At the beginning of each year, I pick a word or phrase\u00a0to focus on instead of creating a New Year’s resolution. \u00a0January 2016 God placed one word on my heart: pray.<\/p>\n

God immediately started\u00a0doing big things in my life with that one little word.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the ways God used prayer to push me outside of my comfort zone and teach me during 2016:<\/p>\n

\n
• Prayer journaling became an even bigger part of my life. \u00a0I used a plain composition notebook to journal my prayers, song lyrics, and paint. \u00a0There were many struggles and challenges I faced living in another country. \u00a0I needed prayer as\u00a0constant communication with the Lord.<\/li>\n
• As I fell more in love with\u00a0prayer journaling, I wanted to share with more people about how it impacted my life. \u00a0I created a prayer journal in Spanish that started Creative Faith & Co. \u00a0I 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.<\/li>\n
• 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. \u00a0The microphone shook while I held it, but the Holy Spirit filled my mouth with the words He wanted during the prayer. \u00a0Afterwards, some women came up to me and complimented the prayer. \u00a0If I had not stepped outside of my comfort zone and prayed in my second language, I would not have been able to bless others.<\/li>\n
• Over the summer I worked as an intern at my church. \u00a0I was acting as a crazy character, Crystal Cavern, for Vacation Bible School. \u00a0I got so nervous that I would pace back and forth, repeating, “God, put the words in my mouth,” over twenty times\u00a0before I went on stage. \u00a0God knocked me in the head, literally, when a foam light fell on me while I kept repeating the same prayer. \u00a0This 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.<\/li>\n
• Fall 2016 I started working full time at my church. \u00a0The pastor “randomly” picked a new series called 50 Days of Prayer. \u00a0I used The Battle Plan for Prayer<\/a> 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!).<\/li>\n
• During the fall I also planned a fun night of fellowship called Passport to Prayer where families learned about different ways to pray. \u00a0We added a prayer wall to the church where people can write prayer requests and spend time praying for other items on the wall.<\/li>\n
• I led the ladies at my church in a prayer journaling workshop, which you can read about here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  As I look back on 2016, I can see endless ways God has shown me that prayer is life’s core. \u00a0He pushed me outside of my comfort zone over and over again with prayer. \u00a0I learned to depend on prayer daily for His help and guidance.<\/p>\n

  As we look ahead for 2017, what word or phrase is God putting on your heart?<\/p>\n

  Why not pick\u00a0the word pray<\/strong>\u00a0and see what God has in store for you?<\/p>\n

  Pick up one of our prayer journals here<\/a> on Etsy and\u00a0prepare yourself for all the amazing ways God will use\u00a0prayer in your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  At the beginning of each year, I pick a word or phrase\u00a0to focus on instead of creating a New Year’s resolution. \u00a0January 2016 God placed one word on my heart: pray. God immediately started\u00a0doing big things in my life with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"yoast_head":"\n