Prayer Month: Day 1

So prayer time started out as a complete parenting fail. I got up at 6am to pray. I decided that I was going to start my days out with a prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude for all of the blessings in my life. Well, it was 6am… dark and cold. So I turned off my alarm, crawled back under the covers and started to pray. I have so many things to be thankful for, and I really wanted to start out right so I was praying and praying and praying and then sleeping. I woke up at 7:35!!! Everyone was still sound asleep… and we have to leave the house by 7:45 to make it to school on time!

I frantically got everyone up, tossed their clothes in their bed and yelled, “you have 3 minutes to be dressed with your teeth brushed and downstairs!” I ran down and grabbed everyone a cup of dry cereal, thanked my lucky stars it was chicken nugget day at school so no lunches needed to be packed, tossed coats in the car and handed Eleni a brush for her hair in the car. We made it to school in world record time (even getting in the quick 8am “lets be a good example/make good choices prayer” in the car on the way), but I am definitely going to need to change my game plan on my 6am prayer time.

The next prayer came during my trip to town. I had my little notebook in my purse, knowing who and what I was to be praying for, I felt it was going to be good… then I remembered I had a 3 year old in the car. They usually have lots of questions, and on this particular day, she was nonstop chatter. I was praying and answering questions about various things ranging from wild animals vs. farm animals to if it was prettier to have sparkles on a dress or for it to be poofy (on our way for Christmas dress shopping). This tends to make the 15 minute trip to Washington not so “prayer time” focused. I got it done, but it was very much a check it off the list sort of prayer.

My 2pm prayer time was about the same because it was on our way home. Thankfully Addi fell asleep about half way home, so I got a solid 5 minutes to myself.

5pm prayer time I completely forgot about in the midst of running everyone out the door for dance class… so 5pm got bumped to 7:30 when I remembered.

9pm and 11pm weren’t bad because kids were in bed and I could take the time for myself. Hope this gets less crazy and more meaningful as time goes by. I am setting a reminder on my phone for each one starting tomorrow so 5pm busyness does not happen everyday.

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Prayer Month: Outline

This month is my final month!!! HOLY COW!!! I have made it to the last month, and I hope to find it rewarding. I really wanted to be finished by the end of the year, so instead of my normal week break in between the fasts, I am only taking one day and then starting the prayers on Monday morning. I hope I don’t regret this. 

I always try to have an idea or goal of what I think I should be learning or what I think God will try to teach me. After eight areas of my life being focused on, and me getting it wrong EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I am just going to trust that God is going to do something wonderful in my life, and the lives of those I am praying for this month (even if that something wonderful doesn’t happen this month). 

Purpose: To take 7 times during my day to pause and focus on communicating with God on things that are important in my life.

Times and Areas to Pause:

6am- Thanksgiving and Gratitude

8am- Being a Christ-like example/making good choice (this is done with the Children)

10am- The Church (both local and “the” church) and Leaders

2pm- Me. My needs/desires/purpose

5pm- Poverty and Orphans (this is also done with the children-sometimes)

9pm- The lost/broken/hurting

11pm- My family

This is a VERY general outline of what my PLAN is (who knows if I will stick with it or if God has other plans).  I have things all listed out in my little notebook for each time I pause to pray. Monday’s prayers will look very different than Wednesday’s prayers… and so on. Some days I have people listed by name to be praying for at certain times of the day, some days I have more general things to be praying for.

Fears:

I will forget. I hope to be able to actually take the time to pray and not get lost in my day and the things that need to get done. It is a very busy time of year, I really hope I make this a priority.

I won’t connect. With God-I pray it is not mechanical and just a read the names of the list of who should be getting prayers for the day. With People-I pray I make some genuine connections and God leads me to people that He wants me to be praying for by name this month.

I won’t see results. I know this is a very real possibility because God does things in His time, not ours. But I would like to have some sort of “sign” that this month/year was purposeful (I have no idea what that even looks like… ).

If you have something you would like me to specifically be praying for, please let me know. I am honored to do it.

I am very much looking forward to this month. I can’t wait to see what God has in store. I am also terrified that this fasting experience is coming to a close. I have no idea what (if anything) is next.

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Spending Month: Day 28

Well, I made it to the end. And of course there were some uncomfortable parts along the way, but overall I didn’t feel overwhelmingly deprived this month. I managed to make it to the last day without eating out, and then I let my mom buy me Simone’s. I mean you really can’t go to Eldo without eating Simone’s, right?

We also shopped in a store outside the limits again. But once again, we did not do it with our money and it wasn’t for us. My mom gave the kids money to go shopping for soldiers (her local MOPS group is putting together care packages). Let me tell you, having 3-8 year olds shop for grown men can be very interesting and entertaining (after the fact of course, in the moment it is only frustrating :)). Addi was dead set on sending a leopard print V-neck tank-top with built in bra support. After several meltdowns we settled on plaid men’s PJ pants that had a hint of purple.  We also picked up things like camouflage underwear (Brayden-practical, yet in “theme”), socks (Landen- simple and to the point), and lots of treats and candy (Eleni- the world should be made out of sprinkles and sugar girl). Overall… success!

I was a tad worried going into Thanksgiving with none of our shopping choices in the town we were at, but it all worked out, and we were well prepared. Family in abundance made the entertainment factor easy (especially if you know my family). The weather was beautiful, so lots of playing outside with cousins. The boys in did some manual labor to earn money toward the Fresh Water Well Mission. :)

Eric and I even ran to Eldorado from my mom’s house as a lovely date opportunity with no spending involved.

There was lots of pie baking, eating yummy food, and spending time with loved ones. It was good to spend time with family and I didn’t even have to worry about the fast at all while we were there. It was a nice way to end. 

 

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Spending Month: Day 24

I do this thing on my week break each month in between fasting periods.  Whatever I have just finished fasting, I go completely overboard. For example: media month- there was probably some sort of electronic device on for the entire 24 hour period following the “no technology” month, food month- after only meat, fruits and veggies for a month… I indulged in pizza and ice cream right off the bat… totally threw up, clothing month… probably wore a different piece of clothing everyday for a week… and lots of jewelry…you get the idea. Things I have deprived myself of I over indulge in, regret it, then scale back to something that is manageable (taking into account the things I learned during the previous month’s fast).  I don’t know why, but I seem to do it every month. 

I also tend to spend almost the first full week of every fast completely committing myself to following the rules, which in turn makes me loose track of the purpose. Again, I have to gather myself, refocus, and remember the purpose for each fasting experience… it’s not just about following the rules. 

This month got to be a combination of the two evils combined. I was very overwhelmed at the thought of my limitations of places to shop, that apparently I thought I needed to be at one of those three stores every single day. Sad, but true(and completely embarrassing) in the first 14 days of the fast, I was at one of my three stores (Aldi, Save-a-lot, or Walmart) 13 of those days! Yes… I just said I spent money 13 out of 14 days of a spending fast… ridiculous, I know! I didn’t need to do it,  I didn’t even spend an excess amount of money, I just freaked out about only spending in three locations, so I went overboard and did it every day. This completely defeated the purpose (knowing where I spend my money and being a good steward of it), so I put myself in Walmart Rehab. No store going unless completely necessary. I am proud to say that in the last 10 days I have only been to the store twice, and one of those was just to grab a drink! 

All it took was a little planning and less freaking out. I needed to look at the big picture.  This happens to me all the time in life… freaking out about the here and now and not looking at the big picture. God is the Almighty Man with a plan in place… we just need to slow down, stop sweating the small stuff, and refocus on the big picture… Love God. Love each other.  That’s it… plain and simple. 

One of my favorite verses of all time: Jerimiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

God knows the plan, and He got a good one. I may not understand all the details along the way, but He has a reason for everything. So I’m going to stop freaking out and sweating the small stuff… because there is a bigger picture, even if I can’t see it right now. So I will try my best to keep it simple… Love God. Love other people. And leave the details in the plan up to Him. 

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Spending Month: Day 22

Good friends can sometimes be very humbling. I have some really good friends. My friend Natalie and I were talking a couple weeks back about one of the bummer parts of this fast is the entertainment factor. Yes, there are all kinds of creative ways to create entertainment without spending money… and we have and are doing that (really we have no choice… so we do that or be bored :)). But there are some things that you have to spend money on in order to be able to do. The movies for instance… it requires spending cash to go. Also… eating out.- can’t do it. Can we spend a month skipping movies and eating out… absolutely! Our family does it all the time. But the not spending money, it does make date nights and social outing with friends more of an effort… they require thinking and planning and sometimes a bit of humility.  

As far as social settings without money this month, I tried having people into my home more often.  Note the word TRIED. Here is the problem with that… 95% of the people I hang out with during this season of life have children… that makes them busy, committed else where, and it is cold and flu season. Life happens, people are busy, and kind people choose not to spread germs, so I ended up actually only having Natalie (and I’m pretty sure it took a re-schedule at that) into my actual home for lunch and a playdate with the kids. I do enjoy having people into my home, and know I don’t do it nearly enough… so it is my mission to get people here! That’s what the Lord says, right? 1 Peter 4:9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 

 Lots of things hinder me from inviting people in… a messy house, ill behaved children, no fancy meal prepared. And I think there is a time for all of those things… I do! I like to make people feel special and like I put forth effort for them to be there. But I don’t think it has to happen ALL OF THE TIME.  I think people just want to feel loved and wanted (I know I do… so I assume the same applies to lots of people out there). They usually don’t care about the toys in the floor or dishes in the sink (it might even make them feel normal). Lots of times my mom friends just want someone to sit down and have a grown-up conversation with… they don’t care if you are fixing chicken salad sandwiches or a 5 course meal. I just need to love people. And when you love people, you invite them in, right? So it is my mission… bring people in and build relationships. What better way than over dirty dishes and a chicken sandwich. :)

Humility- Natalie took me to the movies on day 21. This was hard for me… I’m not sure why. I love hanging out with Natalie and I was super excited about the movie. It is the simple fact that someone else paid my way. I didn’t earn it; it was a gift that was just handed to me without asking for anything but my company in return. This is what Jesus does. He offers us a gift of eternal life and all He asks in return is for us to walk with Him. Why is this so hard? Because we don’t feel like we have earned it? We don’t feel worthy? I know I struggle with this.  But I am so thankful the gift has been offered and I am choosing to receive it. It has been an awesome time being in the company of Jesus. He has taught me so much about me over the last almost 33 years, but the last 10 months have been and AMAZING ride. Best choice ever!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!