Welcome to Val’s annual goal series! We’re releasing a new goals-related blog post each day. And don’t miss Val’s class on how to use our prayer journals and overcome common obstacles. Sign up to get the replay here!
We’re kicking off our annual goal series with one of my favorite things: sharing answered prayers!!
Psalm 145:4 says “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.”
I think it’s so important to share what the Lord has done for a few reasons:
1. It brings more glory to God.
2. It gives us a heart of praise.
3. It encourages the faith of others to see God move when maybe they aren’t seeing God move directly in their own circumstances.
So I pray today’s post is a reminder that as we pray to God, He hears us and He responds. If you haven’t done so yet this year, take some time to reflect on what the Lord has done. In Pray Confidently and Consistently, I talk about surveying the land. Often, if we are praying for a handful of things, if we don’t see God work in them, we assume He hasn’t done anything. Surveying the land means we look under every nook and cranny of our life to see what God has done, not just the big areas we are praying about.
I think when we do that, we will be blown away by what God has done when we start looking for it!! At the end of this post though, I will share a few prayers that are still unanswered because I have those too! Also, this is mostly a list of personal answered prayers because many things prayed for others are their stories to share.
1. My mom got diagnosed with cancer (A crazy way to start an answered prayer, right? Who wants cancer? This is where we survey the land!) but thankfully it was caught early! The crazy thing is, she had missed her mammogram because of Covid. She is suuuuuper laidback so it wasn’t surprising that she put it off or that the doctor’s office had to call and tell her she should reschedule. If she had gone when she was “supposed to go”, it likely wouldn’t have been caught until her next appointment. Instead, it was caught very very small and pretty routine to remove. It was a good reminder to me, someone who constantly feels like I need to catch things before they get worse, that God is fully in control.
2. Leaving Instagram was honestly not an answer to prayer but a decision I felt the Lord prompting me to make. I NEVER would have left had I not felt His leading. What does this look like? In this case, it looked like me entertaining a question my husband raised that I wouldn’t ever choose in my own flesh. It looked like confidence to say goodbye to something that helps us sell journals and where I get a fair amount of validation.
3. God taught me a lot about discipline and miracles.
4. Wisdom about the Enneagram. No surprise this was another blog post because I learned a lot!
5. Tyler became an elder at our church! This has been something we’ve been praying about for at least a year when the idea was first mentioned to him by the elders. It’s a big responsibility and, to be honest, something I just thought was for older men than Tyler (he’s 36), but he has taken on the role so well.
6. Having a deeper passion for the lost. I created these journals 8 years ago because I wanted to pray more for myself. I am so grateful for how the Lord has continued to expand my prayers!
7. Vivi doing better with her anxiety. This honestly comes in waves so the Lord is still working on this.
8. Feeling more freedom from hypochondria. It’s not completely gone but it’s been having a much smaller hold on me!
9. Safe deliveries for Maddie and Natalie. Neither were what they hoped for or expected but both babies are healthy and HERE!
10. Peace before answers come. “It’s a process and I honestly don’t think it’s ‘time’ to be healed.” I’ve got a little more to learn. That attitude right here is a miracle and an answer to prayer.
11. Discovering I had a cyst and endometriosis. Finding the cyst could not have happened without a CT scan (because I didn’t have typical endometriosis symptoms) which I ended up having because of some stomach pain. It’s a reminder that God is in control.
12. Eating GF, DF, SF has been difficult but not as bad as I expected when I started thinking about 12 weeks with no bread, cheese or chocolate. 
13. Lots of direction and creativity with vision for VMP and the book launch! I’ve been praying more for creativity and the Lord has been so faithful. He puts passions in me that I feel will impact how I talk about the book. I am genuinely sold out for this message and humbled to get to do so. We also had a wonderfully productive discovery process with Megan Gonzales that I highly recommend to any business!
14. The cyst was not cancerous and no more were found.
15. Our audio team for Pray Confidently and Consistently was able to have me record in Lafayette (literally 10 minutes from my house) instead of traveling to Nashville, which would have been difficult after surgery.
16. During the recording, I had a few answered prayers that I shared about here.
17. Our journal photoshoot fell into place with the locations we hoped to get, both saying yes.
18. Lots of peace in the midst of unknowns and anxiety. There were so many times where I felt I couldn’t handle more overwhelm and the Lord was so kind to reorient my heart and relieve the burden.
19. Better sleep. I have been having awful, anxious-filled sleep lately and I had a friend pray over me for it. That night my sleep was better and it hasn’t been as bad since. Since then, I’ve talked to a dozen other women who struggle with sleep and have started praying for them if I wake up in the middle of the night. Leave a comment if you’d like me to add you to that list!
20. I had an interview I was nervous about and it ended up going really well!
21. I had been having difficulty breathing and felt God prompt me to check my products for toxicity. I checked a few, then happened to check my epsom bath salts. I’ve been using these nightly for at least 6 years. Like for real. They ended up being an EIGHT out of 10 on the level of bad ingredients. I threw it all out and breathing was much better soon after! This was a cool answered prayer because it wasn’t that the breathing just got better, but that God spoke to me in how to address it!
22. Sunnier than expected beach trip! It looked like a possible hurricane or just a week of rain for our annual beach trip. And if you’ve read Pray Confidently and Consistently, you know last year was a terrifying hurricane for our week at the beach. It feels like such a small thing but the beach is a place I find so much refreshment and even healing so I am grateful we got to enjoy it this year!
23. Lots of discoveries in counseling.
24. A Sabbath day in prayer that was so life-giving. Lots of clarity and wisdom from the Lord.
25. Book released! Lots of the spiritual overwhelm I was feeling melted away on launch day. I hate to assume that everything gets a little better once we release something but over the last few years when we launch things, it has consistently been the case.
26. Journals timely arrival!! After last year, I have some mild PTSD when we started getting emails that things were delayed. I asked the team to pray and later that day we had an email that things were moving!
27. I did a workshop on prayer at our church’s youth retreat! Most of y’all know I have a pretty intense fear of speaking in public, but when your husband is hosting a retreat and has a workshop on prayer, how could I say no?? I actually had a good counseling session and we got to the root of my fears (they started after a terrible experience in school with a teacher) and it helped get me comfortable enough to say yes, not run away, and give 3 10-minute talks!
YET TO BE ANSWERED PRAYERS
- Complete healing with my body.
- Youth pastor search.
- Extreme hair loss to stop.
Ok friends, if you haven’t yet, take your prayer journal or notebook you’ve written prayers in and go back through every square inch and reflect on what the Lord has done!! Do not pass GO, do not plan 2021 without this step. It’s so important that if we’re going to have faith in God for the unknown future, we need to know how faithful He has been.
Don’t have a record of what God’s been doing in your life? It’s never too late to start!! Grab a Signature Prayer Journal and next year, you’ll be joining in on this reflection!!
Leave a comment of one of your greatest answered prayers of 2021 that will propel your prayer life in 2022.
COMING UP NEXT: 2021 Goals Recap
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Comments (6)
I was able to stay with the same company of 29 years but change departments doing the same role. Doing this has bought high levels of stress down and not working as intense crazy hours. This was an amazing answer to prayer.
You are soo kind Hannah! I am adding you to my prayer list. And praise the Lord for sweet Noah!!
Awww that is amazing Katie! It’s crazy what we see when we pause to survey the land! I had a medical test yesterday (not fun!) but since I had just written this post, I started seeing so many little blessings in it!
Wow Yvette! What a blessing!!!
My answered prayer: Started writing a book! There are so many more, but this one is at the top of the list. I journaled this morning about it and realized that it was really a bigger answer, a years-old answer, which was more than I knew yesterday. So thankful!
I love your heart Val! Thank you for posting these answered prayers. Let us rejoice and be glad with you over what the Lord is doing! I’d love prayer for sleep. I, too, have a fair share of nights that I have anxious thoughts. Would love intercession as you pray for all your ladies.
I bought my first prayer journal this year (even though I’ve been using your other resources and books for years!) and began the first of Dec. I am so excited to setup and see what the Lord does in 2022.
Thank you for all you are doing.
My biggest answered prayer for 2021: our fourth baby, Noah was born in August. The Lord surprised us and blessed us and we praise Him for his life!