What Does Prayer Smell Like? Giveaway with Rachel Wojarnowski

Congrats to the winner of Holley Gerth’s giveaway.  It is……Rosey. Send your email address to my assistant at [email protected] so we can forward it on to Holley. Yay!

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Do you struggle with prayer?

I don’t mean that you, as a follower of Christ,  think it isn’t important.

I mean things I sometimes ponder like, if God is gonna do what He is gonna do anyway—being that He is all omniscient and all—then why pray in the first place? Or why at times do I pray continually only to continually get no obvious response? Is He busy? Or ignoring me? Or is He just slow? Have I done something wrong so He is refusing to answer?

If you’ve too ever wondered about the mysteries of prayer, you are gonna LOVE the new ebook by my friend Rachel Wojnarowski.

Seriously love it.

I was honored to get a sneak preview of it. (It releases tomorrow) and even more thrilled to be asked to write the forward! Now, before I ask Rachel to tell you about the book, let me tell you about Rachel.

Rachel is originally a small town country girl who converted to a suburban mother of seven by way of life happening.

She and her husband, Matt, enjoy caring for their busy family, whose ages span 9 months to 21 years and includes a special needs daughter.

Rachel leads community ladies’ Bible studies in central Ohio and serves as an event planner and speaker for special needs parenting groups.

She is a member of the Ohio Writers’ Guild and the National MPS Society; and loves to inspire others through her blog by sharing faith, family, and fun.   Wife, mom, reader, writer, speaker and dreamer, you can find Rachel on Twitter and Facebook.

Hear her heart now:

Thank you for having me over, Karen! And thank you for writing the foreword for my ebook, “The Sensational Scent of Prayer,” releasing tomorrow, May 8th!  I am thrilled to share a little about this ebook with you and your readers today.

Sometimes a book begins years before the idea of writing a book ever exists.  In this case, God began to stir my heart to write a Bible study about Hannah, the mother of Samuel, about five years ago.

Many of us know her story; after all, it takes up less than two chapters of the Bible (I Samuel 1&2).  But the miraculous power of Hannah’s prayer resonates with us because of the answer God gave her in the form of a son.  Honestly, the fact that Hannah is the only woman in the Bible to have two recorded prayers had escaped my memory when I first began to study.  And how did I miss that Hannah’s second prayer was ten verses long?

After studying Hannah’s story for almost a year, I had the privilege of teaching a summer Bible study and sharing the lessons God taught me with other women.  I cannot begin to tell you the ways God provided confirmation to me through the women that His timing is impeccable and His plan is perfect.  This study launched me into a more regular writing ministry through blogging in October 2009 and after writing out much of the study, I still felt a hunger to share more on Hannah and prayer.

On January 5, 2009, a portion of what I wrote in my prayer journal reads:

“I believe that God wants the Hannah study to be continued.”

Fast-forward to several weeks ago, more than three years later. I went out for a run and when I returned home, I told my husband that I felt the Holy Spirit impressing me that now is the time to release an ebook about Hannah. So there is the backstory to “The Sensational Scent of Prayer.”

What does prayer smell like?  How is prayer related to the sense of smell?

Without revealing all the secrets of the book, I just want to encourage you to open your heart to prayer like you never have before, allowing the tangible concepts of this earthly world to transmit a heavenly message. A message that conveys just how much God loves to communicate with His children; this is why He loves “the sensational scent of prayer.”

Ok cyber friends. Rachel has generously agreed to giveaway 5 copies to 5 women who comment on this post.

So, tell us this. What do you most struggle with when it comes to prayer?

Any of the aspects I mentioned above? What else?

Don’t be afraid to be honest. We’re a safe gang of gals here. :-)

Winners announced tomorrow.

351 Comments

  1. for me sometimes I struggle with only pleading for the things that concern me or my family and sometimes forget about others. I get too caught up in myself. I signed up to pray for a prison ministry and really felt I had been with the LORD as I was praying for someone other than myself! It was such an awesome time to pray for the workers and the inmates that God would do a work in their midst. It was great!

  2. A couple of years ago a good friend and neighbor told me about Proverbs 31 Ministries. I signed up that day and have been a fan ever since. From the first message I read, I decided I wanted to be a “Jesus girl”. That term was used and I heard it for the first time. I pray for that frequently–to be a Jesus girl. I struggle every day with prayer. I pray more now than I ever have in my life. I am afraid of coming across as needy and incompetent when I pray. But I need Jesus in my life. I don’t want my prayers to be repeats of the last one and that is hard for me. I pour my heart out. I struggle with wondering if I’m using the right language. I want each prayer to bring me closer to my Savior so that not only does He know me but I know Him better with each passing day. That’s what I need for my prayers to do.

  3. I am a “continuous” pray-er, so my difficulty seems to be when I have my “quiet time”, I study His beautiful Word – and go over my prayer list, but have a hard time focusing on the list as I feel I pray for the specifics throughout the day. I really feel like I don’t reap the blessings of totally listening for His answers. Looking forward to reading your book for some “help” in this area.

  4. What i most struggle with when it comes to prayer is actually getting to pray when i’m going through a difficult or painful season in life. I have a melanchonic personality and its so difficult to move on worse still approach God when i know my heart is just not right even though i know He says we should approach His throne with confidence. I know i’m not perfect though i have tendencies to want things going in that direction. Moreso i even fall short coz of the “want to be perfect goals” i set for myself.
    .I dont like faking it especially when it comes to God then feel horrible when i dont pray coz i know and have experienced that He is a God who answers…its such a vicious circle. I really want to overcome this and experience the joy of serving and communing with God through prayer. All the guidellines would be greatly appreciated…

  5. I got chills when I saw the title of Rachel’s book “The Sensational Scent of Prayer” because I am also in a Beth Moore Bible Study (A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place) which is a study of the tabernacle, and we are currently on the chapter about the Alter of Incense (golden altar of fragrance). I love the thought that our prayers are a sweet, wonderful fragrance to the Lord and that Jesus is our intercessor for our prayers to our heavenly Father!!! My biggest problem with prayer is remembering to HUSH and listen to Him. I tell him my problems, my needs, prayers on behalf of others, even my wants, but I don’t just stop and give Him time to speak back to me. I am trying to concentrate on that more.

  6. My struggle with prayer is two things. Getting the time to do it and dealing with the things that I feel are not getting answered that are really important. There are several times that God has answered my prayers and I know he is listening, because I do see him working in areas of my life, but there are some things I really need answers to and I am not getting it. I will always praise him for all he does for me, which is so very much, and keeping me standing up each and every day. I would not be where I am if it weren’t for his gentle, guiding hand. Love and praises to the Lord!

  7. I’m so thankful this post was left up an additional day. Yesterday was a busy day at work with a late meeting last night also so I didn’t get to check my emails. I agree with many of the comments above. My normal prayer time is in the shower also. Seems like that is the only “quiet” time I can have each day to really give God my full attention. Would love to read the book and do the study!!!! Thanks for sharing:)

  8. This blog post really hit home not only because of the topic of prayer, but also because of the story of Hannah and God’s timing. I find it’s so much easier to pray for other people than for myself many times. I am in a situation right now where I have been waiting over 3 years for an answer but still haven’t gotten one. But I do my best to pour my heart out to God and to rest in His overwhelming love for me, despite not having an answer. I would LOVE to read this book! :-) Blessings!

  9. I struggle with continual prayer on a subject cause I feel God already knows it but I do know He doesn’t want us to give up.

  10. “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
    Prayer is waiting …… believing …… trusting His promises …… in His timing.
    I have almost given up praying because of discouragement and waiting for that miracle from God. One more time, His word is encouraging me to keep praying and keep waiting ….. present tense.

  11. I struggle with shutting off all of the thoughts running around inside of my head long enough to really get in touch with God and concentrate on what I really want to pray about. I pray but my mind is racing to the next thing. I know this isn’t the right way but I can’t seem to get there. I am working on it and getting better but still have a long way to go!

  12. My Mom is one of the most kind-hearted, generous and humble people that I know. She is struggling right now to figure out how God wants to use her in the church and knows she needs to spend time listening for God in prayer. I think she would really appreciate this book and I would love to be able to encourage her in this way on Mother’s day.

  13. Wow, where do I begin??? Honestly I struggle that “I” make it a one way conversation. I struggle that being a working mom, with lack of focus, makes it a rushed conversation with lots of requests for my friends and myself. I struggle with getting stuck in the details of life, events, overall duties and forget that He is the first place where I should go. I struggle that God is so good to me and I return the “favor” by trying to fit Him into my life instead of my life fitting around Him and about Him. I would love to have a more intimate prayer life with Him….I need to have a more intimate prayer life or I can’t continue to survive!!!! My plea is that my life of prayer will become one of a sweet scent to Him! Thank you for being obedient to His prompting and writing this book.

  14. What I struggle with when I pray is making sure I don’t make a habit of saying the same prayer, over and over again – because then I start to lose the heart in the prayer. (this is especialyl true for prayers before meals too!)

  15. I struggle with turning off all the millions of things going through my mind and focusing just on prayer. I start to pray and things constantly pop into my mind and it is hard to focus. I’ve heard people say “Have a notebook and write down those things, things you are afraid you’ll forget so you can stop thinking about them” great idea but it doesn’t stop the other thoughts from
    popping in my mind! It is like Satan is sitting on my shoulder whispering in my ear!!

  16. In a busy life as a mom, it’s very hard to find quality alone time to ‘concentrate’! And throughout the day’s activities, having an attitude of constant prayer through whatever i’m doing certainly doesn’t come easy!

  17. Everytime I try to get on my knees to pray, i fail, unless when i sit like on my bed or office, but still i will struggle to get the words out of my mouth, i find it easy to pray in my spirit and mind, and someimtes i find it hard to believe that God has heard my prayers exactly since i pray in my mind without uttering out the words, but after sometime i do find some words to utter out and when i do i feel like am really communicating then, but it doesn’t come easily. that is my main challenge when it comes to pray.
    Thank you Racheal for this book on prayer. God bless you.

    Kind Regards
    Winnie

    1. Hi, I used to and still do experience the same too. However, i want to encourage you that prayer is communicating with God and the meditations of our hearts are also prayers. If you take stock, the more you exercise these this form of praying the more confident you will get to let the words out of your mouth. Another advantage of this form of praying is that it encourages one to listen to what God is saying which is the two-way comms most people miss. I encourage you to keep praying and experience the joy of being in His presence…God bless!

  18. I think sometimes we’re afraid to be blunt and honest with God because we somehow rationalize that if we don’t *speak* it out, we aren’t really thinking it, or that we can in some way hide things from Him if we don’t address them in prayer. We deceive ourselves that we can hide from Him. Maybe we’re afraid He’ll tell us we don’t measure up to the standard we think He holds for us….are we afraid of rejection? of losing our salvation? of being harshly judged? We forget that He knows our innermost being even if we don’t speak out our thoughts and desires to Him; we also forget that He has plans for us that surpass our expectations and that being honest with Him is paramount to Him meeting us where we are. God is not part of today’s society.. His precepts and promises are eternal and everlasting. He isn’t a fleeting thing.

  19. I can’t wait to read her book on prayer.
    If I have to come up with a smell for prayer I think it would be like beautiful flowers & love.
    When I am asked to pray for others I can pray for them & leave my prayer with the Lord.
    My struggle with prayer is praying for myself. After I have prayed for myself & my family. I can’t seem to leave it with the Lord. After a few hours or the next day I go back to the Lord asking Him all over again my same prayer. My husband tells me I let God have my prayer for a little while then I want to put it back on my shoulder to help God take care of it. I don’t know how to get away from doing this. I have seen the way God has answered my prayers in the pass. Many years ago the doctor told me I could never have a child. We shared it with the 5 couples in our Bible Study class. We prayed together for over a year for us to have a child. Everybody in our group knew I was going to have a baby befor I did. God blessed us with a beautiful baby girl. What a beautiful answer to prayer & I was never sick carring her.
    I just can’t understand what is causing me to be like this now.
    Please pray for me.

  20. The last yea I have been slowly spiraling away from prayer and my Bible. I’ve strayed say from my precious Jesus. For me I. Felt like God forgot about me initially I cried out in prayer only to feel neglected by GOD. I somehow, slowly prayed less. In the last month I feel like I have hit rock bottom and. Im ready to rebuild in my walk with God

  21. The last yea I have been slowly spiraling away from prayer and my Bible. I’ve strayed say from my precious Jesus. For me I. Felt like God forgot about me initially I cried out in prayer only to feel neglected by GOD. I somehow, slowly prayed less. In the last month I feel like I have hit rock bottom and ready to rebuild in my walk with God

  22. I always thought prayer smells like when I arrive home and smell the good scents from my crockpot-that’s what God smells when we pray. That’s the picture in my head. I could be way off but it wouldn’t be the first time…lol. My prayer place is in the car when I’m alone on the way to and from work. I had to pray today when I saw my ex (2nd time in the past (almost) one year since the divorce). I was so thankful I had the radio on as a song was playing about Jesus loving us. I needed to hear that at that time. It also reminded me I need to put so much more time in to talking with Jesus my best friend. I pray we are like that good crockpot smell in the folks lives around us in which we are placed. God bless all of you.

    1. Oooops, I didn’t think my first post went as I didn’t see it until after the other one-sorry but I don’t know where to delete it…

  23. I always imagined that God sees/(smells)/senses prayer like when I get home and the smell from the crock pot hits me as I open the door. Or like when I put cinnamon in a pot of water to boil on the stove. It just scents up the whole area. I try to have prayer on my trips to and from work. Today was a difficult ride home as I saw my ex-husband (2nd time since the divorce less than 1 yr ago) and realized how much it still hurt. I cried and prayed on the way home. I did hear a song on the radio that helped. It said how Jesus loved me. I can’t remember the words now but it sure was what I needed to hear in my grief. I had some other events happen that I had to put my grief aside and care for others. It hit me today that I need to finish grieving and move on in Jesus. I pray that we, as Christians, may we be that scent that He loves and may we be that to others.

  24. I don’t pray for myself! I pray for everyone but myself. At my women’s small group I go around asking for prayer request which I write down to add to my prayer list. Last week one of the ladies ask me what I needed prayer for and I drew a blank face. Believe me, I have requests for myself but then I ask myself ” Am I bring selfish praying for my needs when I should be praying for others.”. My other would be “The prayer list is long, how can I pray for them all?”

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