31 Days of Prayer

Lately I have been pretty convicted by the amount of time I spend attached to my phone. The sad part is, I KNOW I shouldn’t give it so much of my time, but I choose it anyways.

It is the first thing I think to pull out during “dead moments.”

Dead moments are the space in time between important things. It’s the 5 minutes at line in the grocery story or at a red-light. It’s while your putting on makeup in the morning or waiting for a friend to arrive. The thing is, dead moments can be very much alive if we choose to fill them with something other than our phone.

The problem comes when the choice is to either stair at a wall or light, or pull out my phone. Pulling out my phone happens and it’s so hard to stop.

That’s why I’ve been thinking about a substitute for it. To me, it does the same thing food substitutes too. Stopping for an unsweetened iced tea at Starbucks when I want a milkshake satisfies that sweet tooth (or simply my need to get out of the house for a little treat) and requires a bit less self-discipline. Over time, my discipline muscles will grow, but in the beginning, these substitutes do so much to help me!

It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve been feeling like I have not had much time to prayer lately, so why don’t I fill this time up with prayer? And I mean carrying my prayer journal around so I physically have something to hold in my hand instead of my phone. The perfect substitute.

What I’m trying to remind myself is that my prayer journal (and more importantly actually praying to God) will change me for the better far more than hanging on Instagram will. 

I made these journals small for a reason. They fit in your Bible, they fit in your purse, they are travel-size and want to go everywhere with you! ; )

I’m going to start a month long challenge to pick up my prayer journal, every time I have the urge to pick up my phone to brainlessly check social media. You’ve heard it a million times before but just to be clear, social media has a place. I follow some super encouraging women and love the inspiration I find there. And I use instagram a ton as a tool to connect everyone who has the journals so we can be accountable to keep praying and share our prayer requests with others. I’m talking about when we reach for our phone out of boredom or impatience.

Here are the goals:

1. Starts May 1st for 31 days.
2. Talk with friends and family to get their requests BEFORE the month starts.
3. Choose a specific, limited time to get on social media to encourage others and be encouraged.

• Share prayer requests on instagram with the hashtag #vmpprayer so we can be praying for you.
• Share photos of WHERE you are using yours. #vmpjournaltravels
• Share photos of your journals. You’d be surprised how much this helps remind me to pull it out mine just seeing other people use theirs. #vmpjournals

4. Keep your prayer journal with your phone.
5. Choose prayer over mindless social media breaks.

If you don’t have a prayer journal yet and would like to join us, order one here.

I know I’m not alone in needing to make this change! Part of sharing this is to encourage others, obviously but I know just putting this out there to y’all will keep me accountable and not let me just give up after a day or two. 31 days. My prayer is that at the end of it, my heart will be changed and my habits will too!

That’s it y’all.

Are you in??