Prayer List

It's the beginning of the month, which means I need to update my prayer list. I thought I'd share my process here, since it has been very helpful to me.

I'm bad about keeping track of my prayers. I've tried starting prayer journals in the past, but with no success.
I am a visual person (more now than ever since having a baby and losing most of my ability to recall information). I have lists all over the house: on the fridge, iPad, mirrors, purse, EVERYWHERE! I actually need a list for where all my lists are. So to visually see all my prayers, I have started writing them on sticky notes and leaving them on the bathroom mirror. This way I can see them every day when brushing my teeth/getting ready for the day/bedtime. It works pretty well because, honestly, what else do you do when brushing your teeth? Seems like a perfect time to pray. You can't talk to anyone around you (well, without spraying them with toothpaste or dribbling it down your front, both of which are gross).
So, remembering my prayers was solved. Now for organization.

Yes, I organize my prayers. It's weird, I don't care.

I did want to keep track of my prayers, but only so many fit on a small sticky note. I wanted to have prayers we could see answered, but I also have lots of ongoing prayers the Lord has yet to answer positively. My solution was a month-by-month prayer list. So I choose some ongoing prayers to write down, plus some that we could see answered during the month. Ex: Last month we traveled to North Carolina. One of my prayers was that we would have safe travel and Reed would have a great experience. Prayer answered!

At the end of the month (like today) I will take my October sticky note and put it in my journal. Next to any prayers answered, I will write how and when answered. Then I will make a new sticky note for this month.

Of course, this doesn't mean I won't pray for other things, but you get the picture.

I really like the idea of knowing what I was praying for and when. I can look back through the months to see what was going on and see how God blessed our lives.

On an unrelated note, November 1st is a busy day for grocery stores. They have to get all the Halloween stuff out of the store and Christmas put up in 1 day. At least that's what was going on at my Kroger today. (A disaster zone)

And....Starbucks broke out their Christmas cups.

Happy November!

The Turners