Starting Each Day With Prayer

It began with my church’s 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting in 2025. Our church begins each year with these three weeks of guided prayer, and we are encouraged to fast through January as we bring in the new year. Now we just had our first baby girl in December and honestly, fasting felt very different this year.  

Historically my husband and I would skip a meal a few times a week, or I would cut out some of my favorite snacks or drinks. Realistically (and perhaps selfishly) I couldn’t imagine giving any of those things up this year. With breastfeeding, skipping meals was out of the question, and -being in the trenches of the newborn season- my caffeine and snacks were both helping me stay sane and lifting my spirits in the difficult moments. 

So, I prayed. I confessed to God all that I was feeling and let him know I wasn’t sure what to do this year. I didn’t want to skip it, but I knew it would be a little more difficult this time around, so I asked – God, what do you want me to do? 

In prayer, we don’t always get a clear answer, but this was one of those moments where the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to me and He said, “Just give me your time.”  

Somehow this felt scarier! Time is a precious commodity with a 1-month-old. Between feeding, diaper changes, maintaining the house (at least to some degree) and squeezing in meals, showers, and bathroom breaks for yourself, it felt like a lot. Time is a fickle thing on a good day, let alone when you’re balancing first-time parenthood. But I knew this was the right answer for me, because honestly, in the chaos of the newborn season I had been neglecting my time with God.  

I decided that I would start each day in a posture of prayer – on my knees, hands together, in focused devotion.  

Embarrassingly, I must admit to you that I have never been great at morning devotionals/quiet time. I am simply not a great morning person – it takes half an hour or more after getting out of bed before my brain begins to function and I actually know what’s going on around me. Attempts at morning prayers and quiet times have historically revolved around my brain wandering off and getting distracted or, if I’m being real, drifting back to sleep – ultimately putting off my prayers/devotions for later in the day. 

To keep my prayer time on track during the next 21 days, I decided to make a note on my phone with some highlights that I wanted to bring to God about each day. I prayed over how to pray and what to pray, and wrote down the following points: 

God, help me to choose you today.  

Help me to find joy, even when I don’t feel like it. 

Help me to overcome frustration, anger, anxiety and control, even when I feel like I can’t. 

Help me to feel your presence, especially when I feel like I can’t.  

Jesus, I choose you today and I ask you to help me follow through in each moment.  

Help me to build good habits on you and your Word, and let those habits be a reflection of you. 

Help me to make progress towards my goals and dreams, and let those goals be a reflection of you. 

Jesus, I choose you today, help me to follow through with that choice in each moment today.  

So, the 21 days began. Each morning after my baby’s feeding that woke us up for the day, I would nurse her, lay her back in her bassinet and go down on my knees at my bedside. I set my phone down in front of me with these notes open, put my hands together, bowed my head, and prayed.  

I want to be clear; I didn’t just read my notes off each day; I simply used it as a guideline. I also just spoke to him during this prayer. I included praising him for something I was grateful for and prayed for that specific day: if there was something on my mind or if I knew I needed to lay a specific anxiety or worry down at his feet, – and a lot of requests to be granted energy for the day.  

Sometimes with a baby beginning to cry in the background, the to-do list weighing on my brain, or the sleepless night behind me, it was still a struggle, but being in a physical posture of prayer helped me to stay focused and intentional, and my notes kept my brain and my words on track. 

During these 21 days I noticed that my response to things throughout the days and nights changed drastically. I went from feeling frustrated having to wake up every 2 hours or more to feed the baby during the night, to feeling calm even in the midst of exhaustion. I went from letting out an angry sigh when she pooped into a fresh diaper, to laughing it off and calling her a silly girl. While I still didn’t have difficult moments, I still felt frustration bubble up, what changed was how I responded to those negative feelings. 

Asking God to help me choose joy each morning, and praying against anger, fear, anxiety and control, changed my entire perspective on the little moments throughout the day. 

I feel a tad embarrassed that it took me 28 years to realize how big of a difference this type of prayer truly makes. In my head, I knew morning prayers were important, that beginning the day with God set the tone for the day, but for the first time this January, God revealed it to my heart. 

Thinking back on it, I can see how gracious God is. Fasting is, in my understanding, most effective when food is involved. When we feel a physical response from fasting, it’s a wonderful reminder to focus on what God is saying or doing in it’s place. I was so worried that skipping the food part of fasting would hinder the point of the 21 days, but God knew where I was in this season. He understood my exhaustion and gave me grace. He spoke clearly to me and said, this time let’s just spend some time together.  

Isn’t it a wonderful thing that God meets us where we are? He gives us grace and even in a time of chaos for me, a time where an afternoon soda gives me the energy to push through that next diaper change and a quickly thrown together sandwich is the only meal I can manage, he said, “Just give me some of your time and I’ll show you who I am.” 

I’m grateful for the 21 days, and I intend to carry this morning prayer on beyond January as a new daily habit for myself. Seeing the effect, it had on my day has been such a blessing, and I encourage you to do the same.  

Maybe it will look a little different in your house and in this season, but, truly, making time for God first thing in the morning impacted me in ways I couldn’t imagine. To go from almost crying alongside my wailing baby at 2am, to setting her down knowing with confidence that if she woke up in 20 minutes, I would be ok, was a change I don’t think I was expecting to experience just by simply adding a few minutes of prayer each morning.  

Whether it’s parenthood for you, a job problem, a friend or family situation, health concerns, or just the weight of day-to-day life, just know and have faith that by giving space to God first thing in the morning, you open a door for him to change how you respond to the things you face throughout that day.  

Lamentations 3:22-23 

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases 
     his mercies never come to an end; 
23 they are new every morning; 
     great is your faithfulness. 

Matthew 6:33 

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. 

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