(upbeat music) ♪ Just feel like I'm fine ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it shine ♪ ♪ Make it shine, make it shine ♪ ♪ Make it shine ♪ - Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Let It Shine. I'm your host, Angie Elkins, and I'm so glad that you've joined me today. Today, I'm welcoming my Aluminator for season two, Stacey Thacker. Guys, if you have been listening to my show for a long time, you are no stranger to who Stacey Thacker is. She's a longtime friend of mine. She's been on the show many times back when we were called Chatology. But today, she's talking about prayer. Now, I just wanna take a minute because prayer may not be one of the things that you struggle with. But then again, it might be. I think it's one of those things that all of us have our own unique relationship with. Either we love it, or we feel like we're terrible at it, right? Or we know we should do it, but we don't feel like we do it right, or maybe we don't do it enough. And so I just wanna let you know that today, Stacey is gonna kind of set us free with this conversation about prayer. She talks about the importance of prayer and what it's meant in her life. And I don't know about you, but that always motivates me a little bit just to hear how much it's meant to someone else. I know that I need that same kind of meaning in my life. And so it helps me to prioritize things that I know are important. So guys, if today's the first time that you've listened to Let It Shine, I wanna encourage you, take a minute and share this episode with someone else. That will help us get the word out. If you've not listened to us before though, hit that follow button wherever you are listening. So if you're listening on Spotify, maybe you're on Apple Podcast, make sure you're following there and you'll get every episode in your podcast feed. And then again, I wanna ask you, share it with someone who comes to mind as you're listening today. I know that always happens to me. Someone will pop into my head who I think would enjoy the episode. And I just hit that share button and send it to them quickly. That will help us get the word out so much. So guys, here we go. Here's my conversation with Stacy Thacker. ♪ Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ♪ Stacy, welcome to Let It Shine. It's your first appearance. It is my first official appearance on Let It Shine. ♪ Let it shine, it is crazy, we should probably explain ♪ I know, so Stacy was a very frequent guest on "Tatology". At the beginning, you were, I think you were episode three maybe? Sounds right. Of "Tatology" and then made several appearances after that. Almost really a co-host. I think I had that official title. I think you were. I'm gonna go with it. I mean, I was no Robert Elkins, but I was no Robert Elkins. But I did-- But it is. No one, no one. That's right, that's right. But we should say this at the very beginning back in the day, when you started "Tatology" and she went to all her friends and said, "You're gonna be on my podcast, right?" Right. And we were all like, "Of course, of course, of course." And then I had the opportunity to come more than once. I know, I had a handful of friends who were sort of in the writing speaking world. And I begged every one of them to come on my show and they graciously did, and you were one of those. Well, it was so much fun. And I'm so proud of you. I love what you're doing with "Let It Shine". I think it's a great, great show. I love what you've done. I love the guests you've had. And I'm so honored to be here today. Listen, I'm thrilled. And what I'm really most excited about is that people who have not listened to my show in the last, I don't know, couple of years, this may be their first introduction to you and to getting to know you. And so I'm thrilled to get to introduce people to you and hear your heart and your message and kind of what God's doing in your life. And also, we're very much in real-life friends. Yes. Stacey's daughter, Abby, and my daughter, Audrey, are besties and have been since what grade, second grade? When did y'all move here? We moved to Orlando in 2009 at the very end. Oh, that's right. You were pregnant. That's right. I had the baby. Yeah, you had the baby. And so I didn't meet you until well into 2010. Yes. And you had a newborn. That's why we didn't see each other. I don't know if I've ever told you this, Stacey, but these are my early memories of you. I love it, bring it. I can remember running into you in the hallway at church, upstairs, and kids, and saying, hey, how are you doing? And you would go, I'm tired. Like, that was always your answer. And I was like, well, she got a newborn and three other girls. So of course she's tired. Yes, yes. So that was the beginning of our friendship. And then our girls were just always together. And so we became always together. Yes, but they were destined to be best friends. Yeah. The funny story too is that as Angie and I were just getting to know each other, people kept stopping me and saying, have you met Angie Alkins? You're going to love Angie Alkins. And so that was kind of the intro to Angie's. I felt like I already knew her because everyone was telling me how amazing you were. And so when we finally did actually get to sit down and have a real conversation when I wasn't exhausted from the newborn stage, I was like, OK, OK, this is the long-term friendship right here. Of course, sure. And there's one other person who people kept saying to me, you've got to meet her. You've got to meet her. And it was Christy Helton. Yeah. And the two of you have remained super close friends of mine. Isn't that funny how other people knew? Other people knew before we knew each other. They knew us better. So that's a long time. That's a long time. So we've known each other very long now. I love it so much. 14 years. That's-- oh, wow. 15, actually coming up on 15. Coming up on 15, we moved here. That's great. Almost 15 years ago. Isn't that bananas? It's crazy. And let's just be real. Stacey and I could spend this whole half-hour telling stories. We could. But we're not going to. Yeah, we're going to dig deep. We're not going to. We're going to dig in deep, which is also very typical of our friendship. Like we're laughing and talking about Amazon funds, one second. And then the next minute, we're talking about prayer, which is what we're doing today. The only thing missing is the chips in case so, right? About here. That is so missing. That would be really weird, though. Man. I know, people would feel completely left out. Yeah, we would enjoy it. So, intensely. That brings up something I just thought of I'd like to say. Someone told me, and I actually think it was Lisa Whittle. I think I'm ripping this off from her. It's OK. She doesn't care. She talks about different types of friends. And there's one type of friend that she calls the chips in case of a friend. No, chips in salsa friend. And she said the chips in salsa friend is not necessarily your deepest friend. But they're the ones that you'll have chips in salsa with and talk about, you know, stuff. But then there's the deep friendships. I can't remember what she calls the deeper friendships. I don't know, but we're both. I don't know, you're from Texas. So, I feel like, I think if you're a chips in salsa friend, I think that's pretty deep. Chips in salsa friend is pretty good. But the queso friend takes it to another level. Yeah, it's a little bit more of a commitment. Yes, yes, both. And yes. Anyway, so welcome. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me. You're welcome. So, today we are going to talk about prayer. And I picked this topic to talk to you about because, well, dare I say it, you're an expert. That seems like a big title. You know what is so funny is that people have said that and I have resisted that. But for kind of, I want to say accidentally. I've accidentally become, I guess, a prayer expert. I guess if I don't wear titles very well, but can I tell the story that I told you? Go girl. So I was on a podcast, a different podcast. And the interviewer, we were talking about prayer because I've written about prayer a lot lately. In fact, I just finished two new books on prayer and my last book was on prayer. So I didn't do this intentionally. I didn't set out to go, "Oh, I'm going to write prayer books." But she called me a prayer warrior. And I said, "Oh, I am not a prayer warrior." Like it felt really prideful to say that. 'Cause I know those women, like I know the women in my church, you like when they pray like the ground shakes and they've laid their hands on me and there's been oil involved in it. I respect them so much. Like they have a pipeline that I just don't, I don't know how to pray those kind of big prayers like that. Like it just feels big. And so when she said that, I was like, "Oh, I'm not a prayer warrior." And she said, "Well, I think you are "because you've learned to pray through something "and you've endured and you haven't stopped." And I sat with that for a minute and I thought, "You know, okay, maybe I can, "let me let me just think about that for a while." And I said, "Okay, well, maybe you're right." And she said, "Well, you know, even if I'm not right, "you can't find anyone in Scripture that God used, "it was an unlikely person." And I thought, "Okay." - I love that so much. - Okay, so that I would say I can wear all day long is I feel like an unlikely person. I have prayed, I mean, I've prayed my whole life pretty much, but I never really saw myself as someone that other people would ask questions about prayer too. But I find myself writing on it and teaching on it and people asking me questions. And so perhaps I am an unlikely prayer mentor of sorts. And I'm happy to do that. I think probably what I can bring to the table is I could just be very vulnerable and real with people and say, "Listen, this is what I've learned. "This is what God has taught me along the way. "I am by far not an academic, not an expert, "but I've learned a few things along the way "and I'm happy to share those with anybody who wants to." - Well, I'm thrilled because I have had a couple of opportunities lately where I've been asked to speak on certain topics. Like we have a class here called Theology Lab for our young adults and the Thomas who leads that group, will say, "Hey, here are five topics. "Which one of these do you feel the best equipped to talk on?" And always prayer is in that, in one of those topics. - Yes. - And I never pick it. - Yeah. - Ver, because I'm like, "What am I gonna say about prayer?" - I mean, I do it, but you should. - That's what I'm gonna say. - Yeah, yeah, if you're not, you should. - But you'll start to teach people about prayer, you know? So I'm glad you're here. I'm gonna learn a thing or two as well. But let's start with maybe what are some things about prayer that people don't really know? And well, here's my question. Is there a wrong way to pray? - I was, my quick answer to that off the top of my head is no. I think one of the things that I've learned about prayer is that prayer is your, it's indicative of your relationship with the Lord. Or think about us as we sit down and talk, and you know, like we could talk about anything all day long, lots of rabbit trails. But prayer to me is relationship. And it's part of how you connect with and engage with Jesus. Also, it's a conversation that's already happening between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There's this beautiful heavenly conversation that's already happening. And as we pray, we get to enter into that conversation. - Okay, stop. You're blowing my mind. - There's a heavenly conversation between the Trinity. - Yes. - That's already happening. - Yes. - And that is prayer. - Yes. - And we are somehow inserting ourselves into it. - We are invited into that. And scripture is clear on that. And I think we see that that's modeled in the life of Christ and that he went and prayed to the Father. He prayed in the power of the Holy Spirit. And as you look at different scriptures and forgive me 'cause they're not going to come to mind as they should, but if we look at the way that say Christ taught us to pray through the Lord's prayer, our Father who aren't in heaven. So he modeled that. If we look in places which I'm 99% sure it's Hebrews 'cause that's generally what I go with is that he sits right now. What is Jesus doing right now? Well, he's sitting at the Father's right hand, interceding for us, praying for us. And there's scripture in Romans that says when we don't know what to pray, I believe it's Romans. And is that the spirit intercedes for us with grounds that can be interpreted on our behalf. And so there's this Trinity conversation which I believe is prayer, it's perfect. And it's a beautiful relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. And I think as we are invited into that, it helps us to realize that it's weighty, but yet there's honestly nothing that I can contribute, but they don't need me to contribute to that conversation, really, but that I get invited into that. It is such an honor. It's awe-inspiring, really. But at the same time, prayer is so simple that I can teach my two-year-old to do it. I did teach my children to do that. It's something that you can model and talk to them. You can pray anytime and any space with any, so it's so simple a child can do it, but it's so rich and so deep that we couldn't possibly cover everything. On the topic of prayer, because it's so layered with great biblical truth and theology about who God is and how He relates to us and what He's doing every minute of every moment of creation and the cosmos and time and all the things. But I think for us, it's such a beautiful invitation that if we miss it, that we're the ones missing out, for sure. - So you've already taught me something about prayer. I didn't know that the Trinity is already doing it and we just jump into that. That's number one. Number two, oh, well, I say number one would be, there's no wrong way to prayer. Number two, the Trinity is praying and we get to be part of that. Number three, what would you say is something else that people don't know about prayer? - I think one of the things I've learned recently about prayer is that what prayer does more than anything is transform me. And there's a great quote by Elizabeth Elliot and she says that prayer largely is the undoing of my will, for God's will. I come in prayer, I have something on my heart, I have a problem for myself or I'm interceding on behalf of someone else. And so I come with a certain, I don't wanna say angle or intention or I have something on my mind that I wanna talk to God about. But what happens is even just like a child who is holding onto a toy and just as the child releases their grip on the toy and finally lets it go, that's kinda how I feel like prayer is for me, is that when I come and let's say I'm praying for my girls and let's say I'm praying things over their lives or praying for God to do something or to move or to release or something, what I'm finding is that God is pressing on my heart and saying, "Well, what are you holding onto?" Is that first, if I'm gonna be willing to intercede and pray for somebody else's behalf, I have to allow the Lord to transform me. And so what I've noticed lately as I've been praying is that God is changing me in the process. So I think a lot of times what people don't realize is we come with our lists or our needs and what God is more concerned about than just the circumstances. Not that he's not concerned 'cause I think that he is. I think he's most concerned about transforming my heart. And so through that prayer relationship, that's where that changes we talk about spiritual formations and what's forming you is that it's really through prayer that God is molding me and changing my heart and aligning my heart with his and getting me in step with him in a way that I don't know other things do. I'm a Bible girl, I love talking about scripture. We can talk about that all day long. - Totally. - There's something about prayer that is a way that I submit to the Lord for him to actually do the work that I'm learning about as I'm studying and reading his word. - So have you ever been in the middle of a prayer and you felt this feeling like, "Should I be praying this?" Like, is this, when you say align myself with God, this is what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of moments where I've been praying for something and I've felt this, I don't know, just sort of moment in my spirit where I've thought, I'm not sure this is aligned with what God wants me to pray right now. - Oh, I see what you're saying. You're saying like, have I in the minute, come with one request and then realized it was probably not something the Lord would have wanted to pray into my life. - Yeah, yeah. - For sure, I mean, I think back years ago, it's just a basic example of liking a boy or something pre-marriage, high school days. And I remember someone saying to me, you better watch what you pray for because God just my answer. And so, I don't know if that's biblical or not, but there were times where I felt like I would pray for something and God might say, okay, that's what you think you want. I mean, think about parenting to me. Sometimes my kids were like, I really want that thing. And you're like, okay, if that's what you want to spend your money on, that's the thing. And then it doesn't satisfy. I think sometimes I find myself in those conversations with the Lord or the Lord, it isn't that it's the wrong thing necessarily to pray for, but God might be saying, is that really what you're, what's really under the thing that you're asking for? - Yes, exactly. - What is really under that? And that is, I think, a bigger question for me is that if I'm asking God to do something, if I'm asking God to meet a need of some sort, and he's saying to me, okay, is it really the thing? Is it, do you really want me to give you that thing? Or is it that you're just not satisfied with what I'm doing in your life right now? Do you not trust me? I mean, when it comes down to it, it's a question of trust. So I don't know that I've ever been in like, this is the wrong thing, but I think the question of, is this really what you want? Is this really what you want me to do? 'Cause what I really think you want is more of me, or you want to be satisfied in the way that only the Lord can do. It's not the thing you're praying for. I think that's what I would not answer that. - Okay, so I'm wondering about, obviously God answers all of our prayers, even though sometimes it's with a no. So when we get a no, is that something we should have never prayed about? - Like, no, we're just thinking about things. - Well, no, I don't think, I don't think you, I think no's an answer, and I think no is forming. No is going to change you in some way, 'cause you're gonna change directions in some way. I mean, of course they're things, and I was just having a conversation with one of my girls this week about things we pray for, and I said, listen, I believe this with all my heart, and no is mercy. When God says no, he's not trying to wound you in a way to hurt you, or to, like, he's not, he's not a mad dad. - Yeah. - What he's doing in that moment is he's saying, this thing that you're praying for is not my best. It doesn't, it's not my best for you, or it's not best for everyone involved, or it's not gonna glorify me in a way that is gonna be a long-term blessing. And so when God says no, it's a mercy. And so that can be really hard, and I think getting there is not easy, but when you can see no as a mercy, then you can say, no, I think it's fine to pray something, and God says no, that's learning more of his character. So I don't think that, I don't think no is bad in that regard. - I am gonna share a no. - Okay. - Prayer that I had at. In fact, this is probably one of the things I prayed the most fervently over in recent memory. I auditioned years ago for the Voices of Liberty at-- - Remember this? - Yes, at Epcot. And for those listening and you don't know what Voices of Liberty are, please just go Google and look up or YouTube, find some videos, but they are the best singers at Disney. And in my personal opinion, the best singers in the world, they're amazing. - They're amazing. - Come at me. - Yeah, come at me. - Tell me I'm wrong. - I know. Because what they do and how they do it is so unique and so it just requires a lot of skill and talent. Okay, all of that to say, I was auditioning and I really wanted to get in that group. And I know there was a lot of identity for that. For me, wrapped up in that. Like it would have made me a real singer. You know what I'm saying? Like nobody can tell me that I'm not a singer if I'm in the Voices of Liberty, I'm for sure a singer. - You've arrived. - Yes. And so for sure, that's the best way to put it arrived. So anyway, I auditioned multiple times over the years, made it through all the callbacks. And there was one particular audition where at the callback they would eliminate, you know, they would eliminate other altos, they would eliminate until they're down to one in each part and I was the last one. And I was like, I know I'm getting that contract, I know I'm getting it. And I mean, I was praying, I would get on my knees and pray. I would ask God to make sure I got that contract. And I didn't, I didn't get it. And I didn't understand it. And I mean, now I can look back and see it would have been really hard for me. And also there were some definitely negative things wrapped up in it for me, including identity and all of that. But it could also be that I just couldn't cut it. Like that's something I would not have admitted before, but it's really hard. - Well, how did that redirect you though? I mean, how did you? - I just was disappointed. And I can actually remember saying to God, I am so disappointed in this answer. - Yeah. - That's real. - Yeah. And I mean, I just, I really thought that it was gonna happen. And I would say it probably taught me a really good lesson about trusting God and his answers, but also just being willing to look beyond the answer into the why, why would maybe he have said no to me? What could be the reason? - Yeah. - And still trusting him in the no. - And I think it could be timing. It could have been just the wrong thing for you. As you said, it could have been more damaging to you to him for him to say yes. - Yes. - I think about, okay, so the story of Hannah that kind of bubbles up to the surface. Great story on prayer. I recently, one of my coworkers had sent me a bunch of videos, like YouTube videos to watch. And it was a message from Jackie Hoperi on Hannah. And so you know how you do YouTube and you like start watching it, and they get distracted, at least I do. And I lost it. I lost the link. And I was like, man, this was so good. I think Hannah is one that was very persistent in prayer. And God said no, and God said no, and God said no. And she was judged, and she was being bullied. And there's so much around her prayer story that I find fascinating. I have never taught through it. I really want to teach through it, but haven't. But Jackie is even better. So anyway, so I watched part of it, and then I missed it. And then we circled back a couple of months later, and our women this summer did the When You Pray series from The Life Way, which I cannot recommend enough. This is not just a life way plug. I will say it is one of the best Bible studies I've ever done. It's so great. And it's six, I think it's six different Bible teachers, six different female Bible teachers, and Jackie's one of them. And wouldn't you know, the passage she teaches on in the When You Pray series is the Hannah story. Amazing, okay. And I was like, maybe Jesus wants me to have a little bit more time with this. And that particular week, I was leading one of the studies, a lot of our leaders, we had several studies. I ended up leading that study more than once and talking to several women about it. But there was something about, she said in the middle of her talk, she said, what if God's know is a chance for his glory? What if his know bursts a bigger glory story or something to that effect? And you know, she has a whole thing with glory. And so I think about Hannah and God eventually said yes, but it was a timing thing. What Hannah didn't know and what you maybe didn't know or still don't know is that God was working out way more than her having a son or a child. God cares about that deeply. I think he does. I don't think that that know in that season for her was cruel. But what God was doing behind the scenes was he was orchestrating nations. He was positioning her son, Samuel, who would anoint kings who God would use as a prophet and priest for his people. And she didn't know that. She had no clue what he was doing. And probably didn't, well, I think maybe she did. But even if you look at her story and you leapfrog to the story of Jesus and Mary having Jesus, she sings Hannah's song part of her story when she goes to Elizabeth and she says, you know, they realized that they're both pregnant and the Holy Spirit, you know, John leaps in Elizabeth's womb. When Mary gives birth this song, I think it's called the Magnificant is what is called commonly is that she echoes Hannah's prayer. There's a similar line in there. Hannah wouldn't have had any clue. She wasn't just being used for her son to do these things in the story of God's people, but it was going to also encourage the mother of our Savior. I mean, you can't script death. - There's just so much. - There's so much there. And so I think often, and so when Jackie said that, she said, would you be willing to trust God with a know if it meant he would get more glory? And so I can look at that know for you and know that that disappointed and discouraged you. But I see what God has birthed out of that know is that you would never have had the time to do what you have done over the past 10, 15 years what God has done in you through your podcast, your first podcast, your second podcast, your new position with life, what all that God has done, if you had been doing that other thing, which was a good thing, there's nothing wrong with it. You would have been a light. I know you would have been a light, it is me. But what God was like, no, no, and I know that you want that, but I have this other thing, because you don't know, you don't know the lives that are being touched by allowing him to say no in that season and redirect you to where you are today. That's what I think prayer does in our life, is that we have to ask those kind of questions. And maybe on the surface, I Hannah wouldn't say, no, no, I don't know that I would be willing to do that because she really wanted that little boy and got to answer that in the sweetest way. But then he also allowed her to play a bigger part in the story that she never could have written for herself. - Well, I will tell you that I think that part of that specific prayer for me was holding on to a part of my identity I used to have. And so what God did in the years following that, sort of rewriting and really reimagining what my ministry was and what it would look like involved me, letting go of the music portion. Not completely, I mean, you know, I still serve at church and music, I'm still a very musical person, like all of that, my family's all very musical. But I just, I posted on Instagram this week that I used to write children's musicals. I used to teach children's musicals. I mean, that was my thing. - Very good at it, I might add. - And Emily Freeman posted, you know, just because you're good at something doesn't mean that you have to do it forever. - Yes. - And I think I would have done it forever, even though it's not what God did mean to do forever. - He said no. - He said no. So being involved in that music part of my life, I haven't completely let it go. But career-wise, being willing to say, I'm gonna just accept that this no is what God is saying to me now and be willing to serve him in a totally different way. And yeah, it's hope opened up something I would have never even seen coming. - Goodness, I know. - Okay, so as we wrap up, I wanna talk a little bit practically about what prayer looks like in our lives. Like, what is your practice of prayer? - Yeah. - How does it look on a day-to-day basis? - Well, this is a really interesting question 'cause I feel like my prayer rhythms have changed over the past couple of years. I have very consistently had a prayer journal, so to speak. - Okay. - I usually do that electronically. I know, I've gotten back to paper journaling. We can have that discussion later. - Why do you say, I know, like there's some problems? - Well, it doesn't feel very spiritual to have things like on your computer, but I don't know. I have done that a lot. So I have like an Evernote file of my prayer Evernote file. And so I just very practically, I have different days of the week that I focus on different things. Like today is Monday and that is the time I'm praying for my immediate family. - So do you get up in the morning and sit on a comfy chair or do you kneel by your bed? Or how does it work? - Okay, so in previous seasons, I would get up way before my kids. I would spend an hour or so in the word and prayer and I would work through those things. My current season, I started working full time outside the house a little less than two years ago. And to be completely honest, that change in my life has radically affected my time. I mean, that's obvious, but I'm in the car. I'm in meetings. I don't have the mastery over my calendar that I used to. And so I find myself a lot, as you say, having the conversation with God on the way to the work. Or I'm praying, I do get up in the morning and I do spend time in prayer very intentionally. It's not an hour, that was a privilege and an honor. And a season in my life that I'm so grateful for, but that's not reality for me right now. And so I have a few days that are a little bit more flexible, but that's not common for me anymore. So I will pray along the way. I've been doing a lot of that. I'm trying to figure out, honestly, how to be more intentional with that, with also giving myself a lot of grace to say, "It's okay that it looks different in this season." So I do pray a lot in the car. I do have a journal I'm keeping. I am consistently checking in. One of the things that, and do I kneel sometimes, there are definitely prayers that bring me to my knees. That's not a consistent posture for me. It's generally not kneeling beside my bed, it's generally sitting on the bathroom floor. And if anybody knows me, I talk about it a lot. I call it bathroom floor moments, 'cause I really don't think you can get more humble than, at least my bathroom floor is very humble, because it's not that it doesn't feel like a holy place necessarily, but it's quiet. And it's the only place I can be alone. And so I would say the bathroom would be where I would go. My prayer closet, so to speak, that when I am really in a place of desperation, where I feel like, and it's more for me, it's more to block out. I mean, obviously I'm driving, I'm not blocking out everything, right? But if I need to get really focused, hyper-focused, on the Lord, you'll find me sitting on my bathroom floor. Sometimes kneeling, usually sitting, the posture, I feel like there's something, yeah, I don't know, maybe I'll cause a controversy here. I feel like there's something about getting as low as you can, because I feel like it does position our hearts. So there are times when I feel the need to do that. Sometimes in church, it doesn't happen very often, but the Lord will be like, you gotta get on your knees. Like I can just sense his spirit saying to me, you gotta get low. And for me, it's really hard to be full of pride when you're on the floor. It just is, I'm not saying it's not possible. So sometimes, if I'm in a desperate place and I really feel like I really gotta narrow my focus, I will get on my knees and I'll sit on the bathroom floor. But typically, it's me writing, I might write out a prayer, I might be praying while I'm driving or praying along the way. I do more of that recently. I also have been really trying just another practical thing is to pray in the moment. Like if you were like, hey girl, can you pray about this? I try really hard just to stop and say, "Hey, can I pray for you right now?" I do that with friends, I do that with my girls, I do that like we were, when I was taking my daughter to do something the other day, I said, "Hey, let's stop and pray." And so it's just along the way, I found that realizing again, the conversation has always happened between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I can enter that at any time. There's no, oh, sorry, it's Tuesday at two, you can't pray. Like you can enter that conversation and it's just to me to have an awareness when the Spirit says to pray, to stop and do that in the moment. I try really hard, especially if someone brings me a concern in my job, I'm directing women in our church, a spiritual director for them. I'm getting those questions and things all the time. I'm really trying to be better at that. So that's one practical way that I pray. But yeah, those are some, those are some just a few things, a few kind of hooks to hang on, you know, how to pray. - I am very much a pray as you go, kind of person, unless, like you said, I love the way you put it, that there are some prayers that drop me to my knees. And I think there is something so important about us using our bodies in worship. And I think prayer is one of those things that it really does symbolize what is happening on the inside when we get down on our knees like that. But I don't do that very often now that I say it. But I love to go for walks as you know, and people who listen know that is a great prayer time for me. And honestly, it's hard for me to turn off podcasts so I can pray, but it's important. - It's important. - Sometimes you have to have the quiet. - Yeah, I have to have the quiet. And if that's one thing I've noticed, if I have constant music or podcasts going or TV, I am literally closing a door on the opportunity that God has to speak to me. - Yeah. - And so I have got to choose silence at some sometimes in order to commune with God. I mean, honestly. - And sometimes you have to fight for that. So I love that you said that. I will say that lately I have been doing, I've been trying really hard to do a walk in the morning and a walk in the evening. And so those have become prayer times for me. There's something, again, like you said, about moving and walking and talking with the Lord. I mean, the neighbors probably think I'm insane 'cause I usually do it out loud. But those have been very, it's like an opening of the day and the end of the day. And I don't get to do that every morning. It depends on how early I have to start. But those have been huge for me. Really, really, really, and just even starting just saying, okay, Lord, I just give everyone and everyone, and everybody to you, everything. And I just give them to you and I name them. I'll go through them and give myself to you, give my husband to you, give my girls, give these situations to you. And there's something about the moving and the circling and coming back and going, okay. I feel better, like there's just something about that. So that's been a pretty easy thing to do that has helped my prayer posture for sure. - I am also asking, I find myself asking God, how do I feel in this moment? Sometimes I can't identify it myself if I've got a problem or something that's bothering me, even just putting that out there to God. Like show me my heart in this situation because I feel like maybe even emotions are getting in the way or what should be is getting in the way, how this should be or should not be. I'm always working through or why this is happening. And I've got to like put that aside and say, God, just show me what, like bubble up in me, what I need to see right now. And just letting him have access to my heart in that way. - And there's another couple of other things I was gonna, that I thought of, listening, prayer is listening, like stop talking, stop talking. This is hard, let's just say for me. 'Cause I always have something I wanna talk to the Lord about, but sometimes, and sometimes I'll sit, like literally put a timer on, okay, I'm gonna sit for five minutes and I'm not just gonna listen. I'm gonna prepare my heart and I'm gonna listen. And sometimes it's nothing big and sometimes it's at the very end of that five minutes, sometimes it's not at all. But putting yourself in a place where you, again, turning off the noise, listening for God, pouring out your heart but waiting for him to speak, that's huge. And the other thing too is if you, if you're a person, like I like physically can't get on the floor or I can't do that or I'm driving, it just doesn't work for me. Just as simple as opening your hand. Just like turning your hand up, like just holding your hand up and as a symbol, that's not the right word. - It's like a physical representation. - It's a representation of your heart open to the Lord. And just to say, Lord, first of all, what am I holding on to more than you? And I want my hands to be in yours, but here I'm open. There's something about that open posture that it just kind of indicates to my head and my heart, hey, this is a moment between you and the Lord. And I can do that, I can do that while I'm driving. - Yes. - I can drive with one hand. I mean, especially the stop and go traffic in Orlando. But I'm just saying there, that is something that it indicates to my heart and to my head, hey, this is a moment with the Lord. And that's, that's simple. It will, it will change your prayer life for sure. - Amen, amen. - Let it shine is a production of the Life Way podcast, executive produced by me, Angie Elkins, produced by Nikki Ogden. It's recorded at the Life Way podcast studios and engineered by Donnie Gordon, edited by Robert Elkins. An original theme song arranged by Robert Elkins, the Maestro himself, performed by Tiffany Casey, Abby Pierce, Ryan Walker, Jarian Felton, and Shawna Felton, art by Grace Morgan. And I'm your host, Angie Elkins. Meet me back here next week. ♪ I'm still the light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm still the light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm still the light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm still the light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm still the light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm still the light of mine ♪ ♪ Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ♪
