This is how I felt when began my week of intentionally practicing the spiritual discipline of prayer. It was hard and awkward at first, yet I know it will get easier and that it is teaching me so much about trusting God for everything. The two main things I learned were to worship more frequently and offer my worries up to God.
When my mind was pointed toward prayer as a priority I found myself praising God more frequently. Instead of merely thinking, “Oh I like snow!” I would pray, “God thank you for sending this beautiful snow!” I think this helped me to be more aware of how God is working in my life. He is blessing me every day in more ways than I can even recognize, but when I do recognize them my appreciation of them deepens when I acknowledge that they come from a Father who loves me.
Not only has my Father given me blessings, but he also wants to care for my needs and hear my requests. During my week of practicing prayer more intentionally I tried to take note of those needing prayer and raise petitions to God on their behalf. Along with this I also had my own personal requests to God. When I was doing this I understood much better that God is in complete control of circumstances. I began to see everything I experienced as a gift of grace and an answer to prayer. Even if it was not what I had intended, I knew God had heard my plea and he was working in a way that was more than I could have asked for.
Although I learned a lot about worshiping God and giving my worries up to him through my week focused on prayer, I did not do as well as I had hoped of keeping constant dialogue with God and setting apart time for deep prayer. However, what I gleaned from the praying I was able to do showed me that this is a discipline I need to continue practicing. As I get more comfortable praying I believe it will become easier and I will learn to listen to God’s responses better.
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