How to Make Prayer Cards
I shared last week about using my new beautiful stickers to create new Prayer Cards. Here’s what they are and why I love ’em.
::What they are::
I used to make them out of index cards with a bic pen–no nonsense. But why not make them beautiful? Now, as you know, I made them from textured paper, a colored header, and good black pen that makes me write neatly (is it just me or does your handwriting improve significantly when you use a nice pen?)
There are 8 of them. One for each day of the week and one that says Daily. On my little cards there’s a title and then a list of what to pray for each day. It’s simple but it works for me. I break it up into categories like this and then list specific names under each one.
- Sunday: WCC staff and elders
- Monday: Women’s Ministry and Bible study ladies
- Tuesday: Friends
- Wednesday: Prayer ladies & WCC prayer requests
- Thursday: Family, extended family
- Friday: Loved ones, neighbors, etc. who I want to come know Jesus.
- Saturday: Foreign Missions work and missionaries
The “Daily” card is our immediate family, my own personal prayers, and any upcoming decisions, etc. Under each header I list out all the names or specific things I need to remember to lift up to God’s throne. It’s a convicting exercise because it usually shows me how much there is in my life that’s not under the umbrella of prayer!
::Why this helps::
- Objective accountability: Of course there are lots of ways to pray, but this is just one way to help stay accountable to praying regularly for those in your life. When I leave it all to chance I find that I pray about my own little stuff about 99% of the time and then I’d run into a friend who was actually going through something hard and realize I hadn’t even prayed for her! That’s certainly no fun, but I just have to be honest about myself and know that I need something objective to help me keep others in mind. Otherwise it’s pretty much all about me. I especially noticed this with the Foreign Missionaries one. I’d get their newsletters and realize that I hadn’t prayed for then since their last month’s newsletter (if at all!).
- Helps maintain margin: It is a wise rule to never take on more than we can pray about. If I have more things going on in my life than I have time to pray for, then there’s a problem! Whenever I take the time to update/create prayer cards it really helps me get an idea of how much is in my life and if it’s too much. God gives us 7 days a week and if we can’t pray for it during that time maybe it’s meant to be on someone else’s prayer card (and plate!).
- Portability! I have tried having a big prayer journal in the past and I think they are awesome but it just ended up being too much to carry around with me. I love having these little cards that I can tuck anywhere–usually just in my Bible. I love that I can pull them out at any time and have my beloved prayer needs right before my eyes. I love I don’t have to have the pressure of trying to keep track of all that I’m supposed to pray for. When we write it down we take the pressure off. It’s there, just waiting for us. (I also jot down notes in pencil if there are specific things for a certain time, then I can just erase as time goes on and needs change.)
When we do something like create beautiful prayer cards we’re setting ourselves up for success. We are wise to do all that we can to build godly habits into our lives. You may have other ideas that work for you–that’s great! Let’s do all we can to make every moment His.
*I’m also using my stickers for beautiful Scripture Memorization Cards. More on those later. Happy praying, happy beauty-making!
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What practical tips do you have for building prayer and beauty-making into your life? For making every moment His?
Happy birthday, Dad.
Today my dad, Mr. Zyp to many of you, turns sixty-nine. Really, Dad? Sixty-nine.I want to write what he means to me, so I sit, fingers poised.
How do I sum up the world in one post?
I wrote recently of his example of love, and if you have not read it, I pray you pause and do now. My dad is worth your time. 🙂
I want to find him the perfect gift, that will somehow convey what he means to me. But again,
how do you wrap up the world in a box?
So Dad, instead of giving you a gift, I’ll simply list out mine.
- Dancing around the May Pole. I barefoot in that long turquoise dress. You in polo shirt and PE shoes. I proud. You prouder.
- Working on my free-throws. How many times did you say,”Keep your elbow in!” A thousand. My elbow still creeps out, Dad.
- Going to that minor league baseball game. I telling you about a guy I liked. Scared to death, I told you. “His name is Jeff Patterson…”
- You scaring many boys to death. Thank you.
- Being tiny, sitting on your lap, fingering your earlobe. I loved the feel: Soft and rough at the same time. Just like you.
- “Daddy, can I marry you when I grow up?”
- You always tearing up when you pray.
- Boat rides.
- You silly. Always silly. Riding bikes at the beach and coming around the corner to find you on your back, riding your bike upside down.
- Waving goodbye every morning out those big front room windows, waiting excitedly for that one spot when we could see you down the road. How you always knew to hold your arm out the window and wave. Knowing we were back there, waiting and waving.
- Hearing the sound of the garage door open. “Daddys’ home!”
- You getting pulled over for speeding and listening to you lecture the police offer that he should quit wasting his time giving measy 5-mile-over speeding tickets when real creeps were out in the world. No one ever said you didn’t speak your mind.
- How you built those wooden lap-tables for us so we could have all our books and colors and papers with us on those long road trips to your basketball games.
- Watching you ref. Being about to burst with pride that I got in free to all the games because you were my dad. I thought you were a celebrity. Now I know you are.
- How you taught me to ride my bike that one Christmas, freezing cold, driveway a sheet of ice. How many miles did you run holding onto the back of the seat?
- Jeep rides up in the snow.
- The gym you built in our backyard. A gym! I still sometimes shake my head at that. Who gets to have a gym in their backyard?!
- That moment–was I nine-years-old?– after we moved from our Deardorff drive house, when just you and I went back for one last look, make sure we hadn’t forgot anything. How we stood in that entry-way. I had started to cry and tried to hide it, then looked and you were too. You looked at me and I could read your mind, you’d carried me home from the hospital to that house.
- Building that house on Wright Rd, how we hadn’t drilled the well yet so we had to ride our bikes to the neighbors’ house and bring home buckets of water. Showering in the locker room at school late at night. I just remember all that being SO fun, which has everything to do with you…
- All those summers in high school building decks together. All those complaints about the 3-minute lunch breaks we were allowed and the $5/hour wages I received. You worked me hard and now I’m so very glad.
- And now, the countless hours you have invested in my family–my husband, my kids. You are Papa and you are their prize. They adore you, as you know.
I can’t imagine a better Papa for my children … except for the part where you sneak them soda and french fries. But hey, nobody’s perfect.
Happy birthday, Dad. I love you.
Week's end with thanks
- Brilliant yellow daffodils growing straight out of the gravel along Parker Road. I want to celebrate every time I drive past. Beauty perseveres!
- Blessed experience at the Faith & Culture Writer’s Conference at Western Seminary. Grace beyond words.
- Debra Kent.
- Arriving home to find hubby, Momma-in-law, and two darling children out spreading barkdust in our front yard. “Mommy mommy mommy!” Running to car. Armful of children. I inhale them. Yes.
- Changing plans.
- Tiny solid-color plastic cowboys and Indians toys, complete with tomahawks and feathers, knives and guns. From 30+ years ago, Dutch plays with them still. Most un-PC toys I’ve ever seen.
- Down comforter.
- How safe it feels when everything is God’s.
- Life broken open, time to share the fruit.
- Having no idea what God is doing but enjoying the journey.
- Farm fresh milk–yum!
- Worshipping God next to my momma-in-law and dear friend Pam. A gift to stand beside such saints in the presence of our God.
- Being too excited to sleep. Four nights in a row.
- Sunshine.
- Oregon Women’s Report dinner. Going with a friend and meeting more. Love love love what God’s doing through women, words, and grace.
- An email from my literary hero, speaking words of encouragement.
- A whole day without leaving the house.
- Beautiful, amazing response from readers on Day Without Shoes.
- $11,297+ raised for precious people in Africa! And how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News.
- Heidi & Elle giggling down the aisles of Fred Meyer.
- Huge bouquet of daffodils on kitchen table, splash of sunshine despite each day’s rain.
- Single daffodil in bud vase from my friend who gives me gifts. Six luscious lemon petals outstretched toward me. Single stem strong. Some of us are petals some are stems, so glad we can work together to create beauty.
- Little boy in t-shirt and bare buns. I love those buns!
- Beth Moore teach on the power of song. She is a holy hoot, that woman.
- Needing a nap and taking one.
- “Oh mommy, I discovered…!” “Oh mommy, that’s extraordinary!” “The hail is hitting the glass like bullets!” Can I just say that I love my little 4-year-old’s vocabulary? What a gift to be able to describe life with just the right words.
- Watching hail turn almost instantly to blue sky. How quickly things can change.
- Bananas with perfect hint of green.
- A literary lettuce-in-my-teeth heads-up from a friend when I misspelled “peek” in the title of this post. Ha! A peak! Thank you Emily!
- Seeing a friend look so great.
- Heidi accidentally smashing Dutch’s prized Lego-possession, and being amazed: He didn’t even bat an eyelash, just helped her pick up the pieces. There really is hope.
- Dutch reminiscing about last summer’s deck-building adventure. “Mommy, remember the time…” Sounding like a little old man.
- Vintage children’s books.
- Dutch touching my tummy: “Mommy, are we getting another baby soon? We need a new baby!” No we aren’t and no we don’t.
- Letting Dutch eat the last of the peanut butter right out of the jar … again.
- More (plenty more) of the much-needed discipline of Dutch that I detest. But it’s all worth it when he breaks, melts in my arms, between sobs, “Mommy, I love you so much.” That’s when I break, melt, thank God for this privilege of shepherding His lamb.
- Breath prayers: Lord, help me to be faithful.
- Heidi playing outside in pouring hail, all by herself, wandering and stacking, digging and watering. Content and lost in her world. I sneak with camera. She catches me and smiles.
- Fingering Heidi’s favorite sparkly gold shoes, worn almost completely through the toe. Jesus let me life be just like these shoes.
- Date night with my man.
- Friends who don’t just babysit, they shower my kids with love.
- Holding hands.
- Barnes & Noble. At home among the books.
- People-watching.
- Prawns.
- Peeking in on on sleeping child and gathering up one who’s awake into my arms.
- Powell’s City of Books. How happy am I that my kids love this place too?!
- Literal lip-smacking from the backseat as we drive. Peanut butter sandwiches, simplicity’s fare.
- Walking in downtown Portland on a brilliant sunny day, one small hand tucked in each of mine, we toddle slowly, taking in the sights. Strangers smile.
- Brilliant blue sky, completely cloudless. Dozens of tulips about to burst, standing tall, dignified, in enormous concrete planters along Burnside.
- My first tulip still hiding its wintry eyes, about to show its face.
- Scribbling all these on back of Powell’s receipt. Must not forget these gifts!
- Fat bumble bee buzzing from flower to flower.
- Neighbor friend stopping by, parked in the middle of the street. All smiles. Warm sun. Hum of lawnmower behind. Telling tales of God’s finger, of God’s faithfulness. She smiles wide and is a gift.
- Sitting on my front porch watching my Pastor walking his sweet daughter home from school. WCC family, we are blessed.
- Comments from you that bring me to tears. (the good kind)
- My new problem, these lists are getting too long! But that too is a gift…
- Trust.
Happy weekend; thanks for reading.
By grace, with joy,
Kari
F is for Fringe Hours
It is late as I write this. Way late. I’m a 9pm bedtime girl and let’s just say it’s not 9pm. I’m undertaking a little writing project, which is exciting to me because I love to write more than just about anything else in the world. Apparently more than sleep. But last night in a tired-moment I said to Jeff, “I don’t have time to write. It’s what I love to do but I literally do not have any free time during my days.” Of course he offered to help in a dozen different ways, but that’s not really it. It’s just that life, glorious life, is full. Full of joys and blessed busyness that I wouldn’t trade for anything. But still, full.
Then I remembered that Ann Voskamp said she wrote in the darkness, during the fringe hours of her days.
Fringe hours.
Isn’t that where the course of our life is truly determined? Most of our mid-day hours are decided for us. They are at work, changing diapers, running errands. A dozen employees in a company may look much the same from 9-5 but it is what they do during the fringe hours of the day that makes them who they are. Really, the fringe hours are the only ones that are ours, so of course they are pregnant with possibility. And especially as moms, the really fringe hours (think dark outside) are often the only ones we really have to ourselves.
So I’m thinking it’s important to invest more in the fringe.
People on the fringe. Ministry on the fringe. Moments on the fringe.
Words on the fringe.
So it’s dark and my screen is lit. My house is silent except for quiet clicking of keys. I’ll keep writing on the fringe and maybe, just maybe, all those fringes will add up into something beautiful.
Something whole.
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What do you do with your fringe hours? When you add them all up, what will they become?
Happy Friday. Week’s end with thanks tomorrow…
PS If you got this in your feedreader you can tell how I tired I was when I wrote this, the title was “For is Fringe Hours”… I couldn’t even type the title right! 🙂