I want to start today off with a powerful question, and that is,

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do you ever feel like your prayers, they're just not heard?

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You pray to God, you have all these things that are weighing heavy on your heart,

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and you hand it all over to God.

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But sometimes you just really wish that God would talk back.

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You really wish that you could hear his whisper. You could have his advice.

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Well, what if I ask this question? Do you give God space to talk to you?

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Because I don't know if your prayer life looks anything like mine,

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but I know that me, I pray, I ask God for stuff,

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I beg for other things, I thank him for the things he's done in my life, I say amen,

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and then I go on with life, or I go right to sleep.

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But in that, I've never allowed an opportunity for God to speak to me.

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And that is where today we're exploring this powerful combination of prayer and meditation.

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Because praying, that's us talking to God.

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Meditating, that's allowing God to talk to us. I welcome you to episode 291.

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What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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I am your host, Kevin Lowe. 20 years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery

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only to find that I was left completely blind. And since that day,

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I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

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And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you.

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Because friend, if you are still searching for your purpose,

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still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right

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path to take, we'll consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from

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where you are to where you want to be.

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I don't know if you have ever tried it meditating before, but today we're going

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to give it a whirl. We're going to give it a try.

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But I will advise you that I highly recommend when it is time for you to meditate,

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that you do so sitting up in a chair, not lying in bed.

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There's some people who meditate when they first wake up in the morning,

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but I'm going to assume that they probably aren't sleeping on a MyPillow or

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MyPillow's amazing sheets, Because if they were,

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I can guarantee they probably would not be able to stay awake while meditating.

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Yes, my friend, we are sponsored by MyPillow, a leader in helping you to sleep a little bit better.

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I know they sure do help me sleep mighty fine.

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Highly recommend you go to MyPillow.com. Check out their amazing different offers.

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First, as long as you use promo code Kevin, you're going to get access to the best price possible.

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We're talking about the best deals on their website when you use promo code Kevin.

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So go shopping today at MyPillow.com using promo code Kevin.

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That information and all details are inside of today's show notes.

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Moving right along from meditating while trying to not fall asleep to praying,

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today's prayer request is for somebody who is just asking for God to show up in his life.

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He's been out of work and he's been struggling. He wants to provide for his

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family. He wants to provide for himself.

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And if you've ever been without work and you've sent in all the applications

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and you just keep getting no response, you know how frustrating that can be.

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Today's prayer request is anonymous, which I always give that option to any

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prayer request here on the podcast.

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And so still yet, please help me in praying for this guy.

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He knows who he is. God knows who he is.

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And this person just could really use us praying that a breakthrough will happen in his life.

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If you have someone or something that you would love help in praying for,

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please send your prayer request as a text message to 877-749-8178.

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Again, that number is 877-749-8178.

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Send your prayer request via text to that number, and I will be honored to feature

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it on a future episode of the podcast.

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All right, let's get into it. And let's start by further exploring the idea

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of why in the world I chose to talk about this in the first place.

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And the biggest reason is, is I've seen so many people, sometimes myself included,

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when you feel like you spend all this time praying and yet nothing thing ever happens.

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It's like your prayers, they just get lost in the void of space.

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It's like you start to think that, man, I don't know, God, does he got too many

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other people praying? Does he not got time for me?

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And of course, that's not at all the case.

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And hopefully if you have a relationship with God, if you are a Christian, you know that.

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But I understand how sometimes it It can feel that way.

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And when it comes to meditation, I have heard different varying opinions on

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what exactly meditating is, if it's something that Christians do or if it's

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somehow going against our faith.

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I think I actually read online somebody joking that meditating,

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it's not just for monks on mountaintops.

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And I thought that was so funny because I was like, I think in so many cases,

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that's what people think of when they think of meditation.

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So what I wanted to really get to explore both for myself and to get to share

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with you kind of real time is the idea of combining the two.

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Because I've come to realize that I believe that when we combine the meditation

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with prayer, we honestly just totally heighten the level of connection with God.

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And we take that one act of praying, we turn it into two.

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Because sometimes I'll be honest. Sometimes I tell God in my prayer that I'm sorry.

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I feel like I'm always asking for things. And sometimes I feel like I forget

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to thank him enough for all the blessings in my life, the blessings that I honestly

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don't even realize, the things that I take for granted.

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But when we take it to another level by this idea of meditation.

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Really allowing ourselves to be open to hearing God.

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I think sometimes when we think about hearing We think of it as something like

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in, what was it, that funny movie with, I think it was Jim Carrey, like Bruce Almighty.

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And we think of God with this big booming voice and like it's just going to

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knock us down. He's going to be yelling at us so loud.

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But it's actually the total opposite.

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Because, well, so many times we hear that God speaks in a whisper.

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And if we're not quiet and we don't take the time to be quiet,

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then what if we're missing that whisper?

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We've filled our lives with all this noise, blocking out any opportunity to

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hear that whisper, telling us exactly what we hope to hear.

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So let's break it down. We're going to first start with prayer.

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I think most of us pretty much understand the idea of praying.

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So I thought that would be a good starting point.

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Praying. It's what we do when we talk to God.

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It's what we do when we go to bed at night, before we go to sleep.

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It's what we do around the table at family dinners, before we eat.

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It's, of course, what we do when we're in church.

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Prayer is done in so many different ways and in different places and different situations.

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Sometimes prayer is very structured. Sometimes Sometimes it almost comes across very formal.

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But for me personally, prayer is nothing more than a conversation with my creator.

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It's nothing more than me talking to the person who means more to me than anyone

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else in this entire life.

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Because God has been there from day one.

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And the fact that I get to have direct communication with my creator is amazing,

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just like everyone does.

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And so I want you to maybe think about prayer as nothing more than a conversation.

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It's you getting to communicate with God. And that's a really powerful thing.

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Now there's different types of prayers. I actually heard my grandmother,

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my Nana, refer to popcorn prayers at one point.

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And that was those little prayers that it's just when you're out doing life,

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You're driving in the car and you say to yourself, oh, God, please let this light turn green.

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I am running late to work. It's a little popcorn prayer.

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All these different types of prayer. But in relation to combining with meditation,

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I'm more talking about the time when we really set aside a moment to pray,

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like before going to sleep at night.

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Or what I love to do is to pray right when I wake up in the morning.

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It's in these moments that I'm talking about specifically today,

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when we have a few extra moments, when life is a little bit slower,

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the world is a little bit quieter.

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It's in these moments that I feel we can combine prayer with meditation.

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And with that, I feel like that's a perfect segue into meditation.

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So let's talk a little bit about exactly what at least I view meditating as.

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Meditation is definitely something that I feel like is often misunderstood.

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Even for myself, I don't think I fully understood what meditation could mean,

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especially in the context of faith.

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Faith, because so many times when I've heard about meditation in the past,

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it's always about basically emptying your mind.

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It's focusing on the silence. It's clearing your mind of everything.

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Sometimes they tell you to find one, maybe noise, isolated noise.

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And when your mind starts to wonder and you start to think about different things,

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you're You're supposed to just focus back on that one thing.

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You're supposed to just clear your mind.

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And to be honest, it's really, really difficult to do.

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But then when I heard about this idea of meditating in addition to prayer,

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meditation takes on a whole new meaning, a whole new purpose,

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and a whole new method. Right?

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Because meditating in this manner, it's, yeah, it's about getting quiet.

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Yes, it's about focusing on your breathing. It's about being sure that you're

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in a place that you can be totally relaxed.

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Hopefully is as silent as you can possibly get in this loud world that we live in.

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But it's somewhere that you can just be still.

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And instead of you hoping to sit in a moment of pure silence,

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the hope is that you focus on God,

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you focus on your faith, you focus on Jesus Christ.

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You are basically creating a quiet space for you to listen to God.

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It's about being still, being calm, and listening for God's guidance and direction.

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Basically, you're giving God the opportunity to speak while you just listen.

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Basically, the total opposite of praying, which is when we talk and we hope that God is listening.

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Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think you're always going to feel

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like you just heard God speak to you.

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I know that I haven't. And even before this whole idea of meditating,

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sometimes you just feel like God isn't speaking to you.

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And I don't want you to feel like, oh, okay, all I have to do is now meditate

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and immediately I'm going to hear God's voice.

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No, all I'm talking about with this combination is the idea of taking prayer

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to the next level of even more heightening the entire experience of faith,

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of having a relationship with God.

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It's about giving space for God to speak to you.

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It's about you showing up for your faith, hoping.

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You hear from God. But even if while meditating, you don't actually hear God's

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whisper, I just want you to pay attention to how you feel at the end.

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You don't have to do it for long.

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Maybe set a goal for one minute, five minutes. You don't have to do it forever.

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Just give yourself time to do it for as long as you can and see how you feel at the end.

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Chances are, I bet you're you're going to feel pretty good. You're going to

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feel better than if you just prayed and went on about life.

00:14:37.921 --> 00:14:45.181

No, you've extended that time with God for even longer than you had before.

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And honest to goodness, that's really kind of the biggest point in it all.

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So if we want to talk like practical application, what does this look like?

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Paint the picture for me.

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Well, I'm going to paint the picture for you, and it starts with you lying in

00:15:05.401 --> 00:15:09.481

bed at night, and you say a prayer before you go to sleep.

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But you don't say your prayers as you're falling asleep.

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No, you instead make time to pray to God, and you make time after you say amen

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to sit in the the silence, to focus on the silence,

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to think about God, to think about a certain piece of scripture,

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to think about maybe your favorite Christian song, that one specific lyric that stands out.

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Just think of that. Keep that in the front of your mind and focus on not allowing

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anything else to come in.

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That is your opportunity to put all your focus, all your attention, on God.

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And I'm here to tell you, that's pretty darn powerful.

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Now, if you have never tried meditating before, they talk about your breathing

00:16:04.501 --> 00:16:06.081

as a big part of meditating.

00:16:06.501 --> 00:16:13.061

And I think it is. And so what you want to do, if you're somebody who allergies

00:16:13.061 --> 00:16:18.801

haven't struck and you can't breathe through your nose, try doing the big breaths

00:16:18.801 --> 00:16:20.361

just in through your nose.

00:16:21.331 --> 00:16:27.171

And out through your mouth. Creating this circle of air of in through your nose

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and out through your mouth.

00:16:29.631 --> 00:16:32.651

Helping to just relax your entire body.

00:16:33.471 --> 00:16:36.891

Literally let your entire body just fall heavy.

00:16:37.611 --> 00:16:42.991

Starting with the tips of your toes, working all the way up to the top of your head.

00:16:42.991 --> 00:16:48.771

Instead, letting your entire body just relax to be in this moment,

00:16:48.931 --> 00:16:56.051

this moment of meditation, this moment of listening for God to speak to you.

00:16:56.311 --> 00:17:04.551

And as I said, whether or not you actually feel like you heard God's whisper or not,

00:17:04.671 --> 00:17:10.971

you've just heightened this entire experience of being in your faith to a level

00:17:10.971 --> 00:17:13.251

that most Most people never experience.

00:17:13.991 --> 00:17:15.591

This is powerful stuff.

00:17:16.431 --> 00:17:21.091

It's something that I will be honest, I have not been doing in my life.

00:17:21.171 --> 00:17:27.831

But since learning about it, I'm going to adopt it as part of my nightly routine.

00:17:28.791 --> 00:17:32.531

And maybe it would be really cool if you did the same.

00:17:32.751 --> 00:17:37.331

And maybe at the end of the day, we can compare notes on how things are going.

00:17:37.331 --> 00:17:43.191

Best way to do that is be sure that you're on the email list for this podcast,

00:17:43.471 --> 00:17:48.691

graceinspiration.com slash newsletter, where I send out a weekly newsletter

00:17:48.691 --> 00:17:53.151

in which you can reply to on every issue that I send out.

00:17:53.231 --> 00:17:56.231

And I would love to hear how this is going for you.

00:17:57.178 --> 00:18:03.518

Now, I want to share one little thing about this whole concept of praying and meditating.

00:18:04.658 --> 00:18:12.978

Sometimes I have learned in my own life that God seems to speak when I'm not

00:18:12.978 --> 00:18:17.518

quiet, when maybe I'm not lying there meditating,

00:18:17.798 --> 00:18:22.498

but instead I'm just going through life, doing normal stuff.

00:18:22.918 --> 00:18:30.558

And I want you to allow yourself to use this as an opportunity to get in touch

00:18:30.558 --> 00:18:35.158

with the Holy Spirit that's inside of you. It's inside all of us.

00:18:35.718 --> 00:18:42.278

And I want you to use this whole idea of praying and meditating as just one

00:18:42.278 --> 00:18:49.478

more step, one thing closer to having you have a relationship with God.

00:18:49.858 --> 00:18:56.318

When I went blind now over 20 years ago, the only way that I got through it,

00:18:56.358 --> 00:19:01.998

the only way that I am here today is because of my relationship with God.

00:19:02.358 --> 00:19:08.678

I hung on to my faith so hard after going blind.

00:19:09.338 --> 00:19:15.638

Now, a lot of people, sometimes when tragedy strikes, they turn away from God

00:19:15.638 --> 00:19:19.178

because, well, they feel like, how could God do this?

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If God was real, he wouldn't allow this to happen. But thankfully for me,

00:19:24.278 --> 00:19:26.218

that was the total opposite.

00:19:26.678 --> 00:19:33.318

Instead, I clung to my faith. I prayed all the time, but not just prayed, I talked to God.

00:19:33.978 --> 00:19:39.058

And that's what I encourage anybody to do, is to not think about it as prayer,

00:19:39.178 --> 00:19:43.958

but think of it as conversation, you getting to talk with your creator.

00:19:44.118 --> 00:19:54.098

And that is one of the most powerful, most peaceful, most amazing things you can ever do. But then...

00:19:55.171 --> 00:20:00.571

We take it to the next level by giving space for God to speak to us.

00:20:01.591 --> 00:20:09.071

So basically, that's it for today. It was me just wanting to explore this idea with you.

00:20:09.171 --> 00:20:13.451

It's something that I've recently learned about, understood more about.

00:20:13.771 --> 00:20:18.851

And well, I thought I might as well share what I've learned with you.

00:20:19.151 --> 00:20:24.791

And maybe you'll be on this journey with me of combining prayer with meditation.

00:20:25.551 --> 00:20:31.931

My friend, it is an honor and a blessing to have you here joining me on this

00:20:31.931 --> 00:20:34.011

podcast for this amazing ride.

00:20:34.511 --> 00:20:40.851

If you ever feel like you would love to have an opportunity to speak with me,

00:20:40.951 --> 00:20:45.211

please know that my door is always open.

00:20:45.471 --> 00:20:50.631

There is a link inside of the show notes where you can book a virtual coffee date with me.

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We can jump on a phone call and just talk. I am honored to help anybody out

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by just having somebody for you to talk to.

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So again, you can check out the show notes and you can find a link to my online

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calendar right there and schedule a time and let's talk.

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I want to be here for you. And with that, my friend, I wish you nothing but the best.

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I hope your day is incredible, and I remind you that if nobody has told you

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lately, you are simply amazing.

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I'll see you next week.

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Music.