Category: 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers

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To Spread Light …

Some days you’re the candle, some days you’re the mirror… but either way you can be a spreader of light.

If someone offers you a word or gesture of kindness, accept it!  If someone needs one, offer what you can. 

We know what we are going through, but we never really know what everyone else is going through.  Someone near and dear to you may be in need of uplifting… a stranger who crosses your path may be in need of a kind word, encouragement or simply, understanding.  

 

If we look outside of ourselves, if we look at our day from the perspective that ‘there are no coincidences’, then we can believe that everyone we interact with each day is there for a reason… however significant or however fleeting.  Perhaps we have connected so that we can encourage them… or perhaps it is for them to encourage us. Either way, we are both blessed in the process.  

There is a light inside of each of us… sometimes we shine so bright we light the way for others.  We draw those toward us like a beacon on a hill.  Other times our own light seems to flicker and grow dim, and we need the spark from someone else to brighten our spirits… to re-ignite us.    

Has someone been on your mind lately but you don’t know why?  Perhaps they need to be uplifted and encouraged.  Have you notice a co-worker who seems distance or detached?  A kind gesture may go a long way in giving them hope to get through whatever they are facing.  We don’t need to know what is weighing on them, we simply need to be obedient to the prompting to reach out.  

Are you in need of encouragement yourself?  Be open to receiving a smile from a stranger or a friend… search out quotes, stories, music, people and scripture that will uplift you.  Pray. Be kind to yourself. 

What if for today, our prayer was this:

Lord, when I can, I will be the candle… one who brightens someone’s day with a smile, a hug or words of encouragement.  And when I can’t do that Lord, help me instead to be the reflection of the light that someone shines on me… to accept the smile, the hug, the kindness and encouragement with a grateful spirit and a simple ‘thank you’… to store it up and pass it on when I feel able.

Amen

Download the free printable journal page with quote and prayer of encouragement. (There is also a second lined page included.) 

Write about an experience you had when someone brightened your day with a simple act of kindness… or when you were able to brighten the day for someone else.

What small acts of ‘light and kindness’ can you think of to do for someone else?  Be mindful as you go about your week of being the ‘candle or the mirror’! 

 

 

Searching for more inspiration? 

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options and two different formats.  There are printable quote cards and prayers of encouragement as well as printable journal sets.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the full printable sets by clicking on any of the photos below.  

Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design and format that speaks to you.

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The best view comes after the hardest climb…

I have a video of my granddaughter trudging up a large sand dune with spunk and determination that seemed beyond her two and a half years.  When she reached the top she high-fived her mom and triumphantly declared, “I did it!” 

How rewarding it must have been to stand at the top of what must have seemed to be a sandy mountain and look back at where she had started… and beyond! 

We all have our sand dunes, hills and mountains to navigate.  Some of them are short trudges, others a day long hike and others a journey that takes a very long time.  Some of them challenge us physically, some mentally and emotionally and others spiritually. 

At times we face a mountain so big that we are challenged in all ways.  The path to the top can be winding and difficult and seem never ending. But, oh, the view from the top once we finally make it! Sights that we could never see from the valley come clearly in to view. 

The long winding trail to the top is worth the effort, worth the struggles and challenges when at last we arrive. 

At times we actually get to choose our challenges… more often than not though, we don’t.  Challenges are thrust on us, dropped on us or creep up on us and catch us off guard.  Challenges are simply part of being alive.  We are not defined by our challenges, but they certainly reveal who we are, and ‘whose’ we are.  

We are not promised that life will be without challenges. But we are promised that God will be with us through them, if we allow Him to.   (Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 28:20, Romans 8:38-39)

Mountain top views don’t happen every day… some days we are in the valley, some days we are on the journey up the hill.  Some days we stop and rest, other days we push on.  Those moments when we reach the top are blissful.  And when we have to leave the mountain top, those are the moments that keep our spirit pushing forward through the next challenge. 

What if for today, our prayer was this...

“Lord, when I am weary and tired and out of breath, be the wind behind me to push me onward. Be the outstretched hand that pulls me up.

And when, finally, I stand on the mountain top, stand beside me as I take joy in the victory of the climb and the reward of the awe inspiring view.” 

Amen

Download the free printable journal page to journal about your own experiences with an awe inspiring view.

What challenge did you face?  How did you get through it?  What advice would you give someone who is going through a similar challenge?  What would you say to your former self about how you handled the challenge and what you learned from it?

Looking back, what can you be grateful for about what you went through? 

Searching for more inspiration? 

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options and two different formats.  There are printable quote cards and prayers of encouragement as well as printable journal sets.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the full printable sets by clicking on any of the photos below.  

Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design and format that speaks to you.

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Strength Grows…

When you think you can’t do one more late night of caring for a sick child… but you keep going.   When you don’t think you have the energy for one more chemo treatment… but you keep going.  When you are just steps away from finishing a marathon and you think you can’t go any further… but keep going.  When you feel defeated and want to give up on your dreams…. but you keep going.  Strength grows in those moments.  We may be left physically, emotionally or mentally exhausted, but spiritually we are stronger.  We have kept going when we thought we could not.  

Sometimes the victory comes, not in the winning, but in the determination and perseverance that has grown inside of us.  

What if the motivation to keep going isn’t right in front of us to push us on?  A sick child, a life saving treatment, a finish line… those are tangible motivations that we can see – that drive us to keep going.  It may be hard, but the ‘why’ is right in front of us, urging us on.

But…what about those times when you have been prompted by God to step out in faith… into uncertainty? How do you keep going when the path seems long and, quite possibly, lonely?

Trust and obey.  

This has become my focus over the past few months.  Admittedly, both do not come easy to me. Some days are easier than others… some moments are easier than others.  I am ‘doing’ what I feel led to do, yet I am not seeing the results.  Will I ever see the results?  And if I do, will they be the results that I want and hope for?  Truly, God only knows.  

What I know is that I can trust Him and His plans for me… I can talk to Him and share my hopes and dreams and my weariness and uncertainty… and I can do what He asks me to do, grudgingly or with an attitude of worshipful abandonment.  And when I get to that place in my spirit that I can choose the latter, strength grows.

 

What if for today our prayer was this...

“Lord, help me this day with your strength…Fill me with determination and strength of purpose for what needs to be done.  And when I think that I can’t go on, encourage me to take just one more step. Let me look back on this day with the joy that comes from knowing that I gave it my all and did more than I thought was possible.

Amen

Download the free journal page to journal about your own area of challenge.  What are you faced with that you are struggling to finish or keep going with?  What, or who, is motivating you to keep going?  What are some ways you can adjust your perspective on the challenge? 

Can you recall a time when you felt that you could not keep going, but you did?  Looking back, can you see how that has helped you to grow? 

Searching for more inspiration? 

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options and two different formats.  There are printable quote cards and prayers of encouragement as well as printable journal sets.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the full printable sets by clicking on any of the photos below.  

Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design and format that speaks to you.

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Accept what is…

Sometimes this is so very hard to do.  Sometimes we don’t want to be where we are right now. Sometimes we don’t want to let go of the past. Sometimes we are afraid to hope for the future. 

All we truly have is ‘now’.  The past cannot be changed or altered.  The future remains unseen. Now is what we have.  We can fight it or accept it.  

Accepting does not mean being happy with it. (Although if we are it’s a bonus!)  Accepting does not mean that we can’t, or should not, hope for something more. 

Accepting means that we accept where we are… we accept the path we have taken has led us to where we are now.  We let go of what is holding us back from the past and we have faith in what can be.   

I live in Ontario, Canada.  As I am writing this our province is in the midst of a 3rd wave of COVID.  We are under a stay-at-home-order that has just been extended yet again.  I don’t like it.  I miss my family. I  miss my grandchildren incredibly.  There is an ache inside of me that longs to hold them and play with them.  I want to feel their sweet little faces pressed up against mine.  I want to hug my children.  And right now I can’t.  

But I have learned that allowing bitterness to grow does nothing to benefit my emotional well being.  I have to focus on what ‘is’… I have a family who loves me despite our physical distance.  I can engage with my grandchildren through video chats.  Love is not diminished by not being together.  

When the negative feelings start to creep in, I turn my focus to the positive things that have happened as a result of COVID.  Each of us has a different ‘silver lining’ to focus on… for me it is time to spend working on creative projects, gardening, learning new skills.  In part this was brought about through coming to a ‘hard stop’ brought on by a stress related illness that made me take a deep look at my emotional and mental well being.  I had to choose to accept where I am right now, to let go of what was, and to have faith in what will be. 

Whether we are faced with a pandemic or not, there will always be a “COVID” of some sort in our lives to challenge and test us. Some of them will be less serious than COVID and some will be far more challenging.  We can’t control these events, but we can always choose how we react to them and how we go through them.  

What if our prayer for today was this…
“Lord, help me to accept where I am in life right now, let me not linger in the past or hold on to things that I need to let go of… take my failures, my hurts, my regrets and toss them in to the sea.  Give me faith Lord, to hope for tomorrow… to trust in your plan for me and to believe that I can become the person you designed and created me to be.” 

Amen

Download the free journal page and write out your thoughts on where you are in life right now… can you easily accept your current life and situation?  is there something from your past that you are having a hard time releasing?  Can you commit to letting it go and letting it be?  What are your hopes for the future?  Write out an statement of faith in what will be.  

Searching for more inspiration? 

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options and two different formats.  There are printable quote cards and prayers of encouragement as well as printable journal sets.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the full printable sets by clicking on any of the photos below.  

Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design and format that speaks to you.

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We each hold our piece of the puzzle…

Anyone who has a worked on a puzzle can likely relate to this.  You can pick up a piece of the puzzle and hold it in your hand, you know where it might belong in the overall picture, but until other pieces are in place it won’t fit in.  

Sometimes life seems to be that way… we know where we want to be, we know where we might belong, but we are not feeling connected yet  Some little piece is still missing. 

At times it can be so very frustrating.  We are anxiously waiting to move forward. But something is missing… something is not quite in place yet.

Sometimes it has nothing at all to do with us and our ‘readiness’ for things to fall in to place.  In the overall picture of life, our small piece of the puzzle may not fully connect to the big picture until someone or something else in in place.  Then, all of sudden… things click and we are surrounded by the right people or the right circumstances, at the right time, and everything connects as it should.  

 

Going a Step Further...

Download the free journal page. Put your thoughts on paper about a ‘puzzle piece’ experience you had (or observed in someone else’s life).  What were you waiting for?  What finally happened to make it transpire and have the pieces fall in to place?  What other pieces had to fall in to place before your piece fit?  How do you think the situation may have turned out if you had rushed or forced the process?  



A
prayer
for
today...

Lord, there is much I don’t understand.  Often I feel things are out of control or that you are not hearing my prayers.

Keep me mindful, Lord, that my small piece of the puzzle may not fit in to place unti many other pieces are in place.

Remind me that only when I have an ‘aerial’ view of the finished picture, will I be able to understand where my piece fits into the larger picture.

Until then Lord, fill me with a peaceful spirit while I trust in you and wait on your timing.

Amen

Searching for more inspiration? 

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options and two different formats.  There are printable quote cards and prayers of encouragement as well as printable journal sets.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the full printable sets by clicking on any of the photos below.  

Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design and format that speaks to you

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Grant me the serenity…

 

Do you ever find yourself fighting against something or someone who simply cannot be changed by you?

A wayward child or spouse, a toxic workmate, a pandemic, a hurricane, the death of a loved one.

There are times when, no matter how hard we try or hope or pray, change does not happen.  It won’t or it can’t.  Why?  Because ‘we’ are not in control of everything and everyone else.  

 

Then there are times when change is within our grasp – we need to have courage and step forward and make the change, embrace the change, be the change. 

We cannot control the actions of others.  We can’t control the weather or disease or tragedy… but… we are always responsible for our responding actions and reactions. Always.  We can establish boundaries or remove ourselves from toxic or harmful relationships.  We can choose the attitude with which we will weather the storms.  We can change our habits and our perspectives.  

And most importantly, although we may not like what we are going through one little bit, we can trust that God has a plan and a purpose that is unfolding and seek His wisdom on what we are to do.  

Going a Step Further...

Download the free journal sheet (and 4 x 6 print of the quote) and take time to journal about a situation in your life that you would like to change.  Focus on the lines of quote and ask yourself what is possible for you to change?  Do you need courage to make a change or wisdom and strength to take your hands off the situations and release the outcome to God.  

Whatever your situation I pray that you find peace of spirit as you move forward. 





A prayer for today...

Fill me with serenity, Lord, to know that there are some things that I cannot change, so matter how hard I might wish or pray.  I have to let go and trust that you are working out all things for good.  But Lord, there are things I can change… my habits, attitudes and perspective.  I cannot control the actions of others but I am in control of how I choose to react.  I may not be able to affect a change in others but I can determine who a change affects me.  Give me the wisdom, I pray, to know the difference in each situation.

Amen

Searching for more inspiration?

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the printables by clicking on any of the photos of our different sets.  Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design that speaks to you! 

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Don’t wait for the perfect moment…

I struggle with this every day… over and over again!  I want things to be right and correct and perfect.  

I want people to be kind, I want pictures to be straightened, I want to feel completely ‘ready’ before I start a new project.  And sometimes, if I know I can’t do something well, I won’t even do it at all.  

Striving to do your best and to be the best version of yourself is not a bad thing.  The challenge comes in allowing yourself to be so consumed with perfection that you miss out on the joy of the learning, the growing, the failing and picking yourself back up to try again.

There are hidden treasures too in the unscripted moments of life.  The times when we thought our plans fell through or fell apart and we discovered the nugget of a hidden blessing.  

Covid brought a lot of our plans to a screeching halt… but it also provided us with many opportunities to grow and adapt and connect in ways that we never thought possible.  We developed new found appreciations for things that we previously took for granted and new found respect for many professions that we had previously not taken too much notice of. 

When we can let go of the need for waiting for the perfect moment, we are freed up to enjoy the moment as it is, to embrace it and make it perfect.  

Really all we have it ‘now’… the present moment… Treat it as the gift that it is!

Print off the free journal sheet and take a few minutes to write down a memory of a time when an ‘imperfect’ moment turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Also included with the free journal sheet is a printable 4 x 6 card of the verse above. 

Going a Step Further:

Commit to being present in each moment today … letting go of expectations and allowing the day to unfold before you like a gift to be opened, one sweet moment at a time! 

 

 

 

What if, for today, our prayer was this: 

Lord, so many times I focus on the ‘imperfect’ in the moment…maybe it’s a big thing or maybe it is just a small distraction.  But I miss opportunities and joy because I am waiting for perfection.

Lord, help me to savor each moment as it is…to see it through your eyes…to realize that through you, it is perfect just the way it is.

Amen

Looking for more Inspiration?

We offer 31 Days of Inspiration and Prayers in 5 different design options.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the Printables by clicking on any photo of our different sets.  Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design that speaks to you! 

Will you be ‘present’ in each moment today?! 

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Be Grateful for what you have…

Every day we take something for granted. Most often unaware we are even doing so.

Getting out of bed in the morning means that we have a bed to sleep in. Having a shower means that we have running water. Standing in line for groceries means we can afford to eat. Having to change the toilet paper roll means we have access to indoor plumbing.

These are the very things that someone else may be praying for. The things that we overlook or even find bothersome, tedious or frustrating would be considered a blessing and privilege to so many others.

What if, for today, we choose to focus gratefully on the ordinary, the mundane tasks, the unexciting aspects of our day. Taking time to imagine life without the many things that we may have previously take for granted … viewing them instead as extraordinary little blessings.

Print off the free gratitude journal sheet and take a few minutes to write down the ‘ordinary’ aspects of your life that you have to be grateful for. Look at every little thing with a renewed appreciation and gratitude. Along with the journal sheet is a free printable 4 x 6 sized copy of the quote for the day to keep as a reminder to focus on your day with an ‘attitude of gratitude’!

Going a Step Further:

What blessings could you offer to someone else who would be grateful for what you take for granted? Can you bless someone from your abundance? Donate to a food bank, purchase feminine hygiene supplies for a women’s shelter, buy a few groceries for a senior.

Even if you can’t offer a monetary blessing you can offer your time, a word of encouragement or a smile. It may be an ordinary gesture that someone would feel blessed to receive.

What if, for today, our prayer was this:

Lord, fill me with a grateful spirit… don’t let me dwell on what is lacking in my life but help me to focus on what I do have.

The very things that I take for granted and consider so ‘ordinary’ may be the very things that someone else is longing for and would consider a blessing in their life.

Let me go to sleep this night counting my blessings.

Amen

Searching for more inspiration? 

We offer 31 Days of Inspirations and Prayers in 5 different design options and two different formats.  There are printable quote cards and prayers of encouragement as well as printable journal sets.  These sets were created to provide encouragement and hope to anyone who is going through a time of change, loss or struggle.  You can access the full printable sets by clicking on any of the photos below.  

Each set contains 31 different inspirational quotes and prayers of encouragement.  You just need to choose the design and format that speaks to you