| Pray |

Sweet friend pray. Pray real and raw. Pray with every being of your body. Pray in the valleys and at the top of the peaks.

Pray.

My entire life my prayer life has been my biggest struggle. I never seemed to make time. I found it uncomfortable so I skipped it. I was transparent in sharing that prayer was an area I struggled in but never took the steps to understanding prayer and what it could do for me.

As followers of Christ we always talk about God speaking to us and showing us His will. It wasn't until recent events that I truly had that type of a spiritual interaction with God.

My young adult bible study group has been working through the "Circle Maker," by Mark Batterson. The book had been challenging my prayer life but wasn't quite catching my attention and challenging me to apply as well as I should have. It wasn't until I had the opportunity to host and attend my churches women's ministry kick off event for this year. The whole theme was circled around prayer. The activities, devotionals, and personal testimonies of prayer really stopped me in my place. It was in that moment that I realized God had been tapping on my shoulder this whole time trying to talk to me through the Circle Maker and the people around me but I was too stuck in the flesh to realize. I was too stuck on the fact that prayer was not a comfortable thing for me. I was making EXCUSES.

Prayer was never designed to be easy. It is in moments of prayer that we face some of our biggest convictions. It is in prayer when we get raw with God. It is also in those moments though that we get to draw closer to Him. In those moments that we get to share in the joy and the sadness. In those moments that we get to thank Him for everything He has done.

Prayer is our direct hotline to God. I have started challenging myself daily to not only start and end my day with prayer but throughout the day find time to sit and just get with God. Whether we talk about the kids I work with, my dreams and goals, or just thanking Him for all His many blessings. I challenge you to do the same. Start small and work your way into it. You will be amazed how natural it starts to become. Journal your prayers, say them out loud, or just say them to yourself. Any way that you do it you are doing it with God for God.

I pray that your week started out strong and that as the week progresses you are filled with abundant love and happiness.

XO,
 M.K.M

Luke 1:45; Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.