prayer challenge update

I think I was about to be swallowed up in failure, but then one of my new blogreaders asked me, "How are you doing with your April challenge of prayer?" and "What are you doing to develop this discipline?" Nothing like a good dose of accountability to kick me in the butt and onto my knees again.

I've been trying to give God a chunk of my evenings because something about the early mornings is just too intimidating after a patchy night of sleep. Speaking of patchy: my evening prayer times are still patchy, but I'm hoping the prayerful patches will keep getting bigger and bigger until they cover up the blank, prayerless evenings. I'm making a mental note to pray for that to happen.

I decided to learn about what the Bible has to say about prayer while I'm trying my hand at it. I started in Habakkuk 3, which is primarily a prayer. It wasn't the prayer that inspired me, though. It was the last few verses -- Habakkuk's profession of faith in God -- which put me in the right spirit for prayer:

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3. 17,18).

In spite of the worst of circumstances, God is worthy of my praise and my attention... and my prayer times.