One of the constants in my life over the last two years has been change! That may sound a little funny, but I’ve had changes in my job, my health, my calling and my kids. Each one of these things by themselves is enough to shake you up a bit, but when they all happen relatively close together, it really gets your attention!

About two years ago, I decided to stop teaching at the Christian school that I had been at for eight years and decided to pursue my dream of developing a freelance writing career. I had been praying about it for awhile and by the fall of 2008 the timing seemed right, so I made the plunge. It’s been an interesting time of developing clients and finding projects, and I love it, but it did cause me to make some adjustments.

First of all, I’m the type of personality that doesn’t always take to change happily. My identity was tied up in the school and my position there and the people I knew and in my students. Losing all that was harder than I thought it would be. That was compounded by a change in my health at the same time. I began having frequent bouts of vertigo, which often left me sick and not comfortable leaving my house. So I went from a busy, bustling school as my daily routine to a quiet, empty house.

I struggled with discouragement because of being sick, but God had something in mind with all that time I spent resting. At that time He was also putting in my heart a desire to start a blog about prayer. So for that year, I spent a lot of time reading and studying about blogging and podcasting and researching what resources I would need to do all this. It was a tough year, but God was busy laying the groundwork for future plans.

The BIble verse that became my theme for that year was the following:

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Psalm 37:7a.

Now, I was impatient and just wanted to feel better and get on with things, but I had to learn to WAIT. I had no choice.

During this time, my kids were also going through many changes. My daughter finished college, moved back home for the summer, moved to Argentina for four months and is now back home again starting a job. My son is doing the opposite. He is graduating high school in two months and leaving for a 15 month auto mechanic training program this summer. Kids coming and going, in and out of the house, quiet and chaos. I can sense it’s the end of child rearing and the beginning of new relationships with them.

So, how do we handle all these changes that come into our lives–some from our own decisions, some from Life? It always helps to talk them over with a friend, a spouse,or a parent who has been through it before. I’ve also found that wrestling through them in prayer is the best way for me to handle them. I say wrestling because it ususally is not a quick solution, but a repeated bringing them before the Lord, seeking His will and His solutions and His plans. I like to write this all down in a journal, so I can add any insights the Holy Spirit gives me as I pray through these things. Then as answers start to come, I combine the praying and waiting with action as God shows me what to do.

try journaling your prayers

Over the years, I have learned more of what it means to wait on the Lord when I sense He is calling me to make changes. Mostly I have learned this from my own painful blunders of charging ahead and then having to undo my mistakes because I acted too soon or took on too much and made a mess of things.

What kind of changes is God calling you to make right now? Where are you in the process? LIstening to Him? Not wanting to change the status quo? If you feel like it, share a little bit about your “winds of change.” And, of course, pray on!

Thank you for joining our mailing list! Mary and I are so happy that you have taken the time to check out OnlyByPrayer. We have many free resources available for you to help you in your walk with Jesus. Don’t forget to check out our blog, Bible studies, and podcasts, among other things.

Please enjoy this podcast on learning to pray scripture into whatever situations you may be facing.  Just click on the link below.

PrayingGodsWord.mp3

Blessings,

Jane VanOsdol

Mary Kane

Where I live in the Midwest, March is a time of change. The days are often filled with gusty winds ushering in the latest warm front or cold front. I’m never quite sure what the weather will bring from one day to the next. One day I may be outside luxuriating in a sunny, beautiful 65 degree-day, but 24 hours later I may be  scuttling back inside with snow flurries dusting my hair.

Changeable March weather

Maybe you’re at a time in your life right now that is matching the March weather. Perhaps you feel like you’re being buffeted about by opposing forces that you can not control. Whether it’s your job, your health or a relationship that’s causing the upheaval, it’s an unsettling, even scary feeling. Well, fortunately, God does not leave us alone to weather these changes. He has given us a comforter who is, interestingly enough, compared to the wind. Acts 2 introduces the Holy Spirit in this way:  “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting” (v. 2).

The Holy Spirit filled each believer and changed his or her life completely. It was through the Spirit’s power and guidance that the disciples were able to preach and heal and minister to others. And it is through the Spirit’s power that God also wants each one of us to live out our lives as well. If we let God’s Spirit guide us through the “winds of change” seasons in our lives, we can be assured that God will bring us through and grow us through every situation in our lives.

What’s God changing in your life right now? Let’s commit to praying about these changes and seeing how God wants to use them to change us. We’ll talk about this some more in the next post. Until then, pray on!

Have you ever felt discouraged over a situation or a person that you have brought before the Lord? Maybe you’ve prayed this request so many times that you have lost count. It seems as if nothing is happening, or worse yet things are happening, but they’re bad things. I’ve been dealing with this lately. The situation seemed to be beyond repair. That should have been my clue that the problem was my attitude, because no problem or person is beyond God’s reach.

Anyway, I was on the verge of telling God I was worn out with praying this request for the last three years, and that I thought I might give it a break. That’s when God brought me this simple verse. Short, to the point, but oh-so-powerful. It chastened me, motivated me and encouraged me to keep on keeping on as the widow in the Bible did. I hope it does the same for you. “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” Luke 18:1

So,  this month  while we are looking at new beginnings, remember that we can give a prayer a new beginning just by being faithful and continuing in that prayer. Renew your commitment to that person or cause. God is faithful. Pray on!

This month, I’d like to explore trying something new in our prayer lives. Having a schedule and a routine is a good thing, but sometimes trying something new in prayer can open us up to fresh insights and recharge our prayer lives.

Postures of Prayer

I’ve found that changing my physical posture can bring a different atmosphere to prayer. For example, I grew up in a church where we showed reverence to God by kneeling at different times in the service. In the church I now attend, we rarely kneel. But I like both stances. I have also tried other postures.

A stance that I find myself using frequently in my private prayer time is walking. I particularly use this stance when I am praying warfare types of prayers. For example, when I am praying for someone who is straying from God, or maybe for a missionary in a dangerous situation, I just want to get up and move. It seems to give strength to my prayers as I walk around the room. It seems hard for me to sit still when I know there is some serious praying that needs to be done!

So, this week try a different posture and let us know what you think. Pray on!

Join us on today’s podcast while Mary and I discuss when praying is a struggle. We will identify several reasons why praying can be hard for us and then discuss some of the solutions we have tried to overcome these problems.

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