God's mercies for every MOMent

I was desperately trying to fold the clothes that were left partially on the floor separated and folded, partially in a messy heap in the the laundry basket from yesterday, as my daughter was crawling all over them and trying to escape up the stairs. My morning had been somewhat stressful, as neither my husband nor I were sporting our best Jesus-attitudes and were short with one another. Many projects were left undone and a mess from the previous day since my daughter had refused an afternoon nap and also would not be put down without crying for the last several hours of the day. (She is teething and sometimes needs some extra love). My stomach was growling and my mental, physical, and emotional energy tanks were nearly empty.

Even though I know this is far from the worst life could be, I felt pretty desperate for God to shower His love on me to help me get through the day. I needed my Father to lavish His love on me (I John 3:1) so I could show His love to my daughter and husband.

I screamed in frustration and prayed for the Lord to give me His strength. He brought this verse to mind:

Yet I still dare to hope
      when I remember this:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
      His mercies never cease. 

Great is his faithfulness;
      his mercies begin afresh each morning. 

Lamentations 3:21-23

How beautiful a scripture! His mercies begin afresh each morning. Even if I had a difficult and sleepless night, even if I was cross with my daughter or husband, even if I have too many things to do, I can dare to hope that His mercies are never ending and his love never ends. I can pray for His help to get me through the day.

But one thing bothered me about this verse... it came to my mind before 9:00 in the morning. I'd gotten off to a rough start. I still had a long way to go before his mercies could begin afresh in me in the morning again, and I needed it sooner than that!

I concluded that if the faithful love of the Lord never ends (meaning it is always happening), then his mercies can begin afresh each moment!

Therefore, I decided to make my own "new morning." Though I cannot actually reset the sun and cause the day to start over, I can, with God's help, change my attitude and my heart to focus again on Him. Some days, this will be an almost constant "time-out with God", but I think he welcomes that. Just as I welcome my daughter into my arms when she needs my love the most, our Heavenly Father welcomes us when we run to Him.

So start your morning afresh when you need to: Take advantage of your children's nap times and bask in the presence of your Heavenly Father through prayer, Bible reading, or listening to inspirational music. (The chores will be there when you are done, but your attitude will be better to take care of them). Put the kids in a safe place and take a quick shower in the middle of the day to refocus your mind and heart. Go for a walk to the playground and let the kids play while you chat with God. Take some time in another room to be alone with God after you pop in a Veggie Tales DVD for the kids. Pray with your children, asking forgiveness aloud for your bad attitude and requesting that the Lord fill you with his Spirit.

You will not regret seeking your Heavenly Father moment by moment. It's the only way we can be the mothers He has called us to be. I will leave you with my own version of the scripture, reminding you to seek God regularly as you fulfill the high calling of motherhood.

Yet I still dare to hope
      when I remember this:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
      His mercies never cease. 

Great is his faithfulness;
      his mercies begin afresh each MOMent. 

Prayer Warrior

Pray continually.  I Thessalonians 5:15

 I have always wanted to be a prayer warrior. Oh, how I have dreamed about praying in such a way that I could move mountains (Matthew 17:20)! 

I have always admired Angie Whitaker, a true woman of faith in my home church of North Hills Church of God in Springfield, Ohio, who would meet weekly at the church building to pray for needs. She believed in the power of prayer. And I have always wanted to believe in prayer, but I rarely prayed enough to be able to see the results of being a prayer warrior.

 Have you ever felt this way? Every time I would pray, I would get distracted. Something else would catch my attention. (Maybe it was the enemy trying to hinder my prayers...?) Even if I was in a dark room alone, my thoughts would wander. I felt like my poor students at the elementary school where I worked who wanted to learn, but their bodies and brains just couldn't focus. That was my conundrum with prayer.

I've tried so many things throughout the years. Prayer journals worked for awhile, but then I got sick of writing out every word. Sometimes I would sit next to an empty chair and pray as if Jesus were right there beside me, but that didn't last long and my mind would still wander. I had a prayer app on my iPod touch, but I didn't always have the internet access it required. I wrote prayer requests in a notebook, but then I'd lose the notebook. I set up a "prayer and exercise" room in my basement, but when the weather was nice, I much preferred to ride a real bike than a stationary one! I found myself so very frustrated and not even desiring to pray. Prayer should be the foundation of every believer's life - and I, a long-time Christ-follower and pastor's wife, could not seem to master this basic part of the Christian walk. 

Shortly after my daughter was born, I began reading an excellent book called "Taking Care of the c Me in Mommy" by Lisa Whelchel. This book is packed with excellent information for moms! However, I think the best part of the book for me was the section about prayer. I found out I wasn't alone - Lisa also wrestled greatly with this issue, and she gave me pointers for how to help my focus with a Prayer Journal. Though I did not make mine as intricate as hers, I have found great value in my prayer journal.

I used to get so overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to pray for, and it seemed I always forgot to praise and thank God and ask forgiveness for my sins. So I created a notebook with a simple folder with tabs for inserting pages. On the front, I used a decorative paper and wrote four parts of prayer:
   
         Adoration
         Confession
         Thanksgiving
         Supplication

I also made other notes to myself on the front about remembering to listen to God, and reminders to pray BIG prayers because I serve an even BIGGER God!

Then I created a chart in Pages (you could use Microsoft Word) with 7 columns and 5 rows. At the top of each column I wrote the days of the week, respectively. Then I printed out the sheets and wrote different topics for which I want to pray, one on each sheet:

* My husband
* My children
* Family
* Friends
* Church
* World
* Myself
* Timely (things that are "temporary prayers", like selling a house, a brief illness, etc)

I wrote one request in each box on the appropriate paper, as many as I could think of for each category (and as I think of more I continue to fill them in). Then I put them in sheet protectors and inserted them into my prayer folder. This is my new guideline for prayer. Every day I have a maximum of 5 items to pray for in each category, and all the people and issues that I want to bring to the Lord in prayer are written down. I am no longer overwhelmed trying to remember them all; I pray for a few each day. (You can find a copy of my prayer journal page here!)

If you have been looking for something to help you grow closer to the Lord through prayer, I hope that this is an encouragement and inspiration to you, and maybe a starting point to find something similar that works for you!

I look forward to my prayer time now, and I am excited to see what God will do inside me and through my prayers on my new journey as a prayer warrior!