Pray Without Ceasing

Good Evening Loverlys!
                      Personally, prayer is a huge part of my daily walk. But it was only until recently I discovered the power and effect prayer can have. I've been told "make sure you say your bedtime prayers" throughout my entire life. My parents have ingrained this in me since my childhood. It was a rule to pray before meals. You had to right? If you didn't, you would choke or get food poisoning! (Or so my sister told me.) So of course, I would always say my "prayers"  before bed and grace before meals. That was it. Honestly, they never meant much to me, just something that was required of me.
                    Quite a few Wednesday nights ago, my youth pastor was on the topic of prayer. He encouraged us to start a prayer journal. Just to jot some prayer requests down, and the end of the day, pray for them. That night when I got home, I seriously examined my prayer life. How much time I have spent in prayer this week? As much time as I've spent online or watching TV? And when I did say my bedtime prayers, I almost always fell asleep. I thought about that for a second. What kind of message was I sending to God? Sorry, I'm too tired to pray to you God? The creator, sustainer, giver and taker of life?  I was too tired to pray to my sovereign God, the one whom without I would be dead in my sins with no hope? The one who gave me salvation? Seriously? I was extremely frightened at that thought. What if God gave me as much time and thought as I give Him? I was ashamed.
                    So that night I grabbed a binder filled with paper and wrote one simple word on the cover: Pray. I wrote down some prayer requests that came to mind and let it be, not thinking much about it. The very next day, my grandfather called and said he was having surgery and needed some prayer. As soon I heard this, I ran into my room and this prayer request down. Later on that day, I was flipping through channels while watching TV and landed on the news. I saw a news story on a shooting in a neighborhood, where a family was killed. I immediately got out my binder and wrote that prayer request down. I had several more experiences like that for the rest of the day! Isn't it so incredible how God works?
                    Every month now, since that Wednesday, I have a huge list of prayers that I add to and pray for each day. My prayer life has gotten so much stronger, and so has my relationship with God. A couple weeks ago, I looked back to my very first list prayers, dated to the first week of June. As I read through the list of prayers, I was overwhelmed by how many of my requests God had answered. I immediately got down on my knees and thanked God over and over again for His faithfulness and kindness that He shows towards me and His children. I still get chills thinking about it.
                   I encourage you, if you don't have one already, to start a prayer journal. It is such an amazing way to strengthen your prayer life, and grow closer to God. I promise you, it is so fulfilling.

Give me Jesus,
Emily Grace <3

Ugh..Mornings.

Good Morning Loverlys!
      Let's just start off this post with a disclaimer: I cannot stand mornings. I really, really dislike them. Mornings and I aren't even friends! I hate mornings so much that I don't speak a word until I get my morning hug from my mother. Seriously! (You think I'm kidding but I'm really not.) Usually I have a "routine" I follow each morning when I wake up. My routine goes as follows: my alarm goes off at 8, I slowly sit up, wipe off yesterday's mascara, throw my covers back and drag myself to the bathroom, wishing I had a just a few more minutes of sleep left. But this morning, my routine was a little different. Yes, my alarm went off, I wiped away my mascara, and threw my covers back. But before I drug myself to the bathroom, I stopped, and sat crossed-legged on my bed as a question popped into my mind. The question that was popped into my mind was so random, I surprised myself.  "What if my parents were never Christians?" Now, mornings aren't usually my "lets have a deep thought process before my morning run" time. I usually save those moments for later on, when I don't hate everything as much. But I couldn't help but think, "What if?" What if my parents never accepted Christ? What if my grandparents never instilled in my parents the same faith they passionately pursued all their lives? What if my parents stopped going to church, and threw away this faith they have been taught all their lives to follow? What if my parents never taught me about Jesus, and never showed me how true Christians live their lives?
           My heart started breaking at the thought of how different my life would be. Would I treat people the same way I do? Would I still have the same friends, the same passions? Would I have even moved to North Carolina? As I sat on my bed, thinking of the hopelessness I would feel, the worthlessness, the shame, huge tears started to stream down my cheeks. Once I started crying I couldn't stop. I thought of how grateful I am that my parents are Christians. I thought of how incredibly blessed I am that my parents have pursued me in a way, that has made Jesus real, and my faith stronger than I ever could have imagined. I was ashamed at how I take it for granted, when their are billions and billions of kids out their with non-Christian parents, how they don't have those influences in their lives and how they don't have the hope and salvation of Jesus Christ. This makes my heart break even more. This makes me want to shout the good news out to everyone! I want every kid, every adult to have the same assurance and forgiveness my parents have showed me and I have received through Jesus. I am so thankful.
       So today, give your parents a morning hug, (trust me it will make your morning a little more bearable) and thank them for their Christian influences in yours and others lives.

Give me Jesus,
Emily Grace <3

My First Post! :)

Hello loverlys!
        My name is Emily and I am a preacher's daughter. This blog is to display my Christian walk, keep myself and others accountable, and express my journey as a preachers daughter! I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time and well, I have been pretty lazy about it. When I was about 11, I started my own blog which I posted about nonsense and annoyed my readers. (If I had any besides my grandmother. Love you Granny!) My three closest friends all have blogs,and they inspired me! So I decided to maybe dust off the old keyboard and try again, but this time, with more serious and (hopefully) mature themes. I should be posting every week!  I hope you enjoy my blog! :)

Give me Jesus,
Emily Grace <3