Boom

This week my Spiritual Disciplines Study Group is studying the discipline of Prayer. I was searching on the net for quotes regarding prayer and found the quote above by Corrie ten Boom. I love that quote! If I wait until I "feel" like praying, I will probably never pray. It is my desire to put God first in my life. One of the ideas Valerie Hess gives in the "Spiritual Disciplines Devotional" is to develop your own "rule" of prayer - that is, something you do every day no matter how you feel or what your schedule is. She emphasizes the importance of being realistic and starting with something simple that you can commit to doing at the same time every day in this season of your life. I only live 6 blocks from where I work. I know, I'm blessed! :) Well, today is the first day I took advantage of living close enough to walk to work. Before I left, I decided I was going to use the time while I was walking to work, to spend in prayer with the Lord. My day went much better than usual and I found myself seeing various answers to my prayers throughout the day. I want to make this a habit. I've already associated walking to work, with praying time with God, so now I just have to make it a habit! I also want to work on not praying just because I need/want something, but also continuing to pray for the needs of others and to take the time to just listen in the silence to what God might be trying to teach me. Tomorrow, I will not be walking to work, because our Study Group is meeting at Panera, so I will just plan on praying on my drive to Panera and then on my drive to work. I am so blessed to be able to attend this Study. Lord, please teach me how to pray without ceasing!

Relaxing Day in Richmond IN!


Alaina (my friend & one of my roomies) and I had a great time in Richmond, IN today! Richmond is about a 4 hour drive from here. I'm so glad Alaina invited me to go with her! This get-away was just what I needed! We basically relaxed at her Dad's house all day. Her Dad, Stepmom and brothers live in Richmond. The first pic is of Alaina and her family. Her twin brothers are 11 years old and they are very sweet! Her family was very hospitable, and even cooked a Turkey dinner for us for lunch. I relaxed on the couch and fell asleep while the boys were watching murder mysteries on the Hallmark channel. We had some ice cream later in the afternoon. Then we had homemade Pizza for dinner. Alaina and I LOVED having a home-cooked, FREE meal! We are very blessed! After we left Richmond, we spent an hour with a friend of Alaina's in Indianapolis. The second pic above was taken as we were getting back into the car. We made it back from the Eastside of Indianapolis in 2 hours and 45 min. We made great time! It's ironic b/c I got home from Milwaukee last Sunday at 11:35pm. Tonight we arrived home at 11:19pm. I don't remember the last time that I got away from it all, to just relax. This trip taught me that I do need to get away! I'm going to try hard to do that every once in a while, if only for an overnight trip to visit friends/family. Everyone needs to get away once in a while. Thanks again for taking me with you Alaina!