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.
I really struggle with feeling like I have quality time with the Lord. I really want to grow closer and deeper in my relationship with Him but sometimes feel I am getting no where. I know a lot of people that seem to really be able to “bring the glory down” and I want to know how to get there. When I am older and it is my time to be a prayer warrior, I want to be a good one!
My struggle with prayer is trying to pray without sounding like I’m complaining. I want to praise God when I pray but when I actually do pray, I don’t include even the little things that I’m grateful for.
I sometimes feel as if I’m coming to God and praying for the wrong things. For example, I’d pray for God to help my husband to be a better listener or to help me out more around the house or with the girls, when I should be praying for patience, compassion and tolerance for myself! I never thought much of it til now, but I sound like I’m whining and complaining rather than thanking God for what he’s blessed me with and praising his name. I know that Rachel’s book will leave me enlightened. Thank you for the chance.
OK my biggest struggle with prayer is that sometimes I am afraid if I ask for something I will get it. I know that sounds crazy but I am talking things like patience. Well, I know God can help you with that by giving you situations in order to practice patience. And I know that God has a sense of humor because I was very nervous about being called on in church to pray out loud, so I asked God to help me with that. Do you know what happened? I got called on every week for several weeks! Hahahahaha. It’s funny really. I mean what do I expect? That I will magically have patience or confidence in prayer or wisdom or whatever I pray for? Sometimes I am just a little nervous about how a prayer will be answered. :) :)
I pray daily knowing I am involved in God’s plan. My issue is in not expecting. I pray with other women that anticipate God’s response.
Believing that it is even real. That I am even heard. I do pray and will continue to pray but believing in it for me is difficult.
I have many of the same questions that you have, Karen. I think the one that I struggle with the most is this: When I pray, and I feel like I REALLY need an answer of some sort from God,
what does it mean if I don’t seem to get any answer? Am I just supposed to wait, or move on? I trust Him, no matter what, but there are times when He seems so silent, and I feel so needy!
I struggle with knowing that my prayers are being heard. I would not listen to my prayers if I were God. They are often weak, selfish, disconnected, on again off again because I got distracted while praying. I seem to say basically the same thing every time with a peppering of a new thing here and there. I don’t feel like I am really talking to God. My heart is not making it real for me. To be totally honest, this truth kind of scares me. I don’t want it to be this way.
I’ve been struggling a lot lately in the area of prayer. It’s like, all of a sudden, I’ve lost all my words and I don’t know what or how to pray anymore. I sit in church and at the women’s ministry events and listen to these godly women pour out their heart & soul as they pray – sometimes for 20-30 minutes non-stop – and think to myself, “Self – you’ve been a Christian pretty much your whole entire life…why can’t YOU pray like that?!” I used to be able to write our my prayers (I’ve always said I’m better on paper than in person), but even that isn’t working anymore. I pray all the time — the best is my alone time during my commute to & from work every day — but they seem rote & stifled & “staged” – like I’m reading from a script. I feel like I get more “No” and “Wait” answers from God than “Yes” just because I give up too easily when I’ve been praying for something for what seems like forever to me…..like He’s just about ready to say “Yes” (since to Him, a thousand years is like a day) but I give up just before the “yes” happens…..and, because of some life circumstances, I just don’t know the ‘desires of my heart’ anymore to ask him for those. But I keep praying, so that’s got to count for something!
I worry that I am not praying the will of God. My daughter has a seizure in 2010 that left her with anoxic brain damage, I pray that she will be healed completely; I worry that praying for this is wrong if it’s not God’s will. I don’t want to be ungrateful for the tremendous blessings he has given me. I know he can fully restore my daughter, I just don’t know if that is his plan.
For me it is that fervency as the days turn into months and then into years and I don’t see any progress or things are going the wrong direction.
Dear Rachel,
I have been married for 41 years and have been praying for my husband and his salvation that long as well. The other day I just sat down and thought, I probably should just stop praying for him. I am tired and exhausted Nothing has changed I felt very weary…..until a really good friend reminded me that having done all to stand and by faith God has heard my request and start praising Him for all He has done in our lives up to this point. I just put a smile on my face and thought,God you have it all under control!!!! It really gave me a peace about where things are for us. As girlfriends we need to constantly be there for each other and remind each other….God is always listening and He never fails us.
I think my biggest problem is wanting to give up if prayers go unanswered for a while
I would love to read your book.We are never tooi old to learn!!
Thank you for writing this study on Hannah
Sue.
I say God’s will be done, but what if His answer is no, things are going to be like they are forever? What if this struggle is God’s will for me for some reason I don’t understand?
Some of the things I struggle with most with prayer are, am I forgeting someone? Did I not pray about if long enough?
Another thing is I struggle with my night time prayer sometimes I start out with a great prayer at night then I find myself waking up in the morning know ing I never completed my prayer. I feel awful! Luckily I know that I pray morning, noon and night so I know not to be too hard on myself.
That is what I struggle with with my at home prayer life, one huge thing I struggle with outside my own home prayer life is praying out loud in front of people when it comes up. I am scared and feel like I will mess it up everytime. I know there is no wrong way to do it as long as I am speaking to GOD from my heart, but I feel like people might judge it.
Thanks for the nice post!
I struggle most with being consistent with prayer and have always felt (do to my up bringing) if it wasn’t formal prayer with sophisticated language then it wasn’t “official” prayer. I do love when my prayers are spontaneous thank you’s or adoration’s to God for even the smallest things he shows me, does for me and provides for me.
I so look forward to reading your book. I find it easy to pray for others and the emergency needs of others…..but when it comes to me, it is another story. I can not stay focused, faze in and out, get lost……like its not as urgent as my family and friends needs and desires. I can express how much I love him and thank him for my many blessings, ask for forgiveness of my sins and then I am lost. I hope this makes sense to the person reading it.
My struggle is that I need to pray about everything and when i state that i will get back with someone about something that i feel needs prayed about, they have the attitude that i am just stalling for a way to say no. and it definitely is not the case and the times i have Plucompromised with this and gone ahead and said yes because it is for a good thing, it backfires.
Plus it is difficult to make prayer such an important element of ones life when those you are dealing with regularly feel that it is a weakness and sign of lack of spiritual growth.
I struggle with allowing distractions to interfere with my prayer time. Those distractions come in the form of family asking questions of me or the phone ringing for my attention. Because of distractions, I often fail to remain persistent in prayer. We’re trying to sell our home. Nine months down the road, I begin to fail at persistance and patience in prayer.
I struggle with being overwhelmed by so many things that need prayer and not having enought time to pray about it all. I end up praying about the things closest to my heart — my family and close friends. i don’t feel like I pray about other very important things.
My biggest struggle is praying for myself. I pray for my family and friends and anyone who asks or has needs I know of. I do stop to pray with people when they ask, but not as often as I’d like. I’m a work in progress. I’ve also found that God will awaken me to sit and read my Bible which leads to prayer, but setting a daily quiet time has been inconsistent.
I struggle with how to start the prayer. I don’t mean by Dear Father or Our Father in Heaven but after that I struggle. I want to just jump into the meat of the conversation. I have often heard there is a formula for praying. You know pray for the leaders of our country first and then last on the list is you can pray for yourself. I can’t pray like that. It makes me feel like there is this check list that I have to do while praying. Just does not seem real for me. That is my struggle along with a list of others that were listed here from others.
I can’t wait to get my hands on your book!!!!
I seem to struggle with prayer. I feel like I am just repeating the same things everyday such as, thank you for your blessings, Lord please keep my children safe, etc. etc. I once heard a preacher say to just talk to him like he is right here having a one on one conversation face to face with us. I sometimes do this especially when I am depressed or at my wits end about something, or in the car. The difficult part seems to be when I am waiting on an answer and it doesn’t seem to come. Am I just simply missing it totally? Am I listening at all? It can be frustrating.
Thank you for this drawing! I would love to win the ebook. It seems that so many women have the same issues that I do! I KNOW that prayer changes things, even if is my attitude! The only thing in my life that I have successfully placed before the throne and not even tried to snatch back is my dear daughter! (I used to be SUCH a control freak!!!) I did that over 17 years ago and I still feel God is with her, protecting her, guiding her, providing for her. He has turned her into an amazing mommy for three darling, precious little boys all under 5 years old! I do not know how she does it, since she works outside the home as well. She is currently recovering from back surgery and will need me to help with the boys.
My personal prayers seem to be almost rote, lacking a ring of sincerity. I know that I do not often enough take the time to listen for His voice, just a quick list of requests and then I am off again. I need to remember that RELATIONSHIP takes TIME!!!
So many of these comments speak to my prayer life also. I struggle with consistency and also being afraid that I don’t say the right words. Prayer has always been harder for me than most aspects of my faith.
I struggle with praying for God to change the heart of a family member while knowing God allows each of us a free will. For 15 years I have prayed, at times fervently and otherspraying God’s will be done and leaving it at that. What is the difference in accepting and trusting God’s will and being apathetic?