# How Do I Pray? | Grace Out Loud Ep. 11

An episode of [🎙 Grace Out Loud](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6794405665), 15 Sep 2026, 24 min.

Audio: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/67iyxciu5k1fhvmg/yt_video_vFT59y5GXWI.mp4

How do I pray? Does God hear me? And what happens when the answer isn’t what I hoped for? In Episode 11 of Grace Out Loud, we explore what it means to build an honest, everyday prayer life. From the Lord’s Prayer and the Psalms to unanswered prayers and seasons of waiting, this conversation offers encouragement for anyone learning to talk with God and trust him more deeply. We talk about: • Getting started with prayer without needing perfect words • Using the Lord’s Prayer as a foundation • Finding comfort and honesty in the Psalms • Growing closer to God while waiting for answers • Navigating closed doors and uncertainty about God’s direction • Making room for prayer in a busy day Whether you’re new to prayer or looking to renew your routine, there’s a simple place to begin: show up honestly and spend time with God. What helps you make time for prayer? Share in the comments.

## Transcript

[0:06] What's up everybody? Welcome to Grace
[0:09] Out Loud, the podcast for conversations
[0:11] about faith that you don't hear every
[0:14] Sunday. I'm Katie Gau. He's Dom Bronico.
[0:17] And Dom, we are on our final episode of
[0:20] series 3, episode 11, and we're talking
[0:23] about prayer.
[0:24] >> I can't believe that we've had three
[0:26] series already. I was just thinking like
[0:28] I don't even know what episode we're on.
[0:30] There have been a lot.
[0:30] >> I know scrolling back through old
[0:32] scripts and like editing things together
[0:34] and I'm like, "Oh my goodness, we've got
[0:36] ourselves a little library of content
[0:38] here." Great. It's awesome. And uh we're
[0:40] excited that our our next episode, which
[0:42] we'll tease now, will be with our new
[0:44] senior pastor, Pastor Matteas Dampos.
[0:47] It'll be a get to know him. So, make
[0:48] sure you're tuning in for episode 12.
[0:50] But for now, let's talk about episode
[0:52] 11. We're talking about prayer. But
[0:54] first, we're also getting into a new
[0:56] season. Talk about ending a series.
[0:58] We're ending summer. We're looking at
[1:00] fall. So, that means
[1:02] >> all the fall activities, all the fall
[1:04] flavors and scents. So, I want to know
[1:06] what is your favorite fall activity?
[1:09] >> Ooh. My favorite fall activity.
[1:14] >> I think it's less so like an activity
[1:16] and more like a vibe. Like I just love
[1:18] having a cozy sweatshirt,
[1:21] >> sweater weather.
[1:22] >> Yes. and being under a blanket with some
[1:24] sort of warm beverage
[1:26] >> anytime during the day. Doesn't need to
[1:28] be morning or evening, but like the
[1:30] ability to do that.
[1:31] >> I love What is your favorite activity?
[1:33] >> Without question, I love a good pumpkin
[1:36] patch. Okay.
[1:37] >> I am like I will ride the tractor and
[1:40] like eat to see you.
[1:42] >> Yes, they do. Oh, and I I mean like I
[1:44] will scour the interweb for the best
[1:47] ones. Like I'll read the reviews. Like I
[1:49] will do my best. Ryan, my husband knows
[1:52] like I will drag him. He'll be carrying
[1:54] my pumpkin cross fields and I I just
[1:57] love it. So, pumpkin patches are my
[1:58] favorite.
[1:58] >> What's the superior uh apple pumpkin
[2:02] patch in Massachusetts?
[2:03] >> You know what? What's the best one?
[2:04] >> I haven't really found one in this
[2:06] general area yet that I was totally in
[2:08] love with.
[2:09] >> The best one I've ever been to in my
[2:11] life was in Omaha, Nebraska. Okay.
[2:13] >> Which I mean,
[2:14] >> New England apple farmers who watch
[2:16] this, of which there are many are
[2:18] >> Where did I go last year? I went to I
[2:20] think it was like sunny but I'm I'm in
[2:22] New Hampshire so I went up that way but
[2:25] I'm excited to explore as many as
[2:27] possible and I think we should all go.
[2:29] >> Me too.
[2:29] >> Anyways, moving on. Um because also I
[2:32] want to ask you about your favorite Do
[2:34] you have a favorite flavor for fall?
[2:37] >> Super basic pumpkin.
[2:39] >> Just do pumpkin. Okay. Cuz I was getting
[2:41] into this I was getting into this before
[2:43] we recorded and for some reason like I
[2:45] think of candles as flavors. So if
[2:48] someone's like, "What's your favorite
[2:49] candle?" Be like, "My favorite flavor
[2:50] candle." Like, "But you don't eat the
[2:53] candle." But that's how I refer to
[2:54] candles. And I'm not a pumpkin flavor
[2:58] candle person. I like the pumpkin flavor
[3:01] for like a drink or something.
[3:02] >> For something you eat, but not for
[3:03] something.
[3:03] >> But I'm more like if I want my house to
[3:05] smell fall, I'm going with like apple
[3:07] cinnamon type.
[3:08] >> I do love maple. I don't know if that's
[3:10] just fall, but Tandem Coffee in
[3:13] Portland, Maine, has like the best maple
[3:16] latte I've had. Oh, I like maple.
[3:18] Maple's a good choice. Maple syrup.
[3:19] Maple everything. Okay, good. All right,
[3:21] we've got the fall out of the way. We'll
[3:23] bring our fall sweaters into the mix
[3:25] shortly cuz the sweater weather is
[3:27] slowly approaching. But let's talk a
[3:29] little bit about prayer and what it what
[3:32] it what it entails, but how you get
[3:35] started. Um because
[3:38] >> talking to God, it sounds like a simple
[3:40] concept, but to just sit down and and
[3:42] create a routine around a prayer life,
[3:45] >> there's a lot that goes into that and it
[3:47] can be a little intimidating for people.
[3:49] So, what
[3:49] >> what is prayer? How do I pray? Where do
[3:51] I start? What do I do?
[3:53] >> Yep. Um prayer is the simple act of both
[3:56] talking and listening and being with
[3:59] God, right? Mhm.
[4:00] >> Um, so when I was in student leadership,
[4:02] when I first became a Christian in high
[4:04] school,
[4:05] >> um, we had like this whole thing about
[4:07] prayer
[4:08] >> and it I had always thought you needed
[4:10] to pray kneeling with your, you know,
[4:13] hands folded or like this. And they were
[4:15] like, actually, you don't need to do
[4:16] that.
[4:17] >> And so they were like, now we encourage
[4:18] you to go outside and like go and pray.
[4:20] And like I was a pretty eccentric kid.
[4:23] And so I was like, well, I can do I can
[4:25] pray anyway. So, I literally hung upside
[4:27] down on monkey bars praying. And I think
[4:30] about that, I'm like, that's probably
[4:31] not the best way to do it.
[4:32] >> That's a great example of how you can
[4:34] literally pray anyway at all, including
[4:36] that.
[4:37] >> But it's literally just opening your
[4:39] heart to be with God. Um, and kind of
[4:42] like, you know, how you would if you're
[4:45] driving with a friend. Um, be open to
[4:47] talking with them and hearing hearing
[4:49] from them. Um, and like you can kind of
[4:54] like do verbal just like you know
[4:57] thought straight from
[4:58] >> thought. It doesn't even have to be you
[5:00] don't actually have to even speak any
[5:02] words to pray. You can pray in your
[5:05] heart in the quiet and the listening.
[5:07] >> Yeah. Right. You can pray
[5:08] conversationally or you there are um
[5:10] there's like the book of common prayer
[5:13] and you can pray um from the history
[5:16] from church history um written prayers
[5:18] and then
[5:19] >> I feel like I'd be like remiss to
[5:21] mention the the Lord's prayer which is
[5:23] how Jesus tells us to pray which I'm
[5:25] sure we'll get into. Yes, he taught us
[5:26] the our father and he taught us what he
[5:28] wants from the prayer. But I think it's
[5:30] important for
[5:31] >> for people to realize like if prayer is
[5:33] new to you
[5:34] >> that at the end of the day, it's just
[5:36] most important to be authentic and be
[5:38] honest
[5:39] >> that there aren't perfect words that
[5:42] have to be said for the prayer to like
[5:44] make it through.
[5:45] >> You know what I mean? It's like, oh boy,
[5:46] if I don't say this right, it's not
[5:48] going to get I'm not going to get what I
[5:49] want. Like God knows what's in your
[5:51] heart. You just have to begin that
[5:52] conversation. When I was in seminary,
[5:54] one of my friends was preaching at her
[5:55] church and she did this thing where she
[5:58] was like, "You know, I do this thing
[6:01] where I pray where I say God's name very
[6:03] often and it would actually be weird if
[6:06] we were in a conversation to be like,
[6:07] Katie, I was going through this today,
[6:09] Katie." And like, you know, like,
[6:10] >> "Right, how many times you say,
[6:11] >> "I had this today, God." And what you
[6:13] know and like there are things that we
[6:15] add on that we think we need to do um to
[6:18] be more reverential or to hope our
[6:21] prayers will make it through but God
[6:22] just wants us authentically oursel
[6:25] >> um to be with him right
[6:27] >> yeah and so the question of what types
[6:29] of prayer are there right I you know if
[6:31] you do a quick search there are prayers
[6:33] that are giving thanks there are prayers
[6:35] that are confessing there are prayers
[6:37] for intercession um there are so many
[6:40] different ways but you mentioned the
[6:42] Lord's prayer prayer.
[6:43] >> How important is it for people to know
[6:45] that? Because it is. It's Jesus. He
[6:47] taught us this. He taught us how to
[6:49] pray.
[6:50] >> How good of a foundation is that to just
[6:52] have that in your repertoire, but to
[6:54] really just know that it's as simple as
[6:56] that?
[6:57] >> For a while, I was just praying the
[6:58] Lord's Prayer. Um
[7:00] >> we did we actually did a series on
[7:03] prayer recently and it was really great
[7:05] but um a lot of it was from John Mark
[7:07] Homer's um prayer study that prayer
[7:11] practice prayer pastor Tim Galley
[7:12] actually mentioned to me when I told him
[7:14] we were recording this
[7:15] >> well shout out shout out to Timoutr yeah
[7:18] it's a great resource um but in it John
[7:20] Markr he does he does a quote where like
[7:23] he says sometimes we think of prayer as
[7:26] being so too conversational and what
[7:28] we're actually doing is worrying in
[7:30] God's direction. I was like,
[7:31] >> "Dang it, I do that."
[7:33] >> totally.
[7:34] >> And so having like a structure like
[7:36] having a structured prayer actually does
[7:38] help us to know how to pray. And that's
[7:41] what Jesus says about the Lord's prayer
[7:43] is this is how you pray because
[7:45] contained in the Lord's Prayer, I think,
[7:48] are almost all of the ways that we pray
[7:51] with God, right? We ask him for things.
[7:53] We ask to him to forgive us. We confess
[7:56] our sins. um we ask him to free us from
[7:59] temptation and um to like to deliver us
[8:02] from evil. So like um prayer that bad
[8:04] things will not happen to us. And
[8:07] something uh that uh we we talked about
[8:10] when we did the series was a lot of this
[8:12] language isn't just like me. It's it's
[8:15] us.
[8:16] >> Yeah.
[8:16] >> And so there's kind of like a communal
[8:18] nature to this prayer that helps us
[8:21] think about others too. Yes.
[8:23] >> So, I think it's helpful to to pray the
[8:26] Lord's Prayer very often.
[8:27] >> Yeah. Just to mix it into your routine.
[8:29] And again, like you said, the worrying
[8:31] and God's direction,
[8:33] >> it's certainly
[8:34] >> that convicted me when I heard that.
[8:35] >> And sometimes that's all you can do. And
[8:37] sometimes that's what God wants you to
[8:39] do. And and again, if you're having a
[8:40] conversation with him, you're you're
[8:42] connecting, you're reaching out, he
[8:44] knows what's in your heart. If it's full
[8:46] of worry, if it's for yourself
[8:48] sometimes,
[8:49] >> we're human.
[8:50] >> Yep. Um, another good example of this is
[8:53] probably the whole book of Psalms. Like
[8:55] we have
[8:56] >> read my mind.
[8:56] >> Oh, really? Great. Um, but yeah, like um
[9:00] the people of God's worship book and
[9:03] their and their hymns and essentially
[9:04] their prayers are contained in the book
[9:07] of Psalms.
[9:08] >> And you'll see them
[9:09] >> you'll see them crying out to God.
[9:11] You'll see them saying some things that
[9:12] you're like,
[9:13] >> man, I don't think we're supposed to say
[9:15] that, you know, but it's real. And I
[9:18] think that's why the Psalms have been a
[9:20] book for people struggling for so long,
[9:23] >> right? Well, because the next prompt
[9:25] that I wanted to kind of get into is the
[9:27] question of okay, so once you've begun
[9:29] the practice of prayer, it's a natural
[9:32] question to ask,
[9:34] >> how do I know God hears me? How do I
[9:36] know that this is getting through? Like
[9:38] I mentioned earlier, but the Psalms are
[9:40] full of hope and assurance that God
[9:42] hears our prayers. There's so many
[9:44] examples. One of them is Psalm 18:6.
[9:48] In my distress, I called upon the Lord.
[9:50] To my God, I cried for help. From his
[9:52] temple, he heard my voice and my cry to
[9:55] him reached his ears.
[9:57] >> I mean, you can't ask for a more direct
[9:59] example that yes, he hears you, but
[10:02] these psalms, what are the things that,
[10:05] you know, people should take from them
[10:07] to to to feel that comfort to know your
[10:10] prayers are are getting through? Yeah, I
[10:12] think there's comfort in um reading the
[10:14] Psalms like the human experience. Like
[10:17] >> people throughout history have had the
[10:19] same thoughts, have grieved the same
[10:22] things, have had the same fears, have
[10:24] had the same like joys and celebrations.
[10:27] And so the fact that we have a whole
[10:29] book that kind of like represents the
[10:32] way the people of God have both like
[10:36] viewed themselves as a people and viewed
[10:38] God and like the connection that
[10:39] >> relationship. Yeah. I think there's a
[10:41] lot of comfort in that because they
[10:43] don't have it all together in that book
[10:44] and like
[10:45] >> and so that comforts us that we can
[10:47] trust God is there. He was there for
[10:50] them. He's there for us even if things
[10:52] don't make sense. Um
[10:54] >> so I think I think that I think another
[10:57] thing is um I've told this story before
[10:59] I think but
[11:00] >> one time I was talking to one of our
[11:02] leaders when I was in high school and I
[11:03] was like God says yes um not yet or I'll
[11:07] give you something better. He doesn't
[11:09] say no. And my leader was like, I think
[11:11] that's a more optimistic way of saying
[11:13] no. And like that's super true, right?
[11:15] >> Um
[11:16] >> I think the outcome of prayer is less
[11:19] important than the prayer itself.
[11:22] >> That we are being with God. Um it's less
[11:27] important, you know, I am not a parent
[11:30] yet. Um but I think it's more important
[11:32] for a parent to be present with their
[11:35] kids than to just give them everything
[11:36] they want, right? Um, and I think that's
[11:38] what prayer teaches us.
[11:40] >> Yeah. Well, and I think it brings up
[11:42] kind of an interesting conversation that
[11:44] is something else I want to get into
[11:46] with when you're praying for things, it
[11:49] inherently creates in many cases because
[11:53] you don't usually just pray and then
[11:54] bam, here it is. Um, it creates the
[11:58] season of waiting. um depending on what
[12:01] you're praying for. But from that
[12:03] waiting a lot of the times in my
[12:05] experiences is when I've grown closer to
[12:09] God.
[12:10] >> And again, sometimes it's out of the
[12:11] selfishness of going back over and over
[12:14] again and asking for that same thing,
[12:16] >> but knowing that ultimately I need God
[12:20] to be part of it.
[12:21] >> And the waiting forces me
[12:24] >> to get closer to him.
[12:25] >> It forces you to rely on it.
[12:27] >> It does. And I think that's sort of what
[12:29] the entire season of waiting is all
[12:31] about is understanding
[12:33] >> that God wants you to completely and
[12:35] fully
[12:37] >> give it over to him
[12:38] >> 100%.
[12:39] >> But it's easy to just think that if I
[12:41] just keep praying over and over again
[12:43] and I this is but then the problem
[12:45] becomes okay if you get what you want
[12:47] and you haven't gone through enough of a
[12:48] season of growing closer to God then
[12:50] you're just going to stop praying and
[12:51] then come back when you need it again.
[12:53] So there's kind of a tough balance
[12:54] between, you know, like what you what
[12:58] you learn in the waiting and and
[13:00] understanding that prayer is about more
[13:02] than that.
[13:02] >> Yes. 100%. And I think keeping a prayer
[13:05] journal is a really helpful way um to
[13:08] like look back on your waiting and see,
[13:11] oh wow, like I I've done that and it's
[13:13] shocked me after like a couple months to
[13:16] go back and be like, oh wow, God was so
[13:18] faithful in all of these ways. You know,
[13:21] actually recently one of our pastors,
[13:23] Ruthie, she gave us back letters we
[13:25] wrote to ourselves. I don't know if you
[13:26] got yours back. Yeah.
[13:27] >> Um, mine was so sad. I was like, "Wow, I
[13:30] was really sad." But it was cool because
[13:33] the things I was praying for and
[13:34] struggling with, God has been so
[13:37] faithful to now. And I'm like, "Oh,
[13:39] wow." It's really cool to see him
[13:41] working.
[13:41] >> Yeah.
[13:41] >> Yeah. To document that. I know. I never
[13:43] gave my letter to Ruthie. He had already
[13:45] left the room. So, I kept it in a drawer
[13:48] at my house and I haven't opened it yet,
[13:50] but I actually need to do that. We're
[13:51] moving soon. So, that'll be one of my
[13:53] little moving activities is looking at
[13:55] where I was cuz I had just started
[13:56] working at Grace when we did that.
[13:58] Wasn't it around the Christmas season?
[14:00] >> So, yeah. Yeah.
[14:01] >> Is Christmas themed card.
[14:02] >> Yeah. I'll have to crack that open soon.
[14:04] Um I think another thing, and you kind
[14:06] of touched on this a little bit earlier,
[14:08] but praying and truly believing. Mh.
[14:12] Mhm.
[14:13] >> So, I saw this online and it really kind
[14:15] of just hit me in the face. It was one
[14:16] of those, "Oh my goodness, this is I'm
[14:18] so guilty of this, but this is so true."
[14:21] Too often, I think we pray without
[14:23] really expecting God to answer.
[14:25] >> Mhm.
[14:26] >> And And I'm so guilty of this, but this
[14:28] is why we still take matters into our
[14:30] own hands
[14:31] >> and we try to control it, but we aren't
[14:33] sure if God's actually going to
[14:35] intercede. So, we keep praying for
[14:36] something and asking for him to
[14:38] >> take it
[14:39] >> and we don't give it over.
[14:40] >> Yes. and and what changes when you get
[14:43] to a point in your relationship with God
[14:45] when you are praying and fully trusting
[14:48] in him and how hard that is.
[14:50] >> Yeah. Um I think it was like Tim Keller
[14:53] who said like there's a reason that
[14:55] prayer is kind of the bedrock of so many
[14:57] of our like spiritual giants. They talk
[14:59] about like praying as breathing. Like
[15:01] prayer being so integral to their life.
[15:04] Um, I think it's that I think that it
[15:07] forces us to be with God and trust God.
[15:10] Um, something that I find I struggle
[15:12] with is ruminating thoughts about like
[15:14] the past or the future is like
[15:17] >> I will be ruminating on something
[15:19] >> um that happened and like thinking, oh,
[15:22] why did this happen? Could it have gone
[15:24] differently? What will I do differently
[15:26] in the future? And I spend so long
[15:28] >> in that rumination that it removes me
[15:31] from the present. And then if I do that
[15:33] about the future, I'm anticipating
[15:36] something that isn't even there.
[15:38] >> Um, and so I'll find myself going to
[15:40] prayer to remove the feeling of anxiety.
[15:44] But that is just a symptom of the
[15:46] problem.
[15:47] >> And the problem is not trusting that God
[15:50] has been over the situation. I'm
[15:53] ruminating on the past and holds the
[15:56] future that I am worried about.
[15:58] >> Yeah. And so like I'll find myself
[16:01] praying and being like, "Oh, well, I've
[16:03] like my the feeling of fear is gone for
[16:05] the moment, but it comes back."
[16:06] >> Yeah.
[16:07] >> And I think the reason is that if we
[16:10] pray enough and trust and and kind of
[16:13] come to a place where we trust that God
[16:15] holds the future.
[16:16] >> Yeah.
[16:16] >> Um
[16:17] >> it helps us to live in the moment he he
[16:20] has given us, right? Absolutely.
[16:22] >> What do you think?
[16:22] >> No, I agree with you. And I think it's,
[16:24] you know, everyone kind of has like
[16:26] their go-to, you know, Bible verses
[16:28] even, right? So it's like those are like
[16:30] the prayers you sort of say in your head
[16:32] by just repeating those words.
[16:34] >> And again, it it brings you comfort, but
[16:36] when you're applying it to some super
[16:39] specific scenario,
[16:40] >> are you missing the point? Yeah.
[16:42] >> And I think
[16:45] it's just like a
[16:46] >> it's like a comfort
[16:48] to repeat those words,
[16:50] >> but you're missing what's really behind
[16:52] them and the belief and who is behind
[16:56] them.
[16:56] >> Totally.
[16:56] >> Right.
[16:57] >> Totally.
[16:58] >> All right. I have one for you and I'd
[16:59] love to get if you have an example maybe
[17:01] like a more, you know, like a a story
[17:03] that you could maybe have if you can
[17:04] speak to the situation. So, what
[17:07] happens, and I think we've probably all
[17:08] experienced this, when you were so sure
[17:11] that God said go,
[17:13] >> but the door closed anyway.
[17:15] >> Yep.
[17:16] >> And did I make a mistake? Did I did I
[17:18] read that wrong? Did God, you know, have
[17:21] something else in mind and and maybe
[17:23] even the guilt of of making a mistake
[17:25] and feeling like you you were sure God
[17:27] wanted this for you and and it was
[17:28] different?
[17:29] >> Yep.
[17:30] >> Has that ever happened to you?
[17:31] >> Oh, yeah, for sure. Like, yeah. Um yeah,
[17:35] I I read this book called Will of God as
[17:37] a Way of Life. Um
[17:40] >> and I was talking to um Akos who's our
[17:42] high school um he leads our high school
[17:44] ministry. He's like, I want all of our
[17:46] >> like future college students to read
[17:47] that book because they're all like what
[17:48] college does God want me to go to? You
[17:50] know?
[17:50] >> Yeah.
[17:51] >> Um and I think that the conclusion that
[17:54] that book helps us understand is is
[17:57] there a distinct path God wants us to go
[17:59] down? like does God want me to have a
[18:01] smoothie for breakfast, a sandwich for
[18:03] lunch? You know, like
[18:05] >> it's less so of that and more so God
[18:07] wants us to live in tune with his
[18:09] character which is to love love him
[18:11] first and foremost and love the world
[18:12] around us,
[18:13] >> right? And so once we start living that
[18:16] way and once we see prayer as a way of
[18:18] being with God rather than getting
[18:20] something from God
[18:21] >> or or like having this superhuman
[18:25] knowledge of what to do then I think it
[18:28] helps us to have a better relationship
[18:30] with God in that way. Um, now that being
[18:33] said, I think there's plenty examples
[18:36] even in the Bible of people who were
[18:37] like so sure that God was leading them
[18:39] this way
[18:40] >> and and that was not actually what God
[18:44] had in store for them.
[18:45] >> Yeah, absolutely.
[18:47] >> So, yeah, I think it's super common, but
[18:49] I think living um yeah, God's will as a
[18:52] way of life uh will probably help us
[18:55] better. Well, I also think it's
[18:57] important that, you know, if you feel
[18:59] like you, you know, discerned wrong and
[19:02] you, you took a step in faith and it
[19:04] ended up not being what you expected,
[19:07] >> to give yourself some grace.
[19:09] >> Yes. and to go back to God in prayer,
[19:12] you know, asking for help with
[19:15] >> understanding him better the next time
[19:17] and knowing that God is forgiving and
[19:19] that
[19:20] >> anything that you're doing that's out
[19:21] of, you know, believing it's what he
[19:24] wants and and maybe it isn't the right
[19:26] thing at the right time or the right
[19:27] moment, but giving yourself that grace
[19:29] and just being honest
[19:31] >> in your prayers um about, you know, what
[19:33] you thought and and and what the future
[19:35] holds. what you talked about with the
[19:38] okay, God wants me to have this for
[19:39] breakfast, this for lunch, this for
[19:40] dinner. I find myself guilty. My
[19:43] favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11, the
[19:45] plans I have for you and I'm like, okay,
[19:47] so it's laid out and I
[19:49] >> So there's a plan, right? Because I'm a
[19:51] plan kind of a guy. I am an itinerary
[19:54] person. But again, like you touched on,
[19:56] it's not that detailed. Yeah,
[19:59] >> sometimes it can be, but for the most
[20:01] part, it's the way of living. And again,
[20:03] not coming to him in prayer just because
[20:05] you're trying to
[20:06] >> get that schedule laid out for you, but
[20:09] knowing that there's more to it.
[20:10] >> Um, the last one I I think we should
[20:12] touch on is just talking about how to
[20:14] find time
[20:16] >> because the world has never been busier
[20:19] and there's so many distractions, but
[20:22] >> I think from the beginning we talked
[20:23] about how there isn't some some perfect
[20:25] place or time or way to pray.
[20:28] >> So, how do you how do you find time to
[20:30] pray in your busy seasons? Yeah. Um, so
[20:34] a while ago in one of my classes, we had
[20:36] a world religions class
[20:37] >> and so we went to a bunch of different
[20:40] places of worship to see, you know, just
[20:42] to learn.
[20:42] >> And we went to a Buddhist temple. And I
[20:45] remember um the um the person there was
[20:49] like, "Okay, you have 30 minutes here."
[20:51] Yeah.
[20:51] >> So, we're going to pray or we're going
[20:53] to um meditate for 15 minutes and then
[20:55] I'll give you information for 15
[20:57] minutes. Right.
[20:58] And our professor was like, "So,
[21:00] actually, we only have 20 minutes." He
[21:03] was like, "Oh, okay. Then we'll probably
[21:06] just just meditate the whole 20
[21:07] minutes." And I was like, "Oh, he's
[21:10] actually he wants us to meditate the
[21:12] whole time and not give us any
[21:13] information."
[21:15] >> And I think there was something really
[21:16] profound there.
[21:17] >> Yeah.
[21:18] >> Because it seems like carving out the
[21:22] time to focus yourself was the most
[21:25] important thing. and the information was
[21:26] actually less important.
[21:28] >> So I think all of us who have very
[21:32] little time
[21:33] >> um should actually view prayer as
[21:36] something we should prioritize more.
[21:38] >> So if we find we can't carve out time
[21:42] for prayer, we should actually be
[21:44] carving out more time than we think we
[21:45] should, right?
[21:47] >> Um
[21:48] >> but there's multiple ways to do it,
[21:49] right? Uh I'm a morning person. Not
[21:51] everyone's a morning person,
[21:53] >> but I find like having some sort of
[21:56] devotional right when I wake up um helps
[21:59] me like yeah center myself for the day.
[22:02] >> Um and spending like a good chunk of
[22:03] that in prayer
[22:05] >> is super important. Um praying before
[22:08] meals is something I kind of struggled
[22:09] with to be completely honest
[22:11] >> cuz I'm like
[22:13] >> I don't know do we see that in the
[22:14] Bible? I'm not sure. Anyway, but I do it
[22:18] but I do it now because it helps us to
[22:20] remind ourselves of like where our food
[22:22] comes from.
[22:22] >> Yeah.
[22:23] >> Uh and who provides for us and sustains
[22:25] us.
[22:26] >> Uh and then uh praying before bed. Um
[22:29] Cindy and I try to pray together almost
[22:32] every day.
[22:32] >> That's nice.
[22:33] >> And yeah, we find it is just so helpful
[22:36] >> in in being with each other and being
[22:39] with God. So if you can develop that
[22:41] rhythm of morning, evening, meal times,
[22:46] um,
[22:47] >> but for just a few moments,
[22:48] >> even just for a few,
[22:50] >> extra busy day, but
[22:52] >> but no, but to your point, I think if
[22:54] you're struggling to carve out time,
[22:55] then there's probably something else
[22:57] going on in your life during each day
[22:59] that you could take a little time away
[23:01] from and figuring out what that is and
[23:03] praying on what that could be.
[23:04] >> And it it probably will actually help
[23:06] manage those busy days better. Yeah.
[23:09] >> Yeah. I know. I like my morning routine
[23:11] of starting off with I get I get an
[23:13] email sent to me so that
[23:14] >> my natural instinct. It's terrible, but
[23:16] to open my phone in the morning, turn
[23:18] that alarm off. But if I see an email,
[23:21] it's the first thing I do. I stop. I
[23:22] take the time. I read that. It gives me
[23:24] kind of a verse for the day. Lets me
[23:26] center myself and just sort of
[23:28] >> I always feel a little bit more
[23:30] positive. Yeah. Even on hard days when
[23:32] you don't really want to get out of bed.
[23:33] It's a nice way to just kind of get
[23:35] things started. But
[23:36] >> totally agree. the end of the day, God
[23:38] just wants to hear from you.
[23:40] >> Yep.
[23:40] >> And we've given you some good resources.
[23:42] There are lots of different ways out
[23:43] there. There are, you know, verse of the
[23:45] day books. There are journals.
[23:48] >> I loved what you said about journaling
[23:49] what you're praying for. I think that's
[23:51] a really good practice. So,
[23:53] >> hopefully everyone watching this has a
[23:55] little bit of an idea of something new
[23:57] that they can bring into their routine
[23:59] with God and their routine with prayer.
[24:01] But that does it for our episode and our
[24:04] series on all of the good things that we
[24:07] can do to connect further with God. We
[24:09] will be back on our next episode with
[24:10] our new senior pastor Matas Dampas. So
[24:12] make sure that you join us. But for now,
[24:15] that has been it. I'm Kitty Gos. He's
[24:17] Don Bronico. Thanks for watching Grace
[24:19] Out Loud.

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