JOURNALING: Love Just As Much

My friend and mentor Cynthia Heald got me hooked on a Personal Prayer Journal produced by YWAM Publishing (800 922-2143 and <a href="http://www.ywampublishing.com/default.aspx?">www.ywampublishing.com</a>). This inexpensive resource is yet another tool for reading through the Bible every year and keeping track and focusing on prayer needs I must attend to.

It's the attention it gives to the countries of the world that I particularly like, however, with stories and specific needs to pray for.

HEALING: Getting Rid Of The Old Stuff

I lived in the second-story apartment of an old brick house in Ohio during my first teaching job. There I would occasionally enjoy a hamburger prepared on a cheap rickety grill I owned.
 

One day after another turn at the grill, I noticed that the well-used charcoal briquettes had been reduced to ashes. So I spread them and let them cool overnight, then the next day I poured them into the metal garbage can I had placed on the street. It wasn't long before I noticed smoke outside my apartment window. I looked down to the street and saw my trash can engulfed in flames.

LISTENING: Voice Recognition

As number two of eight children in my family, I lived at home and went to college in our hometown in order to earn the first degree in my family's history. I worked up to three jobs at a time to help with expenses for my classes, including being a receptionist with a car dealer.  One day my boss sent me to a neighboring town to get a car title. On my way home, I was hurrying to make an afternoon class with mandatory attendance. Suddenly, I knew I was to take a left turn on a side road, which meant a longer way home.  It would make me late to my class, but I knew I had to do it. So I turned left and arrived late for my class.

STUDY: Wow Factor

Eating your words.

This morning, I got up to study God's Word. I read about Jeremiah, who also wrote about enjoying God's Word. He called it a "burning fire shut up in my bones”  (Jer. 20:9). Earlier, he had said "I found Your words and I ate them" (Jer. 15:16).

I understand those emotions. Sometimes when I'm writing about a truth I've found in the scriptures, I stop and cry—especially when it speaks to a specific need or question that I have for that day.

PRAYER: Waking Tired Praying

On Mondays, I try to schedule fasting and prayer time for special situations and people I know. Today as I prayed for some of the ones who haven’t yet surrendered their lives to Christ, I listened to my own words. They sounded like the same old prayers I had prayed for these people last week and the week before. I couldn't help but wonder if my prayers for my lost loved ones had become tired. Did I really expect them to make a difference?