write it down

How long has it been? O.o
Wups!
And No we are not pregnant.

For a few months now I have been feeling the tug to start blogging again. Instead I have been journaling my prayers and it has fueled my soul. If you've never documented your prayers- YOU SHOULD! It's amazing watching God work. So over a 40 day(ish) period I read through Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson and journaled. Meanwhile we were in the midst of having our house under contract, not under contract, and then under contract and sold! YAY!
It's incredibly surreal to not live in our first home anymore.
We are currently residing in Brad's parents' upstairs while we save up and figure out where we want to be... rather where God wants us to be.
But back to the prayer journal.
I just want to share how God showed off- because He deserves the glory. So about 2 weeks before Christmas, Brad was feeling a little pessimistic about our house selling and having to start all over again. I couldn't sleep and started praying (which I shamefully had been out of deep communication with Him). I can't explain it except God put the most amazing peace in my heart and firmly assured me that the people we were dealing with would buy the house. So the Friday before Christmas rolls around and we get the call that the buyers needed to step away from buying.
This was quite devastating for a lot of reasons. One being, that I was begging Brad to put his faith in God and trust that He has this. "Stay positive". So when we got the news I felt like God had lied to me and I had somehow betrayed Brad. This feeling really didn't resonate until late that evening and I crumbled before God. I searched His word for His truth. I was comforted immediately and decided I was going to hold on to that promise He gave me and that peace He filled me with.
We decided we would wait until after Christmas to pursue listing with an agent. I contacted her via text message the Monday of New Years. LITERALLY we are texting back and forth setting up a time for pictures and listing information when we get a text from the buyers asking if we have listed it yet. They were still interested and wanted us to hold off if we could.
Long story short.... lots of prayer and almost 2 months later- we closed on our house. I am SO THANKFUL for how everything happened because the Lord called me to have faith in HIM. He asked me to believe in that peace. Did it happen on my timeline? NO.

 One thing I learned in Draw the Circle was instead of praying for an answer ASAP... pray As Long As It Takes. It's in that time that if we will SEEK God, He will change our heart and make us grow. He will sustain us and build our faith. Journaling that time helped me so much because it helped me hold on to that peace He gave me.

So if you've never journaled your prayers I highly encourage you to try it. I'm no expert at praying and I think we could all admit to needing more quality time with the Lord. But God has taught me a lot about prayer. One being that He longs for that time with us. If you tend to make a laundry list of things you are praying for, I encourage you to ask 5 friends for prayer requests and really believe in prayer for them. It helps to be others focused in your time of prayer. I am in total belief that God wants to know our personal requests/prayers but once we have given it to God it helps to focus on others. I know that sometimes when I am really seeking Him I pray myself into worrying because I get sidetracked on the ifs and buts. But if I am praying for someone else I feel like I have a duty to uphold.

"Write down the revelation." Habakkuk 2:2