Overflow

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for as long as is available to you.**

    A prayer for us today:

"May our service to God come out of an overflow of his love and grace towards me."

    Take time to sit in God's love and grace today.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

For Those Waiting

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Many of us are in times of waiting. Waiting for the next job, waiting for a baby, waiting for a test result, waiting for a season of trials to be over, waiting for direction or an answer. Waiting times are full of unknowns and unrest. A prayer for those waiting:

    While you wait, may God give you the grace to trust. In the midst of unknown may he overwhelm you with peace. When uncertainty seems to dominate may he give you joy in the present moments.
    As you wait may Jesus be enough and may you settle and rest in him. Amen.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

When God Seems Distant: A Prayer

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    So many times God feels far away, distant, like He does not see, hear or care.
    A prayer for these times:

    “God, we do not feel your nearness. We cannot see your hands at work. We wonder if you’ve taken a break or whether you care. We cannot feel your love and are overwhelmed by sadness. We cannot recognize the gifts you offer us and it seems as though you have forgotten.
    In these times, help us believe. Help us believe your nearness even though we cannot feel or see you; we cannot touch or hear you. Help us to trust you are near. Help us to keep going.
    When others sense you distant, may we help them to see your love, your hands and your feet working for their good. When others cannot see, help us to see for them and love them well just as you do. Thank you for your great love for us. Amen.”
 
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Interrupted Prayers

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
 
    Often are prayers are interrupted. They are interrupted by another thought, they are interrupted by people, someone needing us and they are even interrupted by sleep (admit it, we’ve all fallen asleep praying!).

    In these times it is tempting to abandon our prayers. It is tempting to chalk them up as wasted. It is tempting to beat ourselves up for having a bad though interrupt these holy prayers or for exhaustion to take over. Can we be more disciplined? Yes. Can we find better different ways of prayer? Yes.

    No prayer is wasted and I encourage you to see interrupted prayers as opportunities.

    As your prayers are interrupted, ask God for the conversation “to be continued”. Life has interruptions, some you can decrease and some you cannot. I encourage you to ask God to remind you of your previous prayers and return to the conversation. He is ready for prayer anytime and your prayers are not wasted.
 
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

A Prayer for Peace

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    If you are overwhelmed by conflict, turmoil and unknowns may this prayer encourage you today:

    “God give us peace. In our hearts, our minds, our souls and bodies, give us peace. Some of us are dominated by conflict, by turmoil and by never-ending questions. Calm our hearts. Give our minds rest. Give our bodies and souls peace as we rest in your salvation. Lord, give us peace today - peace that can only come from you. May this peace spread to those around us as well. Amen.”

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Sharing Our Fears

**Sit quietly, eyes closed in and silence for one minute before reading.**
 
    How often do you share your fears with another? How often do you share your fears with God?

    In a culture that values “no fear” we are taught to ignore, avoid the reality that we do fear. To admit to fears communicates weakness.

    So, we are weak. You are weak, I am weak.

    So what do we do? We do not share our fears. We do not share our doubts because to do so would mean admitting we are weak.

    My prayer for us:

    “Lord, break us of our pride. Break us of our enticement to following the values of our culture. Bring us humility and grace. Help us to be people that share fears and graciously receive others’ fears. May we be compassionate people who love you, share our fears and minister to one another. Amen.”
 
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Hearts of Compassion

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

A prayer for us today:

    “God, grow in us a heart of compassion rather than a heart of competition. Help us to see others as you see them. Help us to grow in love for them rather than love for ourselves and for our reputation. Give us hearts meet people where they are in mercy and grace. Thank you for the compassion you show to us, your mercy and your grace. Amen.”

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Our Deep Prayers

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    I love it when God answers prayers that I did not even know I had. He offers gifts and responses that meet the deepest needs and longings of our hearts. Our prayers are real and genuine and He wants to hear them. Our prayers are also so deep within that we do not know what they are or that we even need Him to meet us.

    There is such beauty in receiving answers to our deepest longings. Sometimes there are no words, we do not even know what the longing is but we know God has met us. We know it in our hearts and our whole self desires to respond in praise.

    How has God answered a prayer you never knew you had?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Recalling Goodness

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Spend time in prayer today recalling goodness. Goodness expressed to you by God through friends, through family, through a neighbor or even a stranger.

    How has God been good to you? Reflect on these moments and memories.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

The Gift of Forgiveness

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Oh to receive the gift of forgiveness! Forgiveness is a choice, yes and sometimes forgiveness is a gift, a beautiful gift! Having struggled with prolonged unforgiveness with someone close to me, I know what it does to a person. Bitterness, anger, and impenetrable thick walls grow in our hearts and there is little hope for anything different.

    This prolonged unforgiveness was met with the gift of forgiveness. It was something I asked for. I did not ask for it nobly or humbly but desperately. My prayer was, “God, I can’t do this, I don’t think I even care if nothing changes. So, if you want something to change, you’ve gotta do it.” God did want something to change and He gave me the gift of forgiveness. Utterly unexplainable other than “God did it.” This is not a formula prayer by any means, just my experience.

    Forgiveness is a choice, definitely. Forgiveness also comes in the form of a gift. Is there prolonged unforgiveness in your life? How have you prayed about it? Do you even care? No matter how you pray, I encourage you to make it an honest prayer, no matter what. You never know when forgiveness may come as a gift.

**Sit in silence again for as long as is available to you.**

A Soft Heart

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    On a walk a few weeks ago with my children I found my prayer moving towards a prayer for my children. My specific prayer was this: “May they always have a soft heart towards you, God.”

    You see I know what it is to have a hard heart. A heart that will not accept love no matter what efforts are made, how hard the person tries. I know what it is to have a heart that rejects love. Being intimately aware of what a hard heart is my overwhelming prayer for my children is that they would have soft hearts, in particular soft hearts towards God. I pray they will always be willing to accept God’s love. I pray they would allow Him to gather them up and would rest in Him.

    What prayer do you have for your children’s hearts? What prayer do you have for your own?

**Sit in silence again for as long as is available to you.**

Posturing for Goodness

**Sit quietly, eyes closed, for one minute before reading.**

    How has God shown you His goodness? How has He shown His goodness through you lately?

    Last week, I woke up with this prayer on my heart: “God, show your goodness through me today.” The theme of goodness stuck in my heart and mind for the next couple days. This prayer allowed me to posture myself for God’s use. No, I was not perfect each day, just reminded that God wanted to show His goodness through me.
    Will you posture yourself for goodness today? Will you pray this prayer?

“God, show your goodness through me today, amen.”

**Sit again in quiet for as long as is available to you.**

Faith, Love and Hope

**Before you begin reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for 1 minute.**

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

                                                             – The Apostle Paul, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

    Who are you thankful for? Who do you consistently mention in your prayers?
    I love the idea of continually remembering those who are living their lives for God. It is in their faith, their love and their hope that they serve. Their work, their labor and their endurance is a by-product of their faith, their love and their hope. The people who live this way inspire, encourage and challenge me. They remind me that working, laboring and enduring well are a result of faith and trust in God, love of God and others and hope in Christ. So many times I have it the other way around and forget that it begins with faith, love and hope. This cuts to my heart and brings me to tears as I write.
     May your prayers today be filled with those who have provided amazing examples of walking a life of faith, love and hope because of Christ. May our lives also become examples to others of walking in faith, love and hope.

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Our Hearts

**Before you begin reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for 1 minute.**

  What is my heart wrapped around? What is your heart wrapped around? What will your heart not let go of? These were the questions that God prompted in me recently as I had some time alone driving. These questions led me to tears and to a prayer. This was my prayer for myself and is for all of you.

  God, help us see and to be able to let go of that which we hold onto so tightly. You know us. Search us and show us. As You dig deep and show us be gentle and gracious to us. Help us to trust you in all things and to wrap our hearts around You. May we allow you to “fix things”. Amen.

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Prayer and Creativity

**Before you begin reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for 1 minute.**

Creativity. One thing that parenting has caused me to pray for is creativity. I never thought that would be my prayer, at least in the sense that it has been. I thought a prayer for creativity might be exclusively for crafts or games, playing make-believe or tea parties. I never thought about asking for creativity in problem solving, or guidance in discipline. God is the master of creativity.  Why wouldn't I ask Him? Creativity has become a regular prayer of mine as I seek God in raising my children. That and patience of course.

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**