Prayer

I'm really not one for New Year's Resolutions but I am one who loves setting goals and trying my best to accomplish them. Sometimes it just so happens that these goals come when one year is ending and a new one is starting so call it what you want. I love a good challenge and doing things that are going to stretch me and grow me, especially when it comes to spiritual growth. Towards the end of 2012, I felt as if God was calling me to be more intentional about prayer. I've always loved prayer, I've seen firsthand the power of prayer, I believe with all my heart and soul that God answers prayer, I even get excited about prayer. But lately I've been lacking in the praying faithfully and praying intentionally part of prayer. I feel like my prayers have been lacking in depth and I end up saying the same phrase day in and day out without much thought behind my words, especially in the good night prayers I say with the kids. I was getting bored with prayer and I know that's not what God intended prayer to be like. So this year I've made the decision to become a student of prayer and become more intentional about the prayers that I pray. So here is what I'm doing to spice up my prayer life.

The first thing I decided to do is study prayers throughout the old and new testament by learning how others prayed. I've already studied two prayers, the prayer of Moses in Exodus 15 and Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2. I'm looking forward to studying many more prayers this year and learning what God wants to show me through each one. I'm keeping a journal to record my thoughts as I read the prayers. Writing out my thoughts has always helped me to process things better. 

The next thing I'm doing comes out of a conversation I had with my oldest child. We were talking about how in the Bible we are urged to pray for those in government, for those in authority over us. I have to admit that praying for our president is not something I've done on a regular basis if even at all. So with the inspiration of my son, we have decided to pray for our president and those in our government each night. (Some of the verses we are using to pray for this topic are 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Psalms 122:6, Mark 3:25, Proverbs 2:11, and 1 John 5:14-15). I pulled a prayer offline titled A Prayer for Our Government put out by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Praying for our president is certainly stretching me!

Something else I feel like God is calling me to do is to pray faithfully and intentionally for my husband. I pulled out my Power of a Praying Wife book by Stormie Omartian to assist me with this. If you're not familiar with this book it reads more like a chapter book with a prayer at the end of each chapter while focusing on a specific area of your husband's life like his work, his finances, his mind, his fears, his purpose, etc... Instead of reading the book over the course of a month (which I've done in the past), I decided to slow it down and spend about a week on each chapter praying daily for what that chapter is about. 

In addition to praying for my husband, I really wanted to find some Bible verses that were relevant to each of our three children and spend the year praying those scriptures over each child. I asked God to lead me to specific verses for each child and I'm so excited about the verses he lead me to.  I have the verses written out on note cards and each night when I have my quiet time I pray the scripture with that child in mind. At some point during the year, as God leads, I plan to share with each child what I'm doing and share with them the verses that God lead me to. I've already had the opportunity to do this with one of our kids and it was a pretty cool moment. Kids are very receptive to their parent's prayers and it makes them feel pretty special knowing that they are being prayed for daily. 

I'm also utilizing a few books I have on hand to aide me in my prayers. My sister had gotten me a book called Praying God's Will for My Daughter by Lee Roberts. It's simply a book divided up by themes with Bible verses that match the theme. I find a character trait that I feel needs some work in my daughter's life and spend the week praying those specific verses for that trait. I love how the book is laid out and it's very user friendly. 

The last resource I have is a book called Praying The Bible For Your Children by David and Heather Kopp. It is very similar to the one I just mentioned and includes 122 prayers on various topics. Each prayer includes Bible verses and is written out in a way where I can just read the prayer while inserting the names of our children.

So this is what I'm working on in 2013, it will be challenging for sure but very rewarding.

I leave you with a funny photo of each of the above mentioned people that I'm praying for. I just downloaded my iPhone photos and these ones made me giggle.

Self portrait from child #2. I always enjoy finding these surprise photos when I download my iPhone photos.

Child #1 during a night game of 007 we played with two other families (adults and kids, it was so fun!), he is standing in the back of a truck with the night air whipping through his hair.

This would be my husband. Eating dinnner while wearing son #2's helmet. This was right after he set the smoke alarm off while making his dinner. Safety first people!

And here is child #3, our sweet daughter teaching herself how to skateboard on a Sunday morning before church. This sums up her personality quite nicely.

I'm so blessed to be praying for these four special people in my life!

Operation Newtown

CLICK HERE FOR "OPERATION NEWTOWN" DONATION

The tragic event that took place in Newtown, CT on December 14th has caused so much heartache all over the world, but especially for those in Newtown, CT. We are feeling led to do something to help those who are hurting. Our prayers have been many but we keep coming back to praying for the police officers, fire fighters, dispatchers, and ambulance workers who work in Newtown. As a wife of a retired police officer, we know how an event like this can be devastating and traumatic not only for those who worked the scene but also to those who are part of this brotherhood/sisterhood and are supporting their fellow co-workers. We have created a facebook page and we have a goal. Our goal is to put a gift in the hand of each of these workers and bless them with some encouragement. Please see the link below and read what we would specifically like to accomplish. You will see a paypal link to your right, this is where you can click to donate a $20 gift to provide one of these hard working men or women with a gift. Thank you so much!

CLICK HERE FOR "OPERATION NEWTOWN" DONATION

You can click on the link titled "Operation Newtown" and you can simply "like" the page and you will then receive updates on our progress. Operation Newtown is being created to honor the first responders, fire fighters, police officers, dispatchers, and ambulance workers of Newtown, CT. It is our goal that each of these individuals in Newtown will receive a gift of encouragement to show our support for their involvement in the tragic event that took place on December 14th killing 26 innocent teachers and students. There are 200 employees of Newtown's police and fire departments who can use our support during this difficult time. The gift would include the following: A copy of Sarah Young's Jesus Calling devotional book, a $10 Starbucks gift card, and a hand written note of encouragement. Each gift will cost approximately $20. Our goal is to gather donations so we can purchase the 200 books and include a $10 Starbucks gift card with each book and then place this gift in the hands of each of these brave men and women. If we get the word out to 200 of our friends and family members and ask each person to donate just one gift of $20, we could bless these people who need some encouragement. Please consider joining this group and donating to this cause.

CLICK HERE FOR "OPERATION NEWTOWN" DONATION

January 1st family hike

We spent our New Years day hiking in our beautiful state of Arizona. We headed up near Lost Dutchman and enjoyed a wonderful hike. Here are the pictures from our time there. Oh, and I was there but forgot to hand my camera off to Michael to include me in a few pics. Must remember to do that next time.

So long 2012, Hello 2013!

This is my wrap up post for 2012 so I can include this post in our 2012 book that will go to print very soon! Let's begin with Christmas...
My sister and her family came to AZ for the holidays. We had such a great time!

 Me and my sister.

 Me and my man.

 Christmas Eve family photo.

 Early on Christmas morning.

 Seeing if the reindeer ate the food left for them on the lawn.

 Jadon playing with his new boomerang.

 Camden with his gifts.

 Anna on her new roller skates.

 A week later we celebrated NYE. Fireworks with neighbors.

 They are no old enough to light the fireworks for us.

 It was a very chilly NYE, the lows got down into the 30's.

And that's a wrap!!!!! Hello 2013!