One Word: Pray
At the beginning of each year, I pick a word or phrase to focus on instead of creating a New Year’s resolution. January 2016 God placed one word on my heart: pray.
God immediately started doing big things in my life with that one little word.
Here are a few of the ways God used prayer to push me outside of my comfort zone and teach me during 2016:
- Prayer journaling became an even bigger part of my life. I used a plain composition notebook to journal my prayers, song lyrics, and paint. There were many struggles and challenges I faced living in another country. I needed prayer as constant communication with the Lord.
- As I fell more in love with prayer journaling, I wanted to share with more people about how it impacted my life. I created a prayer journal in Spanish that started Creative Faith & Co. I began giving many prayer journaling workshops in the Dominican Republic, telling women about what it means to live a creative life in prayer with God.
- God taught me more with my one little word of 2016 when He asked me to pray in Spanish in front of over one hundred women. The microphone shook while I held it, but the Holy Spirit filled my mouth with the words He wanted during the prayer. Afterwards, some women came up to me and complimented the prayer. If I had not stepped outside of my comfort zone and prayed in my second language, I would not have been able to bless others.
- Over the summer I worked as an intern at my church. I was acting as a crazy character, Crystal Cavern, for Vacation Bible School. I got so nervous that I would pace back and forth, repeating, “God, put the words in my mouth,” over twenty times before I went on stage. God knocked me in the head, literally, when a foam light fell on me while I kept repeating the same prayer. This reminded me that I didn’t need to pace and pray for hours. God heard my prayer the first time, and He was with me on stage.
- Fall 2016 I started working full time at my church. The pastor “randomly” picked a new series called 50 Days of Prayer. I used The Battle Plan for Prayer as a guide to teach the youth about different ways to pray, including a Creative Faith workshop using a Write the Word journal (coming soon to our Etsy shop!).
- During the fall I also planned a fun night of fellowship called Passport to Prayer where families learned about different ways to pray. We added a prayer wall to the church where people can write prayer requests and spend time praying for other items on the wall.
- I led the ladies at my church in a prayer journaling workshop, which you can read about here.
As I look back on 2016, I can see endless ways God has shown me that prayer is life’s core. He pushed me outside of my comfort zone over and over again with prayer. I learned to depend on prayer daily for His help and guidance.
As we look ahead for 2017, what word or phrase is God putting on your heart?
Why not pick the word pray and see what God has in store for you?
Pick up one of our prayer journals here on Etsy and prepare yourself for all the amazing ways God will use prayer in your life.