Friday, October 17, 2008

Faithful Friday



My thoughts on prayer have changed significantly over the past year or so. I recall praying as child more out of fear than anything else. My prayers always seemed to take on a solemn tone, and I remember thinking that God wanted me to be very serious when praying to him. I think I held onto that way of thinking even into my early twenties.

I'm not sure exactly when things changed for me, but about a year or so ago, I changed the way I pray. While I think that prayers can be solemn, I don't think that they always have to be. I began having "conversations" with God, like he was my long lost best friend (maybe he is!). Praying this way has changed my spiritual life! I actually look forward to my time spent in prayer versus thinking of it as an obligation.

Enter "Girl Talk, God Talk" by Sally Miller. This book is one that has helped me widen my views on prayer, and I wanted to take some time to share it with you. Here's just a small peice of the book!

"Prayer is not about a coerced conversation with God or a required spiritual motion. It's about embracing life with Christ...It's about celebrating Christ's birth and life. Rejoicing in our relationship with Him, talking to Him from a place of desire, devotion, excitement and contentment.
It's about painting, singing, dancing, even breathing our prayers. It's about feeling God's touch in the breeze, hearing his laughter in the wind. Prayer is receiving His grace in a note from a friend or a book from the Bible. It's about talking to God with joy and meaning and a light heart.
AS we begin to pray because we want to, not because we ought to, we realize that our most joy-filled prayer experiences are just tiny foretastes of the communion we'll have with God in heaven."

4 comments:

leah @maritalbless said...

Ooh, I'm going to have to pick that up!

AmberDenae said...

I love that. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for your prayers for my family as well.

Unknown said...

I'm adding this to my amazon with list!

Kate said...

Just found your blog & was intrigued by that book! I have had the same hangups and journeys when it comes to prayer...I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!