Everyone loves Top 10 lists so here is a list of some of my favorite practical tools and strategies to help you get started or improve (or start) your prayer life (in no particular order).
Maybe the fire has become a spark. Maybe the emotional aspects of prayer have diminished and it has rather becoming a grueling task to tick off the to-do list. Regardless of whatever season you may be in, there is always a need to rekindle, revamp, and renew prayer.
We as a Church know the importance of creating beautiful spaces in which to meet God. But, in this season, many of us are not able to worship in the spaces of our home parishes, and even praying privately in those spaces might look rather different. Making a space to pray at home then becomes all the more important.
A prayer journal is a personal record of your conversations with God. It doesn’t need to have answers. In fact, it can be filled to the brim with purely questions and scattered thoughts, and it’d still be a good thing if it’s directed at the Lord.
Most days, though, I cannot make my intention — focused, deep, persistent prayer — match reality — a holy hour where I spend 58 minutes thinking about those fried cheese curds from Wisconsin.
I always feel a tinge of guilt when my mind suddenly wanders off or my hand goes towards my phone in the middle of prayer. But by God’s mercy and grace, He has led me to different tools that I can use to have a deeper and more meaningful time spent in prayer.
I was always told that prayer was important but whenever I showed up in prayer, I walked away perplexed and frustrated. I knew that I was missing something, but it took that very raw and awkward moment in my life to realize this: I was overthinking prayer.
If we don’t give God the opportunity to enter into us and change us in prayer, our lives will remain the same. He’s ready to work in our lives, but He gave us free will to choose whether we allow Him to or not. It is our choice whether we receive or reject Him.
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