Overcoming my excuses
I have a fight with myself every day.Every day I tell myself to go for a walk. But then the excuses slip in the door.
“It’s cold and windy.”
“I have too much to do.”
“I’m tired and need a nap.”
Yesterday that fight went on for an hour and fifteen minutes. Ridiculous.
Whether or not I need the exercise is not as important as the primary reason I walk: prayer.
I have been prayerwalking for my community for over 22 years. My book PrayerWalk: Becoming a Woman of Prayer, Strength, and Discipline (WaterBrook/RandomHouse) has been out 20 years now. So, you would THINK that it’s a slam dunk for the author of said book to get out the door and prayerwalk.
Not necessarily. But then scriptures like the one I read this morning remind me that my life has purpose–and that purpose is to walk and pray for my community.
When Samuel announced that Saul would be king over Israel, he gave the people a little pep talk, and this quote is one that keeps me praying:
“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).
So, I walk . . . and pray. Because walking is more than good exercise for me; it is a calling.
I am in the process of recording PrayerWalk in audio and will have the book released this year in that form. If you’d like to read it, I’ll put the link in comments. In the meantime please pray that I can get this done well, so that a younger generation can pick up the prayerwalking mantle so that others start #lookingup.
While Janet McHenry has a million excuses not to walk, she has never regretted one–except perhaps that time when she got sprayed by a skunk. She loves encouraging others to pray and six of her 24 books are on prayer, including the bestselling PrayerWalk and her newest, The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus. They are available through her website, where you can also find out information about her new masterclass, Prayer School, which is available now through Teachable for just the cost of the three books for the class: janetmchenry.com. #pray #prayer #lookingup #prayers #justpray #needprayer #PrayLikeJesus #PrayersofJesus #PrayerWalk #walkandpray #PrayerStreaming #praywithoutceasing #PrayerExperiment #answertoprayer #prayerworks #beananswertoprayer #PrayerSchool #DailyPrayerWalk #Bible #Bibleverse #Biblestudy #dailyBibleverse #Bibleteacher #speaker #Christianspeaker #retreatspeaker
I needed to hear this today! I’ve been procrastinating starting up walking again. I wasn’t able to walk at all during my recent pregnancy, at first due to complications and then due to sciatica. Now my newest little one is 6 weeks old, the sciatica is gone, and I’m really out of excuses. “It’s been so long” just doesn’t cut it. Prayer is a wonderful incentive.
I picture my Personal Trainer waiting for me on my front steps. ❤️