Time and place: (i have this at the top of my prayer journal and I think I am going to add it to my blog entries. It will be interesting to know whats going on around me as I quickly write these entries)
8:37 am in my room
K is next to me "yesss" ing over her puppy pals game she is playing on her "i-pad" aka: leap pad
S is singing to herself on the monitor, I really need to get the video monitor up and running again I love seeing her play with her toys and sing to them while she lays on her back and flops them around in her bed.
For many yesterday was the start of something new... maybe a new diet, workout schedule, be a better ______ , invest more in ______ , save money, be more spiritual, call this person I havent talked to in a long time, quit a habit.
I love resolutions and I love to look back at them and see what I was committing to do to be a better me year after year, some are epic fails lol and some I actually have seen take root in my life. One thing I am "resolving" to do this year is be a better prayer warrior. Prayer is a big legacy in my family, I believe in its power. My mom told me recently of how from a very young age I truly believed if we prayed something it would be, that God would hear our prayers and answer them. Luckily that's biblical and I have seen it true in my life. There have been times I know I only got through a tough season bc people were praying specifically for me. I have done this certain prayer challenge before and seen its fruit. A wise friend of mine has this on her blog, its private to the public. BUT I found the source of the "Take your Man to Jesus" 10 day prayer calendar.
http://www.leadingandlovingit.com/resources/
And also, the calendar of prayer for my kiddos.
http://www.inspiredtoaction.com/wp-content/uploads/kat/I2A_Prayer_Calendar.pdf (im sure ive shared this before)
We do this every morning, I pray these virtues over them and read the verses at breakfast, kehnley always wants to write the bible reference. We write them on the chalk wall by the table and read them AT LEAST 3 times a day when we sit down there to grub. (as someone smarter than me once said- "they can't read....but I can, so I read it to them as often as possible")
I recently realized that my identity is not in my title as mother and wife, my identity is in Christ. I was putting so much of my worth and accomplishment in how I managed these two relationships/titles/roles that when they were not as I had hoped or a day didn't turn out like planned, I was let down and disappointed and thought I had failed in some way. When our identity is in our jobs or our relationships or accomplishments or superficial things, sooner or later we will be let down.
Reading the story of the Tower of Babel it seams immature that these people would work so hard to build a tower to the heavens thinking they could actually reach some level of Kingship or become like God... yet when I look closely at my life, how many towers have I built up to say what they said
"Let's build a tower that reaches to the sky. We'll make a name for ourselves." Genesis 11:4
Make a name for myself, get all the praise, get the credit, get the other people wondering "how does she do it!" Our titles can be our towers and I am certain I have made an idol out of the things I can accomplish. Pretty soon, my towers fall and I am left to sort through the rubble wishing that I had let God be God and let Him set me up on a high place in His strength.
I may not be able to do all things through my own strength, I may not be able to control how the people in my life respond to me or how a day goes to plan... but I can pray. I can trust and I can wait. And it's so much more rewarding to pray something over a life and see God work, and know He let me be apart of that.
{Side note: When the people started building the Tower and they starting "making a name for themselves" God confused their language and spread them all over the Earth, I find that when I try to do it all on my own to make a name for myself, pretty soon I am confused, spread thin and definitely not the master of anything.}
For extra encouragement, there is this blog that I follow for my kiddos, and she writes one as well for women : here is her New Year's post
http://www.incourage.me/2012/01/i-will-not-go-down.html
Happy New Year and I'm praying for all of you too! :) What will you resolve to do better or different in the year ahead?
