How to Make a Daily Prayer Journal

I used to pray through a daily prayer journal when Josiah was young.

I filled the pages, then never made a new one.

I would still pray for specific things, I tried to be intentional, but I seem to really need that guide to keep me focused.

I’m not sure why I stopped journalling when there is so much to pray for.

Maybe I got overwhelmed, maybe I got discouraged, maybe I’m even leary of success.

Prayer is always successful.  Talking to God never comes back void.  Even when the answers don’t come, or the answers that do come are not the ones I hoped for, God cannot fail.  Leaving things with Him will never fail.

I’ve known for quite a while I need to make another prayer journal, and I seem to do things easier when I share the ideas with others.  I love to invite others in.

So join me in making a daily prayer journal if you will…

There is no pressure if a day/week/month is missed.  The point is to keep going… not get discouraged… just… keep… going.

How to make a daily prayer journal:

1. Start with a focus for each day – like family, friends, sick persons, those who you really hope will give their lives to Christ, specific ministries you support with time or finances, your church, etc.
2. Grab a journal – anything will do – scrap paper for environmentally-friendly folks, a smallish hardcover journal with lined pages, a softcover spiral bound book – anything!
3. Label the days of the week at the tops of the pages, or use a pacakge of multi-coloured tabs for easy reference.
4. Jot down a focus for that day.
5. Fill in any ideas you have for the focus for the day.  You can always add on to it.
6. Pray – set aside a time – like during your devotions, or put your journal in a place where you’ll see it and remember to pray.
7. Record God’s answers to your prayers.  When one is answered, cross it off and add another!

My prayer journal will look a little something like this to get back in the habit:

Monday (the day I try to do our banking) – Finances – praise for provision, requests for things needed/wanted, guidance & wisdom to be good stewards of the money God gives us

Tuesday – Family – praise items in their lives, any requests

Wednesday – Friends – praise items in their lives, any request

Thursday – Boy’s school, ministries we support through prayer, time given or donation

Friday – Marriages of friends/family, or persons for which Josh performed the ceremony

Saturday – Not sure yet… I’ll have to ask God about this day…

Sunday – church with a small “c” and Church with a big “C”

Other than that, I try to pray for the boys and for Josh daily, and we try to pray with the boys and with each other daily.  Doesn’t always happen, but we try.

All these ideas I hope will encourage you, just as it encourages me to share the journey with you.

I love to share the journey.

Do you have any other ideas for daily prayer?

Balloon Launch 2012 – Happy Birthday Caleb!

 

Our Caleb would be nine on May 21, 2012.

It is a special task to celebrate the ever-too-short life of a child who has passed away long before his parents or brothers.  Long before his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Long before his great-grandparents.

It’s just not natural.  It’s just not right.

It’s broken – like the world we live in.  Fallen.

There are so many things that aren’t right in this world.  Yet God has promised to walk with us through every storm, every tragedy, and every hardship.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Matthew 28:20 … And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I have lived in the faithfulness and love of this promise for nine years.

So we celebrate – what else can we do with all the love in our hearts for our Caleb?

I am grateful for the short time we had.  I am thankful that his soul touched ours, even for such a short time.  I am confident of where he lives now – at home in heaven.

We talk about Caleb often in our family – he is one of us, and we openly talk about him – honest conversations.  We talk about heaven, about boys that can’t wait to wrestle their brother (I tell them to get ready because he may have had a few tips from Samson!), about a mommy that longs to feel her son’s arms around her – picking her up and swinging her around in the biggest hug she’s ever known, about a daddy who will one day look his middle son in the eyes and know that it’s finally OK.

I chose a green balloon this year, and we went to Minnow Lake near our home.  It was a very windy day and we knew the balloon would just shoot out of sight.  I couldn’t get a picture fast enough!

We all grab hold of the string and kiss the balloon.  We sing Happy Birthday to Caleb.  We release our gift to him – celebrating his day with him the only way we know how.

We always see who can keep the balloon in sight for the longest time – Josh always wins.

We stand for a few minutes – each of us processing in our ways.

We do our best to love each other.

Somehow Caleb knows how much we love him.

This year Elijah wanted to use his Dairy Queen gift card to get a special treat for his brother’s birthday.  He also wanted to send a sundae up with the balloon, but I had to break it to him that the balloon wouldn’t rise with a sundae attached.  But it was a great idea!  He also wanted to order an extra sundae and let it sit at the table with us.  Another great idea, but sometimes I am very practical and didn’t want to waste the food.  Maybe next year we can order a sundae and give it away to someone in line?

And last night I opened Caleb’s memory box with the boys.  The one that Josh and his grandpa made, that a friend of ours painted with extreme care and love.  It’s beautiful.

We sifted through trinkets and treasures, through cards and poems.  We talked more about him.  We talked about good memories I have of that time – of people gathering around us and walking through with us – the hands and feet of Jesus to us – God with us, just like He promises.

Then we read a book about heaven and it was time for bed.

I see how Caleb is changing our lives, our family, our world for the better – with the hope of heaven and the reminder of God’s love and faithfulness.

I am proud of my son, honoured to be his mother, thankful, grateful for him.

The saying It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all comes to mind.

I think it is true, but so hard to live through.

I would much rather love and keep.

So I love the two boys I have to raise, love them with all I am, with enough love for three boys all packed into two.

And I keep going, always closer to the day I’ll meet our Caleb, knowing he would want me to live life to its FULLEST.

Somehow I know him, I know he loves me, I know he’s waiting for me.

Smile.  That is good for my mother’s heart.

Happy Birthday to my heavenly boy,

Mommy.

 

Bible Reading Plan 2012 – June to December

There are so many great Bible reading plans out there, but I really wanted one that walks me through the Bible in a year and matches up with special hol(y)days on the calendar – like Lent, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and Advent.

Starting on June 1st, it will be time to start in Genesis and read through to Revelation – by next May.

Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes are intertwined through the readings, as those books stand alone in the Bible and are not part of the chronology.

Also, I’ve slotted Chronicles in just before Christmas, as that is a good summary of Old Testament events – from creation to the fall of Jerusalem.

I hope to share this walk through the Bible every year with my boys – I have two books on hand to use – Upper Room Bible Stories & The One Year Bible for Children – and sometimes I may just read a few verses from a passage.

Drop a note and let me know how it’s going!  I’ll keep you updated on how I’m doing as well!

I may post the Bible readings daily on this blog – to keep myself accountable – maybe this will encourage you too?!

Click here for the Bible Reading Plan 2012 – June to December.

New Favourite Song

For Your Splendor

Christy Nockels and Nathan Nockels

I’m so concerned with what I look like from the outside.

Will I blossom into what You hope I’ll be.

Yet You’re so patient just to help me see.

The blooms come from a deeper seed that You planted in me.

Sometimes it’s hard to grow when everybody’s watching.

To have your heart pruned by the one who knows best.

And though I’m bare and cold. I know my season’s coming.

And I’ll spring up in Your endless faithfulness.

With my roots deep in You. I’ll grow the branch that bears the fruit.

And though I’m small, I’ll still be standing in the storm.

‘Cause I am planted by the river by Your streams of living water.

And I’ll grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord.

So with my arms stretched out, I’m swaying to Your heartbeat.

I’m growing with the sound of Your voice calling.

You’re bringing out the beauty that You have put in me.

For Your joy and for Your glory falling.

© 2012 sixsteps Music / worshiptogether.com Songs / Sweater Weather Music (ASCAP) (Admin. at EMICMGPublishing.com)

“And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary.  Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12

We pop the new CD into the player and settle in for a night’s rest.  It’s Into The Glorious by Christy Nockels.  I kneel beside my younger son’s bed and we pray about the day behind and the day to come.

I tell him I’ll stay for two songs, then I have to go fold laundry – ugh!  He says he is much more important than laundry and I say Don’t I know it!  But someone has to get it done or we’d all be walking around with nothing on!  That gets a chuckle and we wait for the second song on the CD to play.

Then we sing the chorus – With my roots deep in You, I’ll grow the branch that bears the fruit…

And he tells me we sing pretty good together and he thinks I have a really nice voice.  I thank him, knowing He hears the praise and not necessarily the pitch.  The sound of praise is beautiful to him, and my heart praises every time I hear this song.

And though I’m small I’ll still be standing in the storm – how many times have the storms come?  And how many times has He helped me to stand in those storms?  He is ever-faithful.

A promise, a sweet, sweet, promise – I’ll grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord.  I know He’s growing me, growing my husband, growing my sons to grow branch(es) that bear fruit.

Trees speak to me – I love the look of them, the smell of them, the way they so willing sway at the beck and call of wind, dancing in His fingertips, so at ease, so at play.  I am an absolute tree-hugger.  And so when Christy Nockels sings about how people grow branches that bear fruit for Christ if they have their roots deep in Him, I really get it.

When David Crowder put out the song How He Loves and sang about how God loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy – I really got that too.

Elijah and I finish our singing for the night, I tuck him into his cozy little bed, all snuggled under the blankets, I kiss his super-smooth cheeks and go about the mundane.  I bring the praise with me, and it helps when the mundane tries to overwhelm.

I will  grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord.

And I know that even the mundane gets me closer to who You made me to be.

My Mountains…

 

 

A Glimpse of My Art Course

I’ve been taking university classes online this semester.  I took four to start with and quickly discovered this is way too many for the phase of life in which I’m currently living, and this is also the reason I haven’t been blogging much lately!  One of my courses was a digital imaging course.  After these four classes (my exams are on Friday and Saturday) I’ll have 10 more to go to earn my Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree, and hopefully go on to Teacher’s College!  I plan on spreading the classes out a bit more to keep my sanity, and should finish up in April 2014, instead of the original finish date of April 2013.  Not too shabby.

I thought I’d share a couple of projects from my Fine Arts class this semester:

In this one we were supposed to show how we thought technology was helping or hindering our future – I focused on how we can use simple technologies like houses, toys, clean water, food, etc. to help children in developing countries live healthier lives with more opportunity.  I hope to help the children globally throughout my life, and I’m praying for God to show me how to best do that.  So in the photo, I’m holding a child’s hand (a picture taken during my Dominican missions trip last April) and walking with him into a brighter future than what he is leaving behind.  Josh and the boys are waiting in the background as well.

In this photo, we were to take one image and work with it using different styles and techniques.  I chose the pinecone and tried to make it represent a little of the emotions I feel when we visit the cemetary.  There is a pine tree there and the boys love to play in it, gather pinecones, decorate cemetary markers with them, etc.  This photo shows a tree, and the pinecones falling from it, symbolizing the sadness I sometimes feel, the separation I sometimes feel from loved ones at the cemetary.

My final mark in this class was 78% and I’m pretty happy with that!!

Prophecies of Jesus Activity Leading Up To Ascension Day 2012

Ascension Day 2012 is Thursday, May 17th.

I woke up early this morning, remembering this activity about the Prophecies of Jesus.  We tried it last year, and it worked pretty well, considering we were crazy-busy with mission trip planning and experiencing!

The activity goes a little something like this….

The odds of one person fulfilling all the Biblical prophecies of the Messiah is one in 10 to the power of 157!

We cut out a ton of prophecies from this chart (there is a print button on the top right side of the page that makes this easy to print and cut out the prophecies).

We placed the prophecies in a crystal bowl (la-dee-da!) and picked one every weekday (well, not quite every weekday last year!) to look up and read aloud together.

We taped a couple of zeros every day from this paper…

…to a poster on the wall.  I realized near the end of the activity that this page only has half the zeros required (!) so keep in mind that you need double this amount of zeros.

It was really interesting to watch the zeros pile up, and try to comprehend with the boys just how impossible it is for someone to live up to every single Biblical prophecy about the Messiah – that is, impossible unless that person IS the Messiah!

This year I’ll print out a page of zeros for each son – if we tape 3 per weekday, per son, to the wall, then 1 per day during May 13 – 17, that should do it (?) – we’ll see if my math is right as get closer to the end!

Enjoy your day!

Easter Sunrise

He is Risen!

 

What’s So Good About Good Friday?

This is an edited version of a post from last Easter weekend… it was good to revisit these thoughts today…

Truly, truthfully, the horror of today, of Jesus on the cross, it sits in my soul, in my heart, in my mind.  Why?  Why would someone do that for me?  Why did it have to be so horrible?  I know what they did to Him, yet I keep myself from thinking about it.  I know they beat Him so badly, I know they scorned Him so brutally, I know they left Him feeling so alone and forsaken.  I keep my thoughts on other things because I can’t stand to know.

I ask myself, I cry out to God – What is so good about Good Friday?  Why do we have to call this day - GOOD?

He answers me in the stillness, in the silence, in the horror of the cross…

Take a closer look.  Let your eyes wander over the WHOLE scene.  What do you see Anna?

I see a man on a cross, so hurt, so alone, so much pain.

You need to look at the others, Anna.  There you will see the reason for the man on the cross.

I close my eyes to the man on the cross, not because I want to forget, but because my human eyes can only see pain.  I need to look with my soul eyes.

A tiny flicker of a smile plays at the corner of my lips.  It spreads, heart fills, eyes water.

I see.

Hope.

Love.

People saved from sin and death.

There are so many in the scene at the cross.  So much hope.  So much love.  So much salvation.

Two men on two other crosses.  One on either side of Jesus.  The three crosses themselves tell us the gospel story.  Jesus hung between them.  They had a choice, just as we have a choice.  One man chose to rebuke Jesus, the other chose to believe in Him.  Jesus promised fellowship with Him in paradise to the latter. (Luke 23:39-43)

A sign hung above Jesus’ head.  The Roman ruler had them place it there.  It spoke of the priest’s charge against Jesus.  JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS is what it said.  The priests wanted Pilate to change the sign to say that Jesus CLAIMED to be the King of the Jews.  Pilate would not change it.  (John 19:19-22)  The gospel is for everyone, for the whole world, and can get into the soul of ANY man, woman or child.

A soldier stood at the foot of the cross at the moment of Jesus’ death.  He heard Jesus’ cry as He breathed His last.  This was not a normal death on a cross.  On a cross people died with agony, exhaustion as they slipped into unconsciousness.  Jesus died with a loud cry.  This cry caused the soldier to believe.  “Surely this man was the Son of God” is what the soldier said.  (Mark 15:37-39)  Even as Jesus took His last breath He was showing hope to others.

I close my eyes again, focused on the scene around Jesus on the cross.  I close my eyes because I see Mary, His mother.  I play it in my mind – over and over – a mother watching Her son die.  This scene is too close to home.  I close my eyes to see with my soul.  And what I see is beautiful.

“When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’  From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”  (John 19:26-27)

The love of a son for His mother.  Even as He hangs dying, He cares for her.  Such beauty there.

And I see the good on the Friday.  The way Jesus reached out to anyone, anytime, anywhere.  EVEN ON THE CROSS.

I see that even in the most dire circumstances, Jesus offered salvation and the hope of eternity and freedom from sin.  He offered love.

He never stopped being who He said He was.  He never faltered.  Any day was good when He was around.

Now the next question.. is it really true?  Will He really rise again?  Did He mean what He said?

Are we really free?

I know the answer.  Hope rises within.

I know what day is coming.

Sunday.

It’s coming.

Imagine

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I wrote this article for the recent edition of the Link & Visitor  magazine – a publication by the Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec.

I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  – John 6:47

“You’re so beautiful.”

“I love you.”

“You are such a good mommy.”

“I’m so happy to be married to you.”

These are words from my husband’s mouth – he’s been saying them to me over and over these almost thirteen years we’ve been together.  My heart used to block them, believing these words couldn’t be true about me.  One day as my husband spoke wonderful words to me, as my heart began to choose to turn away from the good being offered, I heard Him ask.

Why do you turn away from My words?  I have put them in Joshua’s mouth so he will speak them to you, My bride, My love.  I cannot hold you with human arms or speak to you with a human voice, but I have given you someone who can.  Hear his words, for they are My words.  Open your ears to all My words.  I’ve given them to many of my people to speak into your life.  Believe them.  I know no lies.  Anna, these words are true, that is how I see you.  Live in that truth.

So I try, when my Joshua speaks wonderful words to me, when others speak words of encouragement and love, I try to really hear them and live in them and thank God for the gift of them.  Thank Him for the words from beyond.  Imagine a place where we only hear those kinds of words, an everlasting whisper in our ears of goodness and love and beauty… this is just a glimpse.

My older son has this laughter that bursts forth out of nowhere on occasion.  It can happen anywhere, but it usually happens at the dinner table, as we’re all gathered together and telling stories of our days.  The days when we’re all getting along and peace reigns among us and we’re not rushing off this way or that.  It starts with a giggle, on the surface of himself.  We all join in on the chuckle.  Then it spreads in Josiah, deep down into his being, until every cell must be full with it – this all-consuming laughter.  He usually ends up on the floor, rolling through the moment, unable to sit on his chair or contain the joy for one more second.  Pretty soon we’re all laughing and he’s given us a round of smiles. I think back to my childhood and remember laughing this way with my sister.  More gifts from beyond.  Imagine a place where there is no more sadness… this is just a glimpse.

My younger son has these big blue eyes that sparkle even when no light from this world shines on them.  I know the light that makes his eyes sparkle comes from another place, another world beyond this one.  There’s heaven-light in Elijah’s eyes, and once in a while I get completely lost in them.  That particular shade of blue must be made with a pinch of God’s love, a sprinkle of God’s grace and a dash of God’s mercy.  My dear friend has green eyes with the same sparkle – so beautiful.  Imagine a place where the colours of the rainbow pale in comparison… this is just a glimpse.

My memory runs through the scenes of my life, and pauses on the truly special moments.  Moments when all is right, when life feels utterly rich, when all I can feel is all that is good.  With family, friends, alone, at home, at the lake, in church – every scene is different.  Imagine a place where there is no lack, in anyone or in anything – we live in perfect harmony, all the time… this is just a glimpse.

These glimpses of mine keep me going on the hard days and fill me to overflowing on the good days.  They remind me of what is coming in the life eternal.  This is God’s promise to me, of a life with him, if I only believe… this is just a glimpse.  Imagine.

How to Catch Your Glimpses of the Life Eternal

Jot down your

• Best childhood memory
• Favourite colour
• Most delicious recipe
• Best friend’s name
• Most treasured gift received
• Favourite outdoor scene

Keep a list going of all the good in your life, times it by a million, and you still won’t be close!  But it’s good to imagine, isn’t it?