Recently, on a Sunday morning at church a young lady I’d seen at various services but had never met, greeted me at the door. She commented on how I pray in our Wednesday and Sunday evening prayer time. Her words startled me. I had expected, “I love how you belt out your prayers.”
The reason I was surprised was because it took me many years to have enough confidence to pray out loud within a group setting, even if it was just a few people. These days, it could be anywhere from ten to thirty people and sometimes more in those group settings.
I was raised in a household where the same prayers were said over and over and over again.
As I look back, I can see how God was moving me little by little in a direction He wanted me to go (I rebelled on many occasions, and I suffered the consequences of that rebellion just like any other child of God).
It all started when I was taking classes as an eight year old to make my first communion, I remember asking the Sister (the nun who was teaching our class), what prayers do I say when I come back from communion. Somehow, her response didn’t seem out of the ordinary… not then and certainly not now.
What was her response?
“Talk to Jesus as if He were standing right in front of you.”
I took her suggestion and “talked” to Jesus after communion from that first time until now. But that wasn’t standard practice in the Catholic faith. While I continued to go to the Catholic church, it was just a routine. There was no relationship there other than when I had communion. And even then, I wondered if Jesus heard me talking to Him. (Today, I know He did… because He stood beside me throughout all my trials… I just didn’t see it then.)
Years went by, and I suffered through a traumatic divorce. It was an exceptionally low time in my life. I didn’t have an education (other than high school), and couldn’t find a job, plus I had two grade-school aged children. How would I manage?
My brother’s wife suggested I meet with some ladies and they would pray for me. I figured it couldn’t hurt and it might help.
When I went there, these lovely women prayed for me. At the end of our time, one of them asked a very insightful question: “Do you know where you are going when you die?”
At that moment I really wasn’t sure if I was going to heaven or hell, but I desperately wanted to go to heaven. I prayed the sinner’s prayer that night and was encouraged to attend church with them. One of the women waited for me outside the church (at the time we were meeting in a high school auditorium).
I’d never been to a service quite like that one and I became hungry to know more. I tell you all of this just to get to the part where I learned to pray.
I wanted to be effective in my praying. My first pastor told us the Lord’s prayer is a model for how to pray. I didn’t know that. We were never taught from the Bible other than the small set of verses said in mass every week.
Matthew 6:7-8 tells us not to use vain repetition, because He already knows what we have need of.
But I was struck by the first part of Matthew 6:9, where the Jesus tells His disciples, “In this manner, therefore pray:” It doesn’t say to pray that prayer, although you can… on occasion. Just don’t be rote about it.
Our pastor gave a message on prayer that has stayed with me ever since. Oh, I’ve heard other acronyms over the years to help with prayer… but the acronym PRAY seemed the easiest for me to remember.
P=Praise
Praise God for who He is and what He has done for you. If you have trouble finding words to praise Him… turn to the Psalms to help you. (Even if you have to read them to start your prayer time… it’s a good thing!) Mix and match as the spirit leads!
- Psalm 8 and Psalm 19 speak of God’s Majesty
- Psalm 47 and Psalm 96 speak of God’s Sovereignty.
- Psalm 103 and Psalm 145 speak of God’s Goodness and Faithfulness
- Psalm 148 and Psalm 150 gives praise to God for all creation.
R=Repent and give thanks
Ask forgiveness for sins you have committed, the known and unknown sins. No one is sinless and God will forgive you, if you repent and turn away from it… At least try to turn away from it.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Give thanks for the blessings in your life. I usually thank God for His provision, for my family, my church and any other thing that comes to mind because it is all His anyway.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
A=Ask for others
This is where you pray for others. It can be anything from health, to relationships, to finances, to whatever is going on in your family and friends’ lives. You can even extend the prayers to other nations and peoples.
(My husband and I pray from our weekly prayer list that we get from our church, but you can start your own prayer list with a journal.)
Y=Ask for Yourself
Pray about your needs by asking the Lord to favor you after you have praised Him, asked for forgiveness, and prayed for others showing a true humble spirit.
I have found this method to be an effective way to pray. Not only do your words not become rote but you find more and more to pray about.
I remember my prayer time was short when I first started praying this way, as time went by, (and I commuted about thirty minutes to work) I found that was the best time for me to pray. So it was on the way to work and on the way home that became my prayer time. It worked for me back then. My prayer time has evolved, and I pray throughout the day, after my husband and I pray corporately. It’s great to get into the habit of doing it.
Find a time that works for you. How do you pray? Do you have a method? Please share your thoughts below.
The first stage of dating begins with attraction. This might be physical, emotional, or spiritual—a spark that piques your curiosity. As Christians, it’s important to evaluate whether this attraction aligns with biblical principles.
Friendship is the cornerstone of any lasting relationship. During this stage, spend time getting to know each other in group settings or casual conversations. Look for compatibility, shared interests, and most importantly, shared faith. Building trust and respect starts here. It is key. Pray for wisdom as you discern if this relationship should move forward.
Once mutual interest and trust are established, couples enter the intentional dating stage. This is where you move from casual interactions to deeper conversations about life goals, values, and your faith journeys. Be open about your intentions—dating with the purpose of glorifying God and potentially moving toward marriage.
Couples deepen their connection through shared experiences, vulnerability, and trust. It’s a time to evaluate whether you complement one another’s spiritual, emotional, and relational needs. Discuss topics like finances, family, and ministry goals to ensure alignment.
Engagement is a joyful and sacred season of preparation. Use this time to deepen your relationship with God and each other. Premarital counseling can provide valuable insights into your strengths and areas to grow as a couple. Stay committed to purity and honor God in your plans.
Did I achieve everything? No, but I got about 75% of my tasks done, and I had a LOT on that list. My husband teases me for trying to fit five pounds into a two-pound bag, but I’ve learned that having a plan—even an ambitious one—gets me further than having no plan at all.
One of my goals this year is to return to writing short blog posts. I’ve missed blogging and realized how much I enjoy it. So here I am, sharing not just my planning journey but also some practical tips that has helped me tackle one of life’s dreaded chores: managing paper clutter.
Last year, I tackled the monumental task of sorting through my late mother’s estate documents and organizing decades of family records. Using expandable plastic folders, I created a system for each family member. It was a huge accomplishment—and one I’m incredibly proud of.
For the first fifty years (1776-1826), leaders focus on survival, establishing boundaries and putting infrastructure in place, then they move to expand their boundaries as the people move and settle, they diversify their economy through agriculture, mining and trade.
For the fourth fifty years (1926-1976), there’s a complacency in the ruling class and social inequality grows. There’s corruption and nepotism in institutions and trust in them wanes. There’s a moral decay where social norms deteriorate, and materialism dominates. There is civil unrest, and the government struggles to maintain order and central authority weakens. (The great depression hit in the latter part of 1929 and lasted well into the 1930s. Civil unrest was quite evident in the civil rights movement from 1954 all the way to the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Many died as a result of the unrest, and I remember the curfews in my hometown.)
For the past couple of years, my husband has wanted to travel to Kentucky to see the life-size Ark. While I thought it would be fun to do, I hadn’t been able to commit to any time because of my mother’s illness several states away.
I dragged my feet getting ready for the trip on a Monday morning. At one point, we almost canceled the trip because we both were feeling a little under the weather.
Like many theme parks, the parking area is far from the actual Ark and you take a bus to get to it. You can see the Ark in the distance, but it doesn’t look very big… until you get up close and personal.
There were many exhibits on how they lived on the ark and what their living quarters may have looked like. We don’t know for sure, but God is able to do all things so I believe He may have put the animals into a state of hibernation while they were one the ship. But who knows? It’s a question for God Himself, when we get to heaven. (And I have a LOT of questions for Him, too!)
We traveled underground and walked the length of one wall of the temple mount. The wall’s stones, which were at least twenty to thirty feet long and four to five feet high, had no mortar between them. It was simply astounding. I stood in wonder at the feat of building such a wall in ancient times. But what happened at the end of the quarter mile trek to the corner of the temple wall would be something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. Our guide told us the stones we were standing on were the same stones that were in the streets of Jerusalem in ancient times. I imagined Jesus walking through Jerusalem on the very stones I was standing on.
Struck by the stark beauty of the thousand-year-old Olive trees in the garden of Gethsemane located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, we stood in awe of them. While there are paths and the garden seemed small to me, I imagine it wasn’t small in ancient times. Most likely, there were no paths or walls surrounding it.
We stood on a platform and stared at Golgotha, also known as the place of the skull, where the crucifixion of Jesus took place. Sadly, it is now a parking lot for a bus station. But on the stony hill above the blacktop, the eyes and the nose of the skull are still visible. But photos from the 1800s show the entire face of the skull.
is in heaven preparing a place for His bride, the church