Taking Time to Pray

If I’m being honest, prayer is one of the hardest things for me.

It should be one of the easiest, but making consistent time to sit undistracted and pray can be a challenge. However, having a consistent prayer life is one of the most important disciplines we need to cultivate.

As with many things in life, we often think until we’re ready to do it “perfectly” we shouldn’t do it. The perfect time to sit uninterrupted, the perfect notebook to write requests in. But the truth is, there will not be a perfect moment or setup. We need to just begin! Here are a few things I’ve found helpful as I try to make a habit of prayer.

Make a list

Lists are helpful in many areas of life and prayer is no different. I have found it easier to stay focused and not get distracted when I have a list of prayer requests I can focus on. As I hear of needs from family and friends, I write them down and keep the paper or notebook within easy grabbing distance.

Give thanks

Days can be dark and discouraging. At times it’s difficult to find the words to pray, even with a list. At moments like this, I begin with thankfulness. Reciting the good things God has done for me or provided helps encourage me to bring more before him and also refocuses my mind.

Routine

They say it takes 59-70 days to create a new habit. Something I have found helpful in many disciplines of life is to attach the new habit to a certain time of day or regular activity. I try to begin and end my days with prayer. Before I fall asleep, I think back on that day and ask forgiveness, praise God, bring requests and burdens. Anything about that day that pops into my mind. In the morning before I get out of bed, I give my day over to God, ask for help in certain activities, etc. Here’s another blog post I wrote about attaching prayer to something else as a reminder to pray.

evaluate the day

I realized there were moments in everyday that I was wasting. I was scrolling on my phone, sitting at my desk wondering what I should be doing, researching things I didn’t plan to buy. And I decided when I caught myself doing some mindless task that didn’t need doing, I would pray.

Often the biggest challenge to prayer is our own attitudes. We don’t want to take the time or we think it has to involve closing eyes, kneeling, etc. The truth is, prayer is for every hour of every day. This is what I Thess. 5:17 is talking about when the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” God knows we have tasks that need to be done. He’s not saying we need to kneel at our beds 24/7. But wherever we are, we can come before him in prayer.

How will you incorporate prayer into your daily life?

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A Reminder to Pray

One of the lessons I learned last year was the importance of prayer.

Of course, I’ve always known prayer is important and vital for a Christian but there were so many days last year when all I could do was pray. I couldn’t control directly most of what bothered me about 2020 but I could bring my worries, frustrations, uncertainties, and requests before the Lord.

We so often relegate prayer to certain times; meals, before bed, when difficult things happen. And the rest of life, we just go on, doing what we need to, getting our schedule finished.

Going into 2021, I was thinking about habits and what it takes to form new ones. The internet is filled with advice on how to make new patterns a habit, how long to try before it really sets in, ways to make a habit stick, and so on. One of the more intriguing ideas I stumbled on was tying or stacking habits to things I’m familiar with doing.

The premise if that you find something you already do regularly — like putting makeup on — and attach or stack a new habit to it — like cleaning the bathroom sink. So every morning when you finish your makeup, you wipe down the sink and faucet before you go on with your day. You don’t try to think of ways to multitask these efforts; rather you give each their own time. But you keep the stacked on tasks small. Instead of cleaning the whole bathroom you just do one part. The goal is to make whatever you stacked on {in our case cleaning the sink} a natural habit.

And that was what I wanted in my prayer life. I wanted it to become a habit and part of my daily structure. But I also wanted it to be sincere. Prayer isn’t {or shouldn’t be} just something to check off a daily list. It’s talking with God. It’s seeking his wisdom and asking for his help. It’s praising him and confessing sins and verbally recognizing Who he is. And I didn’t want to confine it to after a certain task.

My answer came in an unexpected way. We live near a military airbase and jets fly directly over our house multiple times a day. There is no escaping or ignoring the sound of a jet soaring overhead. It is deafening inside, outside, basement, garage. And there was my answer. For the last several months, every time I hear a jet fly overhead, I pray.

I pray for whoever I know that pops in my head. I praise God for one of his attributes. I think through my day so far and confess any sins. I pray for missionaries. For my community. For our nation and leaders. For my family.

They aren’t long prayers. I don’t always close my eyes. But it’s amazing. Once I start praying, I just keep going. Unless a child needs me and starts screaming, I usually think of things to keep bringing before God. While I do dishes or fold laundry, I find myself praying.

And now, even on Sundays or cloudy days when the jets aren’t roaring above me, I suddenly will start praying. If no one is talking to me and I’m doing my household chores, I’ll just begin praying simple yet heartfelt prayers of need and thanks and praise.

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Raising Children in a Sin Cursed World

As a mom, one of the things I talk about with my friends is raising my kids to love God and value what He values. Even with my friends who aren’t moms, I’ve expressed frustration and concern for what’s going on in the world and how it affects my kids.

Every generation faces challenges when it comes to raising children. A sin cursed world is never going to be easy or convenient to teach children to follow God and love Him. Even in the “good old days,” sin was present and slowly influencing and chipping away at the family. I believe we sometimes sell the previous generations short by moaning about how much more difficult it is to raise children now, in the 21st century. And while previous parents didn’t have to face social media and technology, they still had to deal with sin and a sinful world.

Imagine the world just before the flood. Things were so terrible and wicked that God destroyed everything except Noah’s family and the animals to repopulate the world. We can’t imagine such times. And every civilization from then until now has been driven by sin.

Consider the first century Christians. Ancient Rome was not the most wholesome civilization to be raising children in. Even by secular standards and historians, ancient Roman culture was full of perversion, debauchery, and violence. There were areas where you could leave healthy, born, but unwanted babies for wild dogs to eat. Senators and emperors were corrupt and ready to kill to gain power. Adultery and homosexuality were rampant. People thronged to the Colosseum and similar amphitheaters to watch gladiators kill each other and see Christians torn apart by animals.

But for God’s grace, it would be impossible to even begin to raise children counter culture! As parents, I believe raising children to be God fearing comes down to several things:

• Realizing we can’t isolate them from the evil of this world

• Filling their mind with Bible truth

• Surrounding them with prayer

We as parents are the primary influencers and teachers for our children but that doesn’t mean we can go at it alone. We need wisdom and strength from the Lord and we certainly can’t know or anticipate every curveball that parenthood throws at us.

I guess my point is, everyone has been raised in a sin cursed world. This isn’t something new we’re facing for the first time. A desire to be godly examples of a family in ungodly times has existed since Adam and Eve. We may feel like it’s more prevalent or in our face now with the internet and social media, but sin is sin. It’s always stood there, against the family and trying everything possible to tear us down.

Instead of excusing the difficulties of today and saying it’s harder than anyone else has faced, we must trust God, soak ourselves in the Bible daily, and not let the culture dictate how we parent. We must know what the Bible teaches on issues of sin, values, and moral standards and instill those into our children.

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Who Do You Pray For?

The last month has taught me something important: there is always something or someone I can pray for.

With social distance meaning I can’t meet with friends and ladies from church, I’ve resorted — like so many others — to keeping in touch electronically. Texting, Zoom meetings, Marco Polo, email, Facetime, and Messenger have all become part of my daily, regular schedule. Even my children have been catching up with friends and family and doing piano lessons online. It’s strange but I’m thankful we have the option and availability to check in and catch up, even while staying home.

Without fail, as I chat with others, I ask how they are doing and what I can pray for. Those are questions that should be part of our regular dialogue with friends and family but somehow, in the midst of parties, fellowships, playdates, and gatherings, those are often the questions left unsaid while we instead talk about the movies we’ve seen, the deals we’ve found, the crazy lives we lead. And usually when we do ask friends how they are, we anticipate the standard, “I’m fine,” or “Doing great” and we’re happy to leave it at face value and not pry too much.

But there’s something about not being face to face that makes me crave real connection. Not that other interactions are pointless but there’s only so much you can talk about when people haven’t left their houses in a month!! And after every text, every message, I stop and pray for that person, for whatever peace or strength or grace they need.

And I didn’t always do that. I was usually running somewhere or sending a brief message between household tasks. And, I thought, “I’ll catch up with them on Sunday.” But during the last month, those Sundays and Bible studies and Awana nights haven’t happened and to stay in touch with friends, I’ve had to get creative. With short communications the only way to connect with people and with the stay at home orders cancelling any and all reasons I have to leave the house, I’ve found myself thinking about my friends more and praying for them.

One of the great realities in this quarantine is that some of my struggles are probably similar to what my friends and family are struggling with. Feeling boxed in? Fear/anxiety of the unknown? Frustration over cancelled plans? Weary of kids complaining? Craving a few minutes to myself? Yep, as I chat with my friends, these are very real hardships for all of us. So where before someone would come to mind and I’d think, “I don’t know what she needs, I’ll ask her on Sunday,” now I think, “She’s at home with her kids, she’s unable to follow her regular routine, she’s trying to figure out working from home…I think I know what to pray for.”

You see, before it was almost like I was afraid of ‘wasting’ a prayer on someone who might not need it. Which is a crazy idea!! God knows what every individual needs, even if I don’t, and He will meet those needs, even if I don’t know what to specifically pray about. My part is to faithfully, humbly come before Him and bring my praise and requests. Even if it’s the simple, “Be with her today.”

I’ve also realized during this month that there are people I should be praying for regularly that somehow slip by my mind unless I know a certain request they’ve mentioned to me. Have you ever noticed it’s easy to consistently pray for the same things and people? Almost like you put your prayer life on auto pilot. But quarantine has brought so many people to mind that I realize I don’t always pray for or maybe I do sporadically.

To help myself, I made a list to keep by my Bible and I’ve also restarted the practice of praying through our church directory. Below is a printable of people — general, not specific — I’ve been burdened and reminded to keep in my prayers. If you would benefit from such a list, please feel free to download and print it. I also wrote a few things you might pray for under each group, just in case you don’t know where to start. Pray these things for others and yourself.

One of my constant prayers through all this is that we would come out the other side of quarantine grateful, thankful, loving, compassionate people.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

Counting Those Blessings!

When I was in college, I went to the Ukraine on a mission trip. The first weeks we were in two different cities; lots of concrete, tall apartment buildings, people everywhere. But then we made a trip into the countryside to visit some smaller churches and communities. I remember watching field after field of poppies and wildflowers pass by the van windows. So beautiful in various colors and heights, as far as you could see flowers, impossible to count individual blooms.

I like to think of blessings as being like those fields of flowers. So many things come and go in our lives, many more than we could count, but still worth looking out the window for, still worth acknowledging the beauty and joy they bring.

We all know we have things to be thankful for. We repeat to strangers sometimes, “Yes, I’m so thankful that….” But are they things we repeat because we know we should be thankful for them or have we ever sat and thought about it?

So far, in this social distancing we are practicing, I haven’t run out of things to do. But knowing that I’m not going to be late for an appointment, I don’t need to guess how long it’ll take to wrangle my kids into the van…I’ve been taking time each day to stop and think, even gaze out the window, and count my blessings.

In times when things are taken away and so much is beyond our control, I tend to realize how much I really do have. It’s a cliche but in times of plenty it’s easy to believe ‘this is just the way it is.’ And then those things are slowly — or quickly — gone and we see what really matters.

Now, I know these are trying times and sad things are happening. I’m not proposing we ignore the grief or the gravity of a situation by pasting on a smile and mustering through. But continuous dwelling on bad, frustrating, hard things isn’t healthy. It messes with our minds and attitudes. It plunges us into further chaos and despair. We need to acknowledge the grief and difficulty of our situation and then turn our attention to the only One who truly understands.

We are well acquainted with Philippians 4:8-9 when we are instructed to ‘think on these things’ with a list of specific qualifications. But the verses proceeding are just as important and beneficial to recite.

‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.’ {Phil. 4:4-9}

In these verses, we are told to rejoice, to not be anxious, to pray, and then God will give peace. Then — taking those instructions a step further — Paul tells us what to fill our minds with to help us rejoice and not be anxious and pray!! So, a great beginning to filling our minds with things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praise worthy is to remind ourselves of all God has given us {ie counting our blessings} in the midst of everything that could be causing us anxiety.

So, let’s make the next weeks full of gratitude and praise for what we have in the midst of chaos! No blessing is too small to mention. Instead of complaining about what we can’t do, let’s be grateful for what we can enjoy! Think what a difference our positive attitude could make, even just in our solitary, isolated homes!

I encourage you to start a journal {here I go again!} and try to list just three different things each day. As you go on, you might find three a small, confining number. The sky’s the limit! Write the date, your list, and offer a prayer of thanks. The next day, repeat! At the end of the week, read over your lists and marvel at what God has given.

This is a great activity to get kids thinking about the good happening in a time when everything seems wrong and unfair. Encourage them to keep their own list {if they can write} or draw pictures. Talk about them over dinner since you won’t have anywhere you need to rush off to. I’m not pretending this is easy or a one-then-done situation. It is a daily, conscious, deliberate act which is why writing it down is such a great practice! But I do believe it is beneficial, encouraging, helpful, and good!

And in the long run, I don’t think you will regret any effort it takes in the here and now. Start with three a day. Dwell on those three. And see how quickly it blossoms into so many more.

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A Word for the Year

In the last few years, it has gotten popular to choose a word to ‘live out’ for the year. Depending on what your focus is, the word can be anything from kindness to confidence.

I don’t always pick a word but I do find it helpful to give some intentional thought to what I want to focus on for the year. And I usually try to study what the Bible says about that word or brainstorm ways I can put it into practice. I’ll get to my word for 2020 in a minute. But first, let’s talk about my process for choosing a word and my purpose in doing it.

When I start to think in December about a possible word for the next year, I think a lot about what my struggles that year have been. Is there something I need to pull away from, learn more about, focus on? Do I know of hardships, challenges, changes coming in the New Year that I need to prepare for? {I realize the next year is largely an unknown time but sometimes we know a surgery is coming, a move might happen, struggles from the previous year that carry over…} I start to pray and think about where God would have me focus my time and energy.

I already mentioned the benefit of focusing my study and learning about a single word. When I chose humility, I was blown away by all the things the Bible has to say — both positively about being humble and negatively on being proud. I started a running list of verses and examples of pride vs humility. I also noticed in my own life that a lot of things I struggled with looped back to being proud; either how well I did something, not asking for help, having a superior attitude. The root of it all was pride. It made the humility of Christ stand out even more in my mind.

Last year, my son was learning the Fruit of the Spirit in our church kids program and we talked A LOT about how we live out each of those nine words. So for 2019, I decided it would be good for me to dwell on them, study them, memorize them too so as I talked with my son, I would be practicing myself what I was telling him to do.

For 2020, I chose the word Ask. One thing that kept coming back to me at the end of last year was my struggle to admit when I needed something. And not just physical help from those around me but asking things of God — for wisdom, peace, everyday needs. My desire to control situations and be seen as a strong, self-sufficient person meant I wasn’t doing a basic thing — praying — and I was getting discouraged by all the things I couldn’t do. {Remember when I mentioned earlier a lot of issues boil down to pride? Clear example here!} The more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to dwell on the importance of asking. And once I started looking for verses that talk about what we should ask for, why it’s important to ask, etc, I was completely convinced this needed to be my word!!

Do you choose a word or a verse to think about throughout the year?

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Prayer

I've often felt inadequate in many ways. I know a little about a lot of things but I'm not an expert or particularly skilled in any one thing. As a homeschooling, stay at home mom to three kids, there are many things I don't have the time or energy or physical ability to accomplish. 

Many is the time when I want to do something and just can't. There are needs and opportunities even in my own church that I am not able to meet or contribute to.

Those realizations are hard. Especially when I think, 'If I wasn't homeschooling, I'd have all morning for that,' 'If my kids were older, they could stay home alone while I did that,' 'If there wasn't cooking, cleaning, laundry, meal planning…' Our lives can quickly become a list of grievances or hindrances instead of looking at what IS possible in the place we are now.

My biggest shift in this thinking has been prayer. The beautiful thing about prayer is we can do it anytime, anywhere. There is no formula to follow, no time limit or special place. In the chaos of our daily surroundings and in the long, sleepless nights, God hears our prayers.

Suddenly, my perceived inadequacies are swept away. You don't have to be an expert to approach the throne of God. We come before him with awe, humility, broken, and needy people. And he hears.

When I can't worship at church because of sick children or attend a Bible study because of schedules, I can pray for those who are there. When visiting others isn't possible and carting kids around keeps us from hospital bedsides, we can pray for healing and peace.

I believe one of the reasons prayer is often difficult is because we do it in private. Has anyone ever asked you if you pray daily? Maybe they tell you a request but do they ask if you actually follow through? In our society of sharing and recognition, do we take time to do things no one sees? It's hard to take a prayer selfie. And yet it should be a crucial, vital part of our Christian lives.

I love I Thess 5: In everything give thanks, pray without ceasing. This idea of being in constant communion with God. When we hear a request or a friend pops in our mind, just stopping for 30 seconds and bringing them before God. When we are on the verge of tears, tired of disciplining children, a 1 minute prayer for wisdom and love. Situations that break us, circumstances that confound us, people that fail us, opportunities that shock us. God knows them all. He hears them all. And he wants to heal, protect, renew, and forgive us.

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Admitting Struggles

It’s easy to look like everything is okay.

We do it all the time. We go to parties and lunch with friends but internally we’re weary. There’s a medical problem, a family issue, we’re worn out moms trying to disciple our children, we’re facing trials at work or strife with a coworker. We have weights pressing on us that no one can see. But we can’t admit them. No one wants to hear about our issues — our friends probably have perfect lives. Maybe it’s our pride, our unwillingness to let people know we need a shoulder to cry on. We might fear they will think less of us or laugh because our problem is so small. So we smile and laugh and answer, “I’m fine.”

So where do we fit in? There is a responsibility on both sides of the equation. First, be willing to listen. If you ask someone how things are going, if she’s struggling, or in need of anything, be willing to slow your own pace down and actually listen. I’ve found when people believe we’re in a hurry or busy they purposely choose to smile and say, “I’m fine” and let us continue on. They don’t want to stand in the way of whatever important thing we are heading to. So we miss the opportunity and they continue to shoulder the burden they desperately want help with.

Second, if we are the one struggling and a friend offers a shoulder and a chance to confide, we need to put away our pride and talk. Forget the pressure of looking perfect or having it all together. We are given friends because we aren’t meant to walk alone. There is no shame in admitting we need prayer or wisdom or just the opportunity to explain a hard situation. We might not come away with all the answers but we won’t be lying under the weight of it alone. {I Thess. 5:11}

Third, we have a Heavenly Father who already knows we need help and is ready to supply our needs. He listens when we cry out to Him and He hears the brokenhearted {Psalm 77:1}. I believe we sometimes think since God knows our thoughts and struggles there’s no reason to pray to Him about them. But He wants us to seek Him — actively, purposefully, intentionally.

Think on these words from Psalm 94:18-19 — When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

Will you bring your trials and heartaches to God today? Will you approach a friend with a clear intention of listening to whatever she shares?

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Why Moms Need Prayer

We hear over and over that mom's need to pray. We need strength. We need help. We need everything God can give us to stay up to the task of mothering. But it's about more than requesting God give us the physical ability to make it through the next day. Mothering is not about surviving until it gets easier. Mothers are in the business of mentoring.

In the midst of changing diapers and fixing meals it's easy to forget our most important role as moms. We are charged with shaping and molding the little lives God has given us. If we provide merely for their physical needs, we are neglecting the most important need and setting them up for struggles later in life. Every mom wants what is best for her children. That's why parenting blogs and mommy magazines are so prolific. We want to know we are doing what is best for our children and have validation for those choices.

But life is about more than getting good grades, being athletic, or looking picture perfect. We are here to glorify God and that doesn't begin at a certain age. The truth is we need to teach our children, while they are young, the importance of a relationship with Christ. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This doesn’t guarantee that perfect parenting with automatically equal perfect children. But it is encouragement that when we take time now to correct, discipline, and guide our children in Christlikeness, those lessons are important for their future.

And this is where prayer comes in. As mothers we need to pray not just for ourselves in dealing with our children but pray for the individual needs of each child. We need to realize that ultimately their spiritual growth doesn't come down to our rules, restrictions, or regulations. They need the Holy Spirit indwelling them just as we do. It is God that can affect true change in their lives. While we can and should be examples of godly living, we can't force spirituality on our children.

Prayer is communication with God. He hears, he answers, he guides. Think of all the times the psalmist cried out to God. He was praying. James instructs us to ask for wisdom and if there's one thing mom's need wisdom about, it's raising children! (James 1:5) Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to trust God first and lean on him and he will direct our steps. If we aren't going to God in prayer over how we teach our children, how can we say we are trusting his guidance?

I want to close by issuing a challenge. I’ve put together a week long prompt on praying for yourselves and our children. Click the button below to download and print out the schedule.

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Looking Ahead

It’s December. Days are ticking away until Christmas and the beginning of another year. If this month follows the pattern of the previous eleven, it will go fast! I love the season from Thanksgiving to the New Year because of all the joy, traditions, fun, and family that it comes with. But because I love to plan and because I like to start the year off on a good foot, I always carve out some space in this busy time to focus on what happens beyond December 31.

During this time I decide on a Bible reading plan for the year and what version I plan to read. The past few years, I’ve chosen a word and Bible verse to focus on in addition to my read the Bible in a year plan. But this year I’m going to be doing something a little different.

I’ve decided to read my She Reads Truth Bible again in 2019 and use the reading plan that it has in the back to guide my daily reading {it usually is two Old Testament chapters, two New Testament chapters per day and you read Psalms and the New Testament twice}.

However, instead of focusing on one word for the year, I’m going to focus on prayer in general. I’ve been very burdened about my prayer life recently and the importance of asking God FIRST. So I’m going to focus on praying for specific people or things on certain days of the week. Of course there will be a certain amount of flexibility and some things I will pray for everyday, but hopefully this will help me to remember things like our government leaders, the persecuted church, etc.

I’ve also seen on Pinterest calendars for praying for your kids or spouse everyday for a month but being more specific than, “Please help little Johnny obey” or “Help my husband communicate better.” I want to incorporate some of these specifics - things like my children’s salvation, wisdom for my husband as he leads our family, good friends and influences for my kids. I believe when we are specific in our prayer requests we see how much God has already blessed us with and what he is already doing in certain circumstances.

2018 has been quite the year for our family. God blessed and went before and worked out so many things in ways we could never orchestrate on our own. I’m excited to see what I will learn, how God will stretch me, and what he has in store for our family in 2019.

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An Attitude of Prayer

Sometimes prayer is like the red headed step child of our Christian lives. We know we should do it, we feel bad when we don’t, but we just can’t seem to find the time.

Until we need something. Until a trial appears and we realize how much we need to lean on God’s strength to get through this life.

Every time I’ve taught a lesson to children about I Thessalonians 5:17 the question always comes up: how do we pray constantly (or without ceasing)? Do we walk around with our eyes closed?

Obviously Paul isn’t talking about stopping our lives and spending all day in a prayer closet. But note that in this passage, he book ends the thought on prayer with “Rejoice always” before it and “Give thanks in all circumstances” after it. Clearly he means for all three of these things {rejoicing, praying, thanksgiving} to be done on a continual basis.

So how do we pray continually? Jesus gives us a model to follow in Matthew 6 with the Lord’s Prayer. He acknowledges Who he is praying to (v 9), asks for God to work how He will (v 10), asks for the daily need (v 11-12), and the strength to do what we should (v 12), and finally for protection (v 13).

Think about this. These are all things we need everyday, throughout the day. These are not one time needs. And maybe sometimes we don’t know exactly what we need or how to ask. This is especially true in the middle of a difficult circumstance. But we are still told to pray without ceasing. To pray throughout all we do.

This idea forces us to not distance ourselves from God. If we don’t know Him, why would we ask for Him to provide our needs? If we don’t know Him, how can we trust He will help us or forgive us? To keep an open conversation with God means we must seek Him daily. Not when we have time. Not when it’s convenient for us. But constantly.

Like many things having an attitude of prayer requires work and effort and a daily accounting of how we’re doing. But the joys of continually communing with our Creator are worth every moment of our time and energy.

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