Oh friends, I want to share a few of the highlights of a recent conversation I had with author Val Woerner. 

But first, to give you some context, while I was reading Scripture the other day, I was reminded of the importance of prayer. In Daniel 9, while he was confessing his sins and the sins of God’s  people, Gabriel (yes, the same Gabriel who announced Jesus’ birth!) appeared to Daniel and told him “As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you,” (9:23)

Just think about that - Daniel’s prayer set the heavens in motion!

“As a believer, prayer is our life source.” ~ Val Woerner

Do we ask for our daily bread? Because keeping connected at that level helps us stay connected to the Lord. 

And prayer is how we do that.

Do you struggle with seeking the Lord in prayer?

Do you ever get to a point where you think “I’m not going to do this well, so why even try?”

If so, you’re not the only one!

The perfectionist in us sometimes keeps us from going to God in prayer, and then we tend to feel guilty about that. Listen, getting lost in silly or inconsequential activities will happen (think: scrolling through Instagram or getting lost in Pinterest) - because we’re human.

But we don’t have to allow shame about doing those things to stop us from going back to God.

We don’t have to feel defeated before we even start.

Val and I had a great conversation about her getting off Instagram last February. And if you’re struggling with getting sucked into any platform and being obedient to what God’s calling you to do personally, there’s lots of “gold” in this episode.

Why we find challenges and struggles in our prayer life

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. ~ William Cowper

Val talked to me about some of the struggles her business has experienced in the past year, most likely because of its very nature. The purpose and mission of Val Marie Paper is “to share practical tools to connect with God…” It follows, then, that by equipping the saints, she can almost expect to encounter spiritual resistance, right?

But the same concept could be applied to us - imperfect and frail saints that we are - as we go to God in prayer. 

Rather than discourage us, however, that can (and may I say “should”) be a form of encouragement. Because when the enemy is at work - God is at work, too.

My prayer is that you would feel energized and spurred on by knowing that, friends!

-> We continued the conversation with a discussion of Val’s new book: Pray Confidently and Consistently which will be available on October 12, 2021.

-> Discover how Val’s Prayer Journal journey got started here

-> And you’ll find all of Val’s resources on her website, ValMariePaper.com

There’s no minimizing the value and importance of prayer, and I hope you’ll be both reminded of that and encouraged to communicate daily with the Lord after listening to our conversation.