Are you a Fellow Distractable "Prayerer"??!! (Part 1)

~By Sharon Czerwien

I had trouble coming up with a catchy title that would quickly convey the crux of this blog post!

I’ll just put it out there! Are you a fellow distractable prayerer??!!

I am So. Very. Guilty. of being distractable in my prayer times! It’s painful (not literally, of course), but my mind is truly blown away by how easily my brain chases a squirrel.

Just the other week, my family and I started our homeschooling year. First thing that morning, I was trying to pray for each of my children when I was quickly distracted about something school related. Then, my gears shifted to, “I should really write a blog post about this prayer topic…how should I approach it, etc.” As a result, I forgot I was even trying to pray to in the first place.

Surely, I am not the only one (though I wish this were the case; so others were not discouraged). I have this inkling, though, that there are more of us out there than we know!

What Doesn’t Help Me…

(Please understand, I am not aiming to be sarcastic in the following paragraphs! I am more than thrilled if the following ideas help you in your prayer life.)

Some may be quick to jump in and say that perhaps I should journal my prayers. (Nope, it’s not my thing!) Journaling would actually make me crazy (and probably make me pretty grumpy if I was forced to do it). =]

Have a prayer notebook with prayer suggestions/requests! Truthfully, this kind of thing does not help my wandering mind. On a list, I would see a person’s name and then think about some random or funny thought that I keep forgetting to tell that person. I would then keep bouncing back and forth with prayer and brain distractions.

Not to worry…I am definitely not giving myself excuses to back out of prayer time! In this post, I desire to offer a few tidbits of encouragement, though, to those who understand from where I am coming in my distractable prayer life.

What are things you have tried that have (or maybe have not) been successful for you?

Please do not be discouraged and do not call yourself a failure! Check out the next section about encouraging tidbits.

3 Encouraging Prayer Tidbits to Ponder!

1.) God wonderfully created and fashioned each one of us.

Our tipsy-turvy distractable minds are no surprise to God! We are all made differently and yet truly special. (Check out Psalm 139:13ff.) Surely He can use our thoughts and prayers for His glory (even if our “creative” and “analytical” thoughts are sometimes wrongly-timed).

2.) There’s nothing wrong with what I'll call "short-burst" prayers spread throughout the day!

Here's what I mean. God will put someone/something on my heart throughout any day. I will then do a 1-5ish sentence prayer. Sometimes I put a specific reminder in my phone so that I remember to pray for something I may otherwise forget. I am thankfully never distracted in the middle of a “short-burst” prayer because it is short and covers only one specific topic!

Here are some examples:

Example 1:

Let’s pretend that a friend’s child is having surgery/some procedure. I will proactively make a reminder to ding in my phone at some point before the procedure. I will then see the reminder and pray something like:

God, please bless Susie (made-up name) as Billy is gearing up for surgery. Please bring comfort and peace to all, and help the doctors be able to focus during surgery.

Then, it is not uncommon for God to keep this need on my heart throughout the remainder of the day. Perhaps an hour later, while washing dishes, I could do a short-burst prayer like:

God, please help Susie. I’m sure she’s still concerned and mentally tired. Please comfort her right now.

Then—BOOM—I go back to my task at hand without getting accidentally distracted because it was a super short (though heart-felt) prayer.

Later that night if God prompts me to remember (or I could always proactively make another reminder to go off in my phone before I go to sleep), a short-burst prayer might be:

God, please help Susie and little Billy tonight. I’m sure they are tired. Please help Billy sleep well tonight and calm Susie’s thoughts.

Example 2:

Let’s pretend that I want to pray for my daughter during Nutcracker Show Week. (Well, actually, this example is a real one. =] )

An example short-burst prayer may sound very similar—and be spoken several times a day—throughout that 5-day stretch.

God, please help Daughter (name not given publicly here) have strength in this busy week. Help her remember her roles and responsibilities, do her best, and not be too nervous.

Then—BOOM—I go about my day doing whatever task I was doing before I felt prompted to pray.

3.) You can create a “prayer bracelet.”

Here is a strategy to help you pray for your children (or grandchildren!) throughout your day. Pam Fields from the Tending Fields ministry wrote an awesome article on how to make/use this prayer bracelet idea. The article is called, "Prayer Bracelets: A Practical Idea to Remind You to Pray."

This bracelet idea is a neat concept because you are not pigeon-holed (or need to feel obligated) to only pray for your children right when you wake up or go to bed at night. If distractibility seems to faithfully and automatically rear its ugly head, you can do “short-burst” prayers for your children while implementing the prayer bracelet idea.

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I have truly found that short-burst prayers done randomly through the day (either through God’s prompting or through proactive phone reminders) help my distractibility factor much better than if I just read through a prayer list each morning.

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What about thanksgiving, praise, and confession prayers??? I will have a part two for next time!

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Concluding Thoughts…

If you are a "journaler" or do well reading through prayer lists, I LOVE it for you that you can successfully pray that way.

I truly desire in this post, though, to provide encouragement and other possible prayer strategies for those who struggle with distractibility.

There is no "shame-on-you-way" to approach prayer. God made you YOU, and you do not have to use the same strategies as another.

God accepts His children's words of prayer, no matter how wonky and strangely-timed they are!

Love from a fellow wanderer,

Sharon