Skip to main content

Prayer

Kylie and I have been working hard at praying together lately. It's a bit embarassing, but for 12 years of marriage now we really haven't established a consistency in praying together. We have times of praying individually every day and we pray with our kids in the morning and the evening, but unfortunately for the most part we have just let it go... knowing it would be great if we did, but resigned to the fact that it's hard to find time.

Well, last April I became aware of the ministry of Family Life and began listening to the podcasts of their radio program. It was really great to hear good thoughts and content throughout the week. It helped me remember the significance of my role as a husband and father as well as evaluate what I want to be true of my family and how to get there. I began implementing lots of little things and seeing a lot of fruit.

Then came the Family Life Oneness Prayer Challenge. The challenge was to begin praying together every day for 30 days. I thought, "that's what I need." I've know that Kylie really wants this, but never been consistent enough. We have missed a day here or there, but what a joy it's been to start the day or end the day talking to God about how we are feeling, what's been a challenge, where we need help, etc. We are still working on finding the right time, but I'm sure we will get there.

Check out their website and get some of their devotionals or 'prayer prompts' and see if it is helpful for you as well.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding Joy

For the past several years the task of all of our written communication has fallen to B. He’s asked me to write a post for the blog and I responded that I’ll try to get to it. The inevitable reality is that the pressing needs of family (dinner, potty training accidents, running out of some staple food…) always take my time and brain capacity. However, somehow, miraculously at this moment the dishes are washed, children are in bed, and I have a moment to try to share a bit of the journey God has had me on lately. We returned to our Asian home just over a year ago. One of the interesting things of our Home Assignment in 2016 and the return to the field in 2017 is that B and I dealt with a minimal amount of culture shock going either way. (It was quite a different story for our kids, but that’s for another time.) The excitement of living overseas has long lost its glamor and we knew exactly what we were returning to as we returned to our city. We also had seen that some of our bigges...
2 comments
Read more

The Dark Room

I was asked recently to try to summarize the work of the past 10+ years. Obviously, that is a difficult task to do. However, an image has come to my mind as I have meditated over the past few years. Imagine walking into a pitch black room. You've never been in this room before. You have no clue as to its contents. Slowly you step in and begin groping around with your hands. BANG! You smack your shin on something low. You stop and begin investigating what this object might be. Upon rubbing your hands down the surface you have discovered a small table. It might be a coffee table. "Yes, I recognize this" you say and then move on. However, you bang into it again! Hmmm. This is not a type of coffee table I have every known before. The shape and surface are totally different. You make a mental note. This may or may not be a coffee table. Then you turn around. BANG! You have just bumped your head into something that might be hanging from the ceiling. As you had done previo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peace Beyond Understanding

The night before our flight I lay in bed thinking. I was exhausted from the work of cleaning our house, packing our 10 large bags, and the constant questioning ‘am I forgetting anything?’ That night I couldn’t sleep and began worrying -which I have discovered is something that my body does when it has hit physical and emotional exhaustion. 'Why am I doing this? Why am I taking my small kids across the planet? Have you really called us to this? What good are we doing anyway?’ The questions scared me, but I knew I just needed to get some sleep. A few days later we finally flew to our home. We got through immigration, wheeled are many bags to a friend’s car and saw many smiling faces. People happy to see us again. We drove to our home commenting on the things that had changed and hadn’t changed since we were gone. And then we came to our home. We opened the door and I felt a rush of peace. I cannot explain why. The house is just a normal house. It had the same smells, the same h...
2 comments
Read more