I wake up with the sun. I make my coffee and invite myself to my Prayer Chair. We bought that chair for a big house in Michigan when we relocated from a tiny house in California (why would we do that? it’s a long story, basically about money and ambition). In the little house, I did not have a designated place to pray and I ventured from room to room, corner to cubby to find the most comfy spot for contemplation. I never landed in any one spot. One of the bargaining chips my husband used to convince me to move, was new furnishings for a bigger house.
So we bought the Prayer Chair — the first piece of furniture I had ever bought with my own bum in mind. Not that I wouldn’t have shared the chair, but this time the kids were grown and in college and I did not have to share. It was also off white with taupe stripes– a brutal color combination if you have kids underfoot. It was truly a grown-up chair.
In that chair, I prayed through a myriad of issues and prepared my soul for hundreds of transitions. I read my Bible almost daily and I wept and wrote in my prayer journal and communed with God. I learned about Jesus with every bible study I did in that chair. Me and Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, Max Lucado and many others have done some of my finest soul work seated in my prayer chair. Stacks of amazing books on the table next to the chair rotate to the book shelf and I am proud to say that I have read nearly all of them. My husband says it helps me keep my smile on.
As the years passed, and my husband’s job moved us from place to place, the prayer chair began to look scruffy and worn. It showed its dirt, my dirt, at the arms and on the ottoman. The stripes on the seat became threadbare. Every time we moved, the chair was always my point of reference, my comfort zone. “Ahhhh,” I would say as I watched the prayer chair roll out of the moving van and into the house. I knew I could make a home in this new place.
When we retired, we moved to our last new address. We refurnished our living room and I thought I had chosen furniture that would match my Prayer Chair. The new furniture only made my old Prayer Chair look even shabbier, and not in a chic way! I looked for a new Prayer Chair to match the new furniture. Comfortable chairs were expensive. They took a long time if you custom ordered them. Ready made ones weren’t comfortable enough for a long prayer sesh.
My Prayer Chair, complete with Bible, Goal-Getter Journal by Fitlosophy, MAP Bible Reference, coffee and cute puppy.
Perhaps you have never thought of a designated place designed just for prayer and worship. Do you think it might change the way you approach your day if you had a place that was designated for communication with God? Would it help you keep your smile on?
Perhaps you have a place, a chair, or a little piece of heaven where you spend time alone with God. A place where you pray and learn from Him and about Him. A place that keeps you centered. Or maybe you know you need one and you haven’t figured out how to create that special place.
I convinced the furniture store to sell me the complementary fabric I loved that went with my new, comfy sectional and I had my Prayer Chair re-upholstered.
All the prayers and all the learned lessons are preserved in my Prayer Chair. The new fabric gave it a face lift, but the underlying structure is sound and comfy. My mornings there keep me focused with my Bible, my
Fitspiration Journal, my Bible reference called
MAP. I have added
Evernote on my iPad to record my inspirations. And I keep my smile on.
Why is this important? All my new ideas flow from that prayer time. Any inspiration I have comes from this time with God. I don’t want to forget the lessons I learn. Sometimes they are worth sharing too!
What’s your favorite place to pray? What do you keep near your prayer place or chair? Has God given you any ideas to share?
Love this Chris!
My pray “place” is sitting on my bed & putting it in reading position where I pray. I get through my “thank you Lord” & then the kids, that’s all I remember because I fall back to sleep.
I have my Bible close by and huge basket of your Beth Moore’s, etc, the ones I use to use over & over in year’s past. Between the basket of inspiring books and my “prayer bed” is a beautiful wing-back chair & ottoman, which is usually covered with clothes & misc items I bring up to my room & usually includes some reading material I want to get to! (They stack up on said chair)
So I wonder why I’m not inspired these days. Why, I can honestly say, I haven’t opened my bible “tattered from year’s past) in a couple of years.
I have a really nice guest room/office that would make for a “nice set up,” but………
Chris, you know me, this is not the woman you knew through the years.
I share this because you are one of my favorite Christian friends that I love & admire! And I’m quite sure there are other’s who will read this and relate.
Deal: I will continue to read your blog
(I will anyway) if you’ll please pray for my inspiration to get this all turned around.
I love you, sweet blessings!
Carol, thank you for sharing such intimate details for others to benefit from. I promise to pray. And I bet others who read this will too. If you are praying for Carol along with me, would you type “amen” here?
Amen.
I have a prayer chair too. It’s the rocking chair where I rocked my babies. And now God rocks His baby in it.
I love that!