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Prayer has never been easy for me. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t know how to pray,\nbut it takes a lot of discipline for me to stick to praying even when I\ndon\u2019t feel like it. I\u2019ve heard stories of people in the Bible and\nmissionaries who had ground-shaking prayer lives but that\u2019s never\nhappened for me. However, as I pushed through my insecurity about prayer\nand just started doing it, I found out that I don\u2019t need to have all the\nanswers. My life became so much more peace-filled when I interacted with\nGod regularly in prayer.\n.\nFor me, one of the best things about praying is that I can do it anytime,\nanywhere. More than that, I can choose to have a constant conversation with\nGod. This has been such a beautiful part of my walk with Him. When I\u2019d have\nto make a split-second decision, I\u2019d whisper God, help me, and then,\noften, I would have clarity. When I saw something beautiful, like a waving\nflower or a singing bird, I\u2019d smile and pray, Thank You, God. These\nsimple prayers became more and more natural. I wondered if this was what\nPaul meant when he said to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17). I\nstarted calling these short, one-sentence prayers breathing prayers\nbecause I started doing them without thinking, kind of like breathing.\n.\nAs I interacted with God more and more through these simple, child-like\nprayers, my relationship with Him deepened. He opened my eyes to things I\nhadn\u2019t seen. It was like I was holding His hand throughout the day. The\ntruth is, you don\u2019t have to be a missionary to have a rich prayer life.\nEvery child of Godevery person who has put their trust in Jesuscan enjoy\nconstant communication with Him. God is listening, He loves you, and He\nloves hearing from you! Through prayer, He invites us to lean into His\nstrength as He equips us for everything we face. As we communicate with\nGod, we get to experience the closeness we have with the One who loves us\nso dearly. Lily Walsh\n.\n God invites us to be in relationship with Him. Even though our sin\nseparated us from God, He made the way for us to be close to Him through\nJesus\u2019s death and resurrection. Now, everyone who has put their trust in\nJesus is brought near to God! Yet, we can still choose how much we interact\nwith Him. Why do you think God calls us to communicate with Him continually?\n.\n We all feel hesitant to pray sometimes. How could this author\u2019s personal\nexperience with prayer give us hope to reach out to God even when we feel\nresistance?\n.\nPray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)\n\xa0\nRead Verses:\nJeremiah33:3; Luke 18:1; 1Thess:5:16-1Thess:5:18; James 5:13-James 5:18