Last night at group my friend prayed for me.

She asked God to help me live in my weaknesses.

Have you ever been here?

At a women’s rally a couple months ago, a wise lady shared about her current stage of life being not in her comfort zone.  Ever.

She’s an introvert who doesn’t love meeting tons of new people.  She is currently serving God in a capacity that demands she rely on Him to do just that.

She brought up Moses to us.  When he told God to find someone else to do the job of going to Pharaoh, God didn’t give him a pep talk, listing all his good qualities.  He also didn’t blast him for doubting.

He said, “I will be with you.”

My comfort zone looks different.  I am an extrovert, but more importantly, not super structured.  Living in my weaknesses means doing things daily that, frankly, feel stifling.

I’m doing grown-up stuff like setting small, daily goals.  Because that’s what you do when your husband prefers structure to chaos.

I’m taking vitamins and working out when I’d rather just go hang out with my friends.  Because people are no longer paying me to get exercise and that’s what adults do.

I’m writing when I don’t feel inspired.  Because you can always edit bad writing.  You can’t edit an empty page.

I’m making sure the kitchen is clean at night.  Because that sets the next day up for success.

Now, this is not without issues.  I’m intentionally relying on Him as I take these small steps of obedience.  But it all still takes a lot of concentration for me.

For example, last week I was especially productive on Wednesday and Thursday.  By Friday, it’s like my brain was done.  On the way out the door for school, I realized oldest’s coat was still sopping wet in the washer.  It was 20 degrees out.

Later I couldn’t find my wedding ring.

Later still, at school pick up, I locked my keys in the car.

My school friends were all, That sounds about right.

I called Dan and he just chuckled.  (Well, he acted a bit put off, but he loves to be my knight in shining armor.  He has lots of practice.)

So I’ve not become superwoman over night.  I’m not even aiming for that.  Just trying to rely on Him in my weaknesses.

Because He promises I will be with You.

My mouth will tell of your righteousness,

Of your salvation all day long,

Though I know not its measure.

I will come and proclaim your mighty acts,

O Sovereign LORD;

I will proclaim your righteousness,

Yours alone.

Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,

And to this day I declare Your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray,

Do not forsake me, O God,

Till I declare your power to the next generation,

Your might to all who are to come.

Your righteousness reaches

To the skies, O God,

You Who have done great things.

Who, O God, is like you?

Prayer seems to keep coming back to me as the first topic I’d love to chat about.

So.  We know prayer is a conversation with God.  Just talking with Him.  If you’re not talking to Him throughout the day, it’s hard to feel close to Him.  Chatting is good.  Praying without ceasing is our command.

But have you ever wanted to be more organized about it?  To remember not only your family or friends, but neighbors, friends you don’t always see, those serving in other countries, other ministries?

If so, I have a tip for you.  It is not mine, I learned it from a Training Center we were a part of at one time.  I take no credit!

Anyway, this particular prayer organization is from when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray in Matthew 6.  We typically call this The Lord’s Prayer.  Since most don’t think He was giving us a formula or something to memorize, but rather showing us the heart behind addressing our Father, this tip helps explore that heart.

The cool thing is it aligns really well with our church’s heart attitudes.  The following is an example spreadsheet using Jesus’ prayer from Matthew 6:9-13:

Download (XLSX, 11KB)

In all those blank spaces, put in names!  Ministries, co-workers, extended family, the persecuted church, those struggling, children’s teachers, pastors & their families, own church & leadership, other churches, your school board, local & national government.

I don’t actually use a spreadsheet, I use this prayer journal (although tweaked from what the author suggests!).  I like this because I can stick people’s hard copy newsletters in there to help remember current needs they have.

Now.  Do I use this every day to pray?  Nope.  Do I think everyone should use this particular method of organization to pray?  Uh uh.

But if your mind tends to wander and you want a place to start organizing your prayers, have at it!

Okay, now you.  What are your biggest struggles in consistent prayer?  Do you have any tips for organizing your prayer life?

I really want to know.

Sing to God, sing praise to His Name,

Extol Him Who rides on the clouds –

His Name is the LORD –

And rejoice before Him…

I am quite sure this blog will morph over time, but I want to make expectations for the time being clear up front.

You see, I have spontaneous tendencies.  And I am completely comfortable with this.

However, I know that there are those of you out there who are not.

Because of this, I plan to have fresh content for conversation posted every Monday morning.  These will be disciplines or tips or ideas I’ve heard of or implemented or wondered if you have implemented that will help us be more fully available to Him. Hopefully we can chat about them together.

However, there will be more than these types of Monday posts scattered throughout. I had committed on my previous blog to work through the book of Hosea.  I continue to commit to that book with my small group and will share on here.

Also I love using writing to process and learn best through reflection.  If you will indulge me, hopefully some of these reflections will resonate with you as well.

But through it all, my aim is to point back to Jesus.  What He did for me on the cross I could never do for myself.  And if anything good has come from learning how to live more intentionally, it is because He has empowered it.  It was a grace from Him.

The grace of God, baby.

I’m glad you’re here.  Have I said that yet?

God has walked with me on a journey the past 15 years.

We have worked on things like how to organize my prayer life to ways to reach out to those far from God without acting like a weirdo to walking through some deeper, internal struggles that affect how I love others.

And I’m just wondering…anybody else?  What have you learned?  The Body works best when we’re each playing our part.  I’d love to hear how He has released you to do just that in your journey with Him.

I’m gonna make a lot of mistakes.  But that’s cool.  He will forgive me and hopefully you will too!  Plus, maybe it will give you permission to try new things without fear of mistakes.

I really do want to host a conversation.  I want to share any possible thing He’s taught me that might help you, too.

So…will you join me?  And will you share right on back?

It’s gonna be fun!