Praying Women By Sheila WalshSample

Day 2 Just Start Talking—God Is Listening Right now, I want you to know one simple truth: God hears your prayers. He loves you and wants a relationship with you, and we build relationships by talking and listening. Prayer is simply talking with and listening to the One who is crazy in love with you. Your Father in heaven longs to hear from you. Your longing invites His presence. Over the first thirty years of my life, I prayed long prayers and short prayers, but the turning point for me in regard to prayer was when I had no words left. When I was hospitalized with severe clinical depression, all my words were gone. The young girl in me who had decided to follow Jesus at eleven years of age was bitterly disappointed in who I had become. I’d promised to be perfect, to never disappoint God, and here I was, on my face on the floor, empty. The only words I silently prayed were these: “Help me.” They didn’t sound like a prayer to me. I heard them as words of total defeat, but I believe God heard them as honest words of surrender. For the first time in my life, I admitted to God and to myself that I was in trouble, that I couldn’t save myself. This kind of prayer acknowledges something that’s always true but we’re not always aware of: we cannot save ourselves. This is a prayer of absolute surrender. If that is you right now, I invite you to call out to Him. You don’t need fancy words or even a lot of faith. Simply start right where you are. I believe with everything in me that God wants to have a real relationship with you. Loving God is not about religion but relationship. Prayer is not about the right words; it’s about the right heart. God knows you and loves you as you are, right now. You can start with a simple, “Help me, Lord!” Even if you don’t know what to say, just talk to God—He is listening. A PRAYER WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY Father, I don’t have fancy words, but I have a heart that wants to know You better. Thank You that You are listening to every word. Amen.