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From that very first page, all the way to the back cover, I asked God to give me patience over and over again. And as I continued writing out my prayers, no matter how big or small my circumstances seemed, I wrote about them, asking for wisdom and guidance and grace and understanding and…you guessed it…more patience.
Read MoreI remember this one particular conversation I was having with Elaine. She had just finished giving me all sorts of great advice when I looked at her and asked, “Elaine, how did you get to be so wise?” I figured she’d come back with an answer about how all of her life experience had just naturally developed wisdom in her. And while I’m sure that’s part of it, that’s not the answer she gave me. No, instead, she looked at me with an encouraging smile on her face and said, “I asked God to give me wisdom.”
Read MoreConsidering the fact that Psalm 37:4 is likely one of the most frequently quoted verses in Scripture, I heard this verse for the first time at a very young age. And to be honest, I pretty much zoned in on the “he will give you the desires of your heart” portion of the verse and gave little thought to the rest of the passage. So as I got older and experienced the pain and disappointment that came from unfulfilled desires and unmet expectations, you can imagine my frustration, because God wasn’t seeming to hold up His end of the bargain. But I had it all wrong.
Read MoreI started writing down my prayers during the summer before my senior year of high school, and I’ve been keeping a prayer journal ever since. I’ve written down prayers about anything and everything: friends, family, boys, basketball, work, money, etc. If it was on my heart, I wrote it down. And now after over ten years of writing down my prayers, it has been the biggest blessing to be able to go back through these journals and read about how God was working in my heart and to see how He answered the prayers I wrote down.
Read MoreIn the spirit of this wonderful holiday, today’s devotion is going to be a little different. I know this year has been difficult for all of us in one way or another. And I realize that it can be difficult in the midst of tough circumstances to find things to be thankful for. But I have no doubt that if we take the time to really think hard and reflect back on this year, we can find the blessings hidden beneath the struggle.
Read MoreSomething I learned early on in my walk with the Lord is that there is nothing too insignificant to pray about. We can talk to God about literally anything and everything. He wants to hear it all, and He wants to help us with it all. His Word makes this very clear in Paul’s letter to the Philippians when he said, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6, NLT).
Read MoreA while back, I was talking with one of my friends about prayer, and she said something that really struck a chord. She said, “Kristen, I just feel like my prayers aren’t getting anywhere. It’s like I’m trying to talk to God, but it feels like He’s on His lunch break and He’s not hearing me.”
Read MoreDo you ever get tired of hoping for something to happen or get impatient when you’re waiting for a prayer to be answered? Yeah, me too. Our key verse for today hits the nail on the head saying, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” I don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like your heart can stay sick for a really long time while that tree of life you’re waiting for doesn’t even seem to have sprouted yet.
Read MoreHave you ever prayed for something, only to have God answer you in a completely unexpected way? Maybe you had a picture in your head of what your answered prayer would look like, but the Lord seemed to have entirely different plans to answer that prayer.
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