If you were sent to this page, you probably signed up for the challenge after these two pre-emails were sent and were directed straight to the prep work. The emails below are not required reading š , but we did want you to have them if you’re a little nerdy like us and don’t want to miss out on a single word!
A BOWL OF STRAWBERRIES > A BOWL OF ICE CREAM
Is a thriving prayer life kinda old fashioned in our overly connected world?
Maybe soā¦but weāre about to reclaim it.
There is nothing harder than trying to sit down to pray when Iāve been spending too much time on my phone. A quiet, seemingly one-sided conversation, where I often feel like Iām carrying things seems dull compared to the flash of the blue lights of memes and gossip, text messages and baby pics, new opportunities, and new fashion.
In my book,Ā Pray Confidently and Consistently, I shared why I think we donāt pray, and it may not be why you think.
What about those moments when we just donāt want to pray? I honestly donāt think we feel that way because weāre too busy or because prayerās too boring. I think itās because the idea of choosing prayer in a noisy world is the equivalent of choosing a sweet, natural strawberry over a bowl of ice cream.
The world offers seemingly immediate results while prayer requires patience.
The world offers stimulation at lightning speed while prayer requires that we sit and learn to embrace the quiet needed for listening.
The world offers mind-numbing entertainment while prayer requires our minds.
Highly processed sugar is the easy choice and will always be waiting to tempt us. Fruit, though satisfying, doesnāt have the same chemically addictive qualities as ice cream. So, if we donāt get intentional and actively pursue prayer, we will drift to the ultra-sweet stuff of distractions instead of the satisfying fruit that awaits us. One of my favorite inside jokes with my husband is from a video montage of parents telling their kids that they ate the kidsā Halloween candy. For just a minute, forget the fact that parents are straight-up lying to their kids and kids are flipping out about candy. The part that made us laugh was when one kid matter-of-factly told his mom, āYouāre probably gonna get a belly ache.ā Now, Tyler and I throw this phrase around when we indulge in those things that never feel good afterward.
The distractions wonāt satisfy. Theyāre too sweet, and youāre probably gonna get a belly ache. Grab the natural, sweet, delicious strawberry. Shut off the TV. Turn off the podcasts in the car. Stop listening to the voice messages from friends when you cook. Instead, pray. Itās sweet, and it wonāt leave you with a belly ache.
I cannot tell you how many times Iāve tried to escape prayer by choosing other things, only to finally pray and wish I had come sooner. The temptation to face distractions on our own is real. But when we fall for the lie that we should be able to have these burning bush conversations on the fly or in the midst of constant noise, when we convince ourselves we should have enough self-control to always choose the strawberries over the ice cream, we fool ourselves and are left disappointed with a lackluster prayer life.
We aren’t leaving a lifestyle of prayer up to change anymore. Now that you know why we donāt pray, itās time to describe a prayer life worth getting excited about, just like a fresh juicy strawberryā¦and no belly ache.
HIT REPLY
Tell us what your guilty pleasure is when it comes to the internet. Do you hit up the Reddit threads? Twitter? Or have hundreds of dollars sitting in virtual shopping carts?
COMING SOON: Weāve got a big prep email coming with all the practical tips and resources youāll need to make this happen
Talk soon,
Val
NOSTALGIA IS TRENDING
Has your favorite childhood show gotten the reboot yet? Just wait. Itās likely coming! Nostalgia is trending and apparently, the Millennials and Gen Z kids are even more nostalgic for times they didnāt grow up in!
Nostalgia is trending, but why?
Janelle L. Wilson says, āWe ride a wave of nostalgia, seeking solace in those pre-COVID, pre-smartphone times. People and groups often feel nostalgic for the past when current circumstances are deficient, leaving us with a sense that something valuable has been lost, an unsettling discontinuity between past and present.ā
I think that’s so true. We get nostalgic for something valuable that has been lost.
Can I just tell yāall, I am so nostalgic for the prayer lives of yesteryear?! As Iāve read books on prayer from authors 40 years ago to hundreds, itās easy to think weāre missing something. I canāt even say for sure what it is (because I wasnāt around then 🙂), but thereās something beautiful about the prayer world I read about from previous decades.
Have you read about revivals throughout history, like the Great Awakening or the two prayer warrior sisters in the Hebrides? SeeĀ this IG postĀ to get a taste.
Iām just as impressed with these believersā time, energy, and devotion to prayer as I am with the actual miracles that resulted.
Have you heard of a prayer chain? Itās not a woo-woo mail chain where youād mail out superstitious letters hoping for luck to turn around. It was a way that ladies (and gentlemen) would get the word out to pray when a request came through the church. One lady would be notified, sheād pray for the request, and sheād call another. And the chain would go on and on. Prayer with others, and talking about prayer, was a weekly (if not more) thing.
2023, though?
Many of us havenāt prayed out loud with another person, much less on a weekly basis.
Many of us havenāt seen prayer thrive in our churches.
Many of us are struggling just to talk with God, much less add someone else into the mix.
Friends, the retro prayer life is so compelling to me. I know it wasnāt perfect. But from the stories of older generations of prayer warriors, Iām learning that the Lord worked in mighty ways.
Part of me wants to say…
Can you imagine getting together for quick lunch with friends and then praying in your car together after? (My friends have done this several times)
But that nostalgia drive is thick. I want women, in my house. Over tea. On my porch. In prayer. Because the part of prayer in the old days that I love is that it was an event. It wasn’t the last 5 minutes of Bible study. It was the PRAYER MEETING. It may have even been prayerĀ week. There might have been sandwiches and tea and even a card game (ok, let’s be honest, probably not for Baptist women!) but how sweet would it be to purposefully gather together to meet with our Heavenly Father and our closest friends.
Sometimes, we can look back at the past and get nostalgic for a time that is gone. But the treasured things of previous prayer generations arenāt foregone. Weāre up against new challenges, but praise the Lord! A thriving and connected prayer life is still possible!!
Now that weāve looked at the present and the past, come back tomorrow as we learn how to change the future! But first, reply back and tell usāis your favorite childhood show getting the reboot? Or are you still holding out hope it will happen? Mine is finally happening soon! š
Talk soon,
Val
