Candace Nassar (00:00)
Well, welcome, Rachel. I am so glad that you’re here today. You carry a lot of life into this conversation today as we talk about prayer. So why don’t you start by telling our listeners a little bit about yourself, your family, your faith, and what led you to write your book.
Rachel Wojo (00:18)
Thank you so much for having me. I truly appreciate what you’re doing on the podcast and throughout your entire ministry of mom Q. So thank you for having me as a fellow minister. If you will, I have been in some form of online ministry for 17 years now.
Rachel Wojo (00:35)
I started way back when it was a blog spot blog, I just dated myself. Everyone listening is like, what is that? Yes, it was before my space, if that tells you anything. And so the Lord just was working at my own heart and my own story. And I felt compelled to start sharing that. And one of the first ways that I did that was online and who knew?
Candace Nassar (00:42)
You
Rachel Wojo (01:11)
that that would grow and grow and that it would minister to so many people. And for many years, I was mostly a work from home mom with a house full of children. And I had a special needs daughter whose name was Taylor. I cared for her for 22 years until she went to heaven, January 2nd, 2019. And so I, as a mama, have gone through a lot, just like most of the mamas listening.
Candace Nassar (01:01)
Mmm.
Rachel Wojo (01:29)
whether it’s special needs or extra help in some area, whether that’s mental or social or physical, we all have children who have unique needs. And so I had the privilege of walking through that. And most of that time, my husband and I live in Columbus, Ohio, and we live away from family, his family.
Candace Nassar (01:41)
Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (01:54)
mostly was in northern Ohio or Dayton an hour away. And then my family is mostly in West Virginia. So during those years of motherhood, my husband and I pretty much were alone. We needed the local church and we needed community in a big way.
And I know that’s a special emphasis for you as well in regards to the prayer life, I really feel like that is the main way that God was growing me, both as a young mom and then even as an older mom. I feel like that is the one thing that has sustained me is prayer. And so I believe that the Lord was calling me specifically to just help, help others learn how to have a stronger prayer life and offer tools and resources that would help.
Candace Nassar (02:45)
So rich and we’re going to get into that today as we unpack some of that. But how did the grief that you went through during those times just really reshape the way that you came to God in prayer?
Rachel Wojo (02:58)
Yeah, I grew up in a Christian home. I know that’s not the case for everyone listening today, but I did grow up in a Christian home and went to a Christian school, graduated from Christian school, went on to Christian college. You would think that if anyone would know how to pray, it would be me. But I quickly realized that when obstacles started to come into my life, that my prayer life had been mostly a check off. It was just…
an item on the to-do list and not really a relationship with God. And mostly, I wanted answers from God. And that gradually shifted over the journey of my prayer life to where I understood that God wants to do so much more than give us the answers to our prayers. He wants to be the answer to our prayers. And so,
Candace Nassar (03:36)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (03:50)
That was a major shift for me as I began. It probably took me a decade or more to figure that out. And I just started to pray in the grief of that terminal diagnosis for my daughter that the Lord would help me figure out how to cope with all of this, how to cope with the grief, the sorrow, the future of what we didn’t know would be. And so…
Candace Nassar (04:16)
Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (04:20)
I just don’t know. I can honestly tell you I don’t know where I would be without the Lord.
Candace Nassar (05:03.349)
I love that you’re saying that it’s about getting to spend time with him and what he’s doing in our lives and not checking off a box and just trying to get our prayers answered. I think so many moms can relate to that. And so yeah, how did you how did you deal with that? And when you had a special needs child and I guess it was just you were driven to it, right?
Rachel Wojo (04:47)
Yes, and I think that I learned that it didn’t have to be so structured like I’d always thought. I’d always thought that it had to be this, you have a perfect little box of quiet time in the morning and it all looks very ideal and mine never looked that way. It was always messy. It was always, pray while I’m nursing the baby at the one o’clock nap, you know, it was just, more of a fluid, God is always present, I can talk to him anytime I want to, why am I not utilizing these times to talk with him, to commune with him? And so I started to make just little changes, like as I was folding the laundry, whosoever laundry I was folding, that’s who I would pray for. Or I would be washing the dishes and…
Candace Nassar (05:25)
Mm.
Candace Nassar (05:35)
Hmm.
Rachel Wojo (05:38)
just praising and thanking God for the meal that we had together and kind of running over the conversation in my mind and praying over it at the same time. Like any needs that came up, I would lift those in prayer. And so just understanding how I could take little bits of time sitting in the carpool line and really turn my thoughts toward God rather than just feeling like it had to be this one certain bucket of the day because
I’ll be honest, know, I do get that time now. We’re in a different season. My youngest is 15. And I do get that time in the mornings to have a good, strong morning, quiet time most of the time. And it’s a blessing. But I’ll be honest with you, if I’m not careful, then by noon, I can already forget what I have what I’ve sat down and talked with God about in the morning. And so I don’t want to be one of those check off the box kind of Christians ever again.
And just to experience that intuition of his presence is really what I want to be cognizant of as I walk in my prayer life.
Candace Nassar (06:42)
So great. So, as we talk about desperate prayer, the name of your book. And really, I think that is what draws us into that constant prayer, is when we are just feeling desperate. So how do you define desperate prayer?
Rachel Wojo (06:55)
Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (06:58)
Yeah, well, it usually is one of those between a rock and a hard place moments for most of us. It’s in a hospital, it’s in the emergency room, it’s in the nursing home, it’s in the rehab ce nter, it’s on the school bus. I mean, there are just usually some difficult spaces and places that we have to be in, whether it’s environmentally or emotionally.
before we feel that desperation and we know that God is listening and we need to know that he is listening. But I think desperate prayer can just be any prayer where you recognize that your own need is bigger than what you can fill and that the sovereignty of God is so desperately wanted in your life. Most of us,
It takes us coming to the end of ourselves and our own control before we recognize God’s sovereignty and desire Him fully.
Candace Nassar (07:57)
I like how you say it’s not a sign of weak faith to have a desperate prayer that it’s probably the most powerful place we can pray from. So why do you think God is drawn to those prayers?
Rachel Wojo (08:06)
Yes, yes.
Rachel Wojo (08:12)
Well, I think because we come to the end of ourselves and really the Bible tells us over and over again, he is searching for those who are searching for him. If you seek me, you will find me when you search with all of your heart, you know, and the eyes of the Lord are running to and fro across the earth looking for the one who is searching for him. The scripture tells us time and time again that his heart
Rachel Wojo (08:38)
is in tune to the ones who are seeking him. And so when we’re in those desperate places and we’re seeking him, it’s like he recognizes we’re ready. We’re ready to receive whatever it is he has for us. And I think most of the time we just go about our merry little way and don’t pay attention to who he is and what he’s doing unless our circumstances dictate that we need to.
One of the reasons I think for that Cory Cory Tim Boone says that if the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy and I think every mom listening can probably attest to that fact that just the busyness of life can swallow us up and make us forget that we need God
Candace Nassar (09:24)
Yeah, so true. So true. You talk about prayer perfectionism and how does that get in the way of real conversations with God?
Rachel Wojo (09:28)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (09:33)
Yeah, I think that part of my reason that I had that little check off to do list as a quote unquote good Christian in my early Christian years was because I guess I just wanted to do everything right. I wanted it to be right. I wanted to make sure that I had all my i’s dotted and my t’s crossed in my prayer life, so to speak, and I thought that it had to be or look a certain way. I maybe would pattern or look at, you know, someone in my life that I had known and want to think, well, their way of praying must be the right way. And I was so faulty in my thinking because the truth is God doesn’t care how we come to Him. He just wants us to come to Him.
And so when we’re desperate, I think it strips all of the pretense that we might have and our prayers are not very perfect. I can tell you that in the midst of walking through terminal illness with my daughter, my prayers were very far from perfect. They were a lot of broken words. They were a lot of broken phrases and honestly, a lot of anger and frustration and
Candace Nassar (10:22)
Right.
Rachel Wojo (10:50)
I’m so glad that God can handle those emotions. He created them and He can handle them. And I’m glad that I started to take the negative emotions to the Lord and figure out that that was really what He wanted. If you think about it, we as moms, we want to talk with our kids no matter what kind of mood they’re in. So, you know, if our kids are upset, crying, angry,
Frustrated whatever the negative emotion as parents we sometimes know it’s better to give them a little space but we also want to go sit on the edge of the of the bed and Just sit there until they stop crying or sobbing and be there So that when they are ready to talk and start talking we’re ready to listen We are wide open and and ready and that’s the way our Heavenly Father looks at us He wants
Candace Nassar (11:43)
Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (11:45)
to be with us and he wants us to know that he is available, he can handle our emotion and he’s just waiting for us to be ready to spill our guts, to open up, to have those deep conversations.
Candace Nassar (12:00)
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. I, you know, even today sometimes because I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, I listen to people pray and I think that they’re just so articulate and they, you know, and I compare myself and then I don’t want to pray out loud because I don’t think I’m as good of a prayer, right? But God doesn’t care. He just wants our heart and that posture of humility, when we can come before Him. And that’s what I hear you saying, You write about three simple word prayers as a lifeline. What’s that about?
Rachel Wojo (12:35)
Yeah, I just think that when we’re in a struggle of grief, sorrow, pain, sometimes words don’t come to us easily. As I’ll just say it, as a menopausal woman, I have had so much brain fog and I’ve had to work to make sure, know, I’m drinking water, electrolytes, doing all the things, but we have that fogginess even
when we’re not physically experiencing hormonal changes, which I don’t know any woman who is in some kind of hormonal change, but I think emotionally we struggle with fog. When grief comes, I’ll be honest, after my daughter died, we had been through so much sorrow, longevity of suffering and trauma that for about a year I did not feel like my brain was functioning.
Candace Nassar (13:19)
Mm.
Candace Nassar (13:27)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (13:28)
I couldn’t put two words together cohesively to speak in front of anyone or to, you know, be on a podcast interview like this. I really couldn’t find my words. They would not escape like form in my head and then come out of my mouth. And so to be able to just grasp onto three word prayers when you’re in one of those seasons where either grief has gripped you so greatly or the fog is just foggy for whatever reason.
If you can have something simple to hold on to, then I think in our prayer lives it can make a difference. One of the deepest prayers I think that I’ve ever prayed is really simple. It’s just, God help me. And so giving that first word God means we’re addressing him. The middle word can be an action verb of any kind. I offer 15 in desperate prayers.
Candace Nassar (14:11)
Yeah.
Rachel Wojo (14:22)
one for each chapter, but you can use any action word there. I’ve used hope, help, see, God see me, God hold me. And that action verb just is a fill in the blank of what your need is. And then ending that prayer with the simple word of me lets God know that, hey, I’m here, I’m available, and I know that I need you. So much of our prayer lives, I think we spend
thinking that we don’t really need God. We’re just seeking Him because that’s what we’re supposed to do. And when we know how much we need Him, then I think it makes it a little bit easier to grab on to just a simple three-word prayer, establish that format of addressing God, filling in the verb, and letting Him know that you are available. And that’s what those little three-word prayers do.
Candace Nassar (14:52)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (15:15)
That’s so practical. And I have experienced that in my own life. I mean, I know that I had, I’ve shared it many times, but I had postpartum depression after my third child was born, also isolated from family and, you know, just all the things, right? The hormonal changes. And I can remember, I couldn’t read my Bible. I couldn’t, I couldn’t concentrate long enough. And to me, if I’d had, those three word prayers, I think I could,
Rachel Wojo (15:24)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (15:34)
Right, Yep. Right.
Candace Nassar (15:42)
I think I could have really used that. So thank you.
Rachel Wojo (15:44)
Yeah, there is a free little guide that I have on my website at desperateprayers.com and it’s a when you can’t pray prayer guide and it just has some of those little hints in it for that person who says that is me, I can’t get my brain going the right direction to even pray, I sit down, I can’t focus. Then that tool is a great way for you to just have something to hold on to in that time that you can’t really find the words.
I think too that you touched on something and this really doesn’t have a lot to do with prayer, but I feel like I should say it because you touched on something that I think a lot of women need to hear. And that is if you’re in a season where you can’t read your Bible, there are so many options for you to still find a way to absorb God’s Word. So playing an audio
Candace Nassar (16:13)
Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (16:38)
Bible reading plan on the U version app is a way. There are lots of ways that you can play audio Bible and I really believe in that even if you don’t feel like you’re fully listening, you know, God’s Word is still being played in your presence and that’s huge. Also not being afraid to change your Bible translation that you read. For a long time, you know, I grew up reading the KJV then I
moved to an ESV and for many years I read an ESV. When Taylor died I switched to an NIV Bible because I seriously could not wrap my head around reading those words for whatever reason and I just needed something simple and a friend recently shared with me that she read a kid’s Bible during that time because she was just like my
I couldn’t get my brain to work either. And so I started reading the Jesus Storybook Bible so that I would still be getting something fed into me, but it was, you know, simple and I could easily digest it and I didn’t have to think about it a long time or try to absorb it. So I just hope that encourages someone today who might say, I can’t even get there. You know, there are some ways that you can get creative and be able to absorb God’s Word in a simple way.
Candace Nassar (17:35)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (17:52)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (17:59)
That’s so powerful. I wish I’d had that too. This was back a long time ago. But yeah, can see that you’re right. And also, I used to just memorize scripture and still to this day when I’m falling asleep and I’m struggling or something, I will just repeat those lines. So those are some things. Those are great tips.
Rachel Wojo (18:07)
Yeah.
Candace Nassar (18:10)
Waiting. Waiting on God. What does faithful waiting actually look like when we’ve prayed and the silence stretches on and on?
Rachel Wojo (18:26)
Yeah, it’s so hard because waiting on God is one of the most difficult things that we do as humans. It really is. And I think it’s because we’re not naturally patient, for one thing. We can’t always see the work that He’s doing. And then we get tired of waiting because
We see the urgency and we can’t tell the future. So all of those reasons in our humanity make it challenging and difficult for us. This is where our trust in God and His perfect timing is deepened when we get to exercise the faithfulness of staying close to Him. I have just learned that the sooner I let God know, God, you’re in control.
not me. And so I want to walk today with you. I don’t want to fall behind and I don’t want to get ahead. I want to walk and step with you. wherever you’re, know, Sheila Walsh says this, wherever you’re going today, Lord, I’m coming with you. And so that’s what I kind of wake up and say that same thing. I heard her say that years and years ago and I’ve never forgotten it because I felt like
Candace Nassar (19:36)
Hehehe
Rachel Wojo (19:45)
That’s going to be my morning prayer wherever you’re going today, Lord, I want to go with you. And so in that waiting, can be, it can be so challenging. I think that we can either try to run ahead of God or we push God away. That’s usually one of the two defaults that we go to. And I’ve just realized that
When we stay and step with Him, that is the most peaceful place to be in. When we try to run ahead, we get anxious and we get worked up because we can’t see where God is going. So it’s not a good plan to run ahead where you can’t see. know, none of us would try to take a drive at night if the headlights on our car wasn’t working.
And yet, what do we try to do with the Lord? Like, He’s going along driving the car and then we’re running ahead of it saying, well, how come the lights aren’t shining here yet? Because He’s not there yet, you know, we’re not there yet. And so I feel like I have this verse open in my Bible right now, Psalm 106. And at the end of the chapter, verse 12, it says,
Candace Nassar (20:48)
Mmm.
Rachel Wojo (21:00)
about praising the Lord because of the wilderness that the children of Israel had walked through with God. They believed his promises and sang his praise. the last verse says, they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. And it’s like, ugh, it’s like a gut punch to me right there. Did not wait for his plan to unfold. When I read that, I think, my goodness, how many times
Candace Nassar (21:18)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (21:30)
have I not waited for the Lord’s plan to unfold because I forgot his promises. I forgot who he is and what he says he will do and that he will do what he says he will do. So resting in his promises is one way that we can truly feel like waiting on God is always worth the wait. And it is always worth the wait. And the problem is,
Sometimes we’re waiting until we get to heaven to find that out. I’ve got many of those situations in my own life where I think to myself, yeah, when I get to heaven, I’m just going to have to ask God about that. And then I think, you know what, when I get to heaven, I’ll be perfect. And I won’t have to ask God because I’ll already know the answer. And so hopefully that’s encouraging to someone today that the beauty of heaven is going to be unfolded to us.
Candace Nassar (22:16)
Yeah.
Rachel Wojo (22:24)
when our questions are answered, we’ll have those epiphanies. But what I will say that helps me in the waiting, for a long time, I would ask God why. That was one of my big questions, and I think that’s very common. Why? Why, why, why? Why is my child sick? Why is so-and-so hurting? Why is there pain in the world? Why sickness? Why suffering? Why death? And I finally…
came to the conclusion in my own life that I didn’t want to go through life asking God why. And I shifted my question and instead of asking God why, I started asking, will you reveal yourself to me? Show me your glory. Show me what you are doing. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand how it is that you’re working in this situation.
And when I shifted to that prayer, my goodness, he gave me those eyes to see and ears to hear. And there are some pieces still that I don’t have the heart to understand. There are some that I do, but I can rest in his promises and in his faithfulness and know that those pieces that I don’t understand will be revealed to me, whether in on this planet or in eternity.
Candace Nassar (23:45)
So great. I think of the verse, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Because what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal. I just had to say that verse because that’s what was running through my mind the whole time you were talking. So, amen for sure.
Rachel Wojo (23:49)
Yeah.
Rachel Wojo (23:53)
Yes.
So good.
Yep. Yes. Good, good, Love how…
Candace Nassar (24:10)
One of the things that has crossed my mind sometimes, and I don’t know if anyone else struggles with this, maybe you never did, but sometimes I feel like I’m trying to negotiate with God or, you know, control Him and have that transactional, like if I’ll do, you know, please answer my prayers because I’m doing this or something like that. I mean, have you ever experienced that?
Rachel Wojo (24:21)
you
Rachel Wojo (24:32)
When I received Taylor’s diagnosis of a rare metabolic disorder, mucopolysaccharidosis, and this would be a neurological degeneration, gradually losing every skill, going from a beautiful bubbly little girl calling me mommy, singing her heart out, to no longer being able to speak, and eventually no longer able to sing or to walk or anything else. And so…
Candace Nassar (24:57)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (25:02)
I can completely relate to you because I would make trade-offs with God and say, Lord, if you’ll just give me her disease, I’ll take it. I will do anything to take her burden on myself and walk this journey instead of her. And I think we do that with God when we don’t fully understand what he’s doing or what his plan is or how the redemption story
Candace Nassar (25:13)
Yes.
Rachel Wojo (25:29)
will unfold when we struggle with that, then oftentimes we do what you did and we want to make a trade off in some way. It’s just the way we’re wired as human beings to try to think of the next creative thing that would provide the solution to the problem.
Candace Nassar (25:47)
So does it, do you think it comes back to surrender, kind of that’s a thread that’s going through here is just trust, is learning to just trust God, what do you think?
Rachel Wojo (25:54)
I do think that surrender, I also think that there’s a journey of learning how to hear God in our prayers. You know, up to this point in our conversation, we’ve talked a lot about talking to God. But I think listening to God is not something I cover deeply in Desperate Prayers. It’s something that I’m working on in my own life. I’m reading a couple of books about
how to hear God, listening for His voice, listening in the way that He speaks through His Word, His Spirit, His people, the circumstances, and paying attention to all of those things. And so I think asking for what you’re asking is, you know, do we make that trade-off? And I think a good trade-off instead of asking God, will you, you know, I’m doing this, will you do this, you know, that negotiating, instead is
is again flipping that to show me what you’re doing. Give me eyes to see. Let me be so in tune with your voice that I hear parts of the story. I hear little chapters or paragraphs or the headlines of this big book that you’re writing of my life as well as the whole book of humanity. As I think about that, would you please just give me little glimpses so that I
can begin to understand that I don’t have to ask you for trade-offs. I can ask you to show me the real thing. can ask for those. you know, time has to pass. Time has to pass before we start getting those glimpses. I stood in front of 200 lost moms last weekend on Mother’s Day weekend, 200 moms who had either lost a child, lost their mother,
Candace Nassar (27:27)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (27:46)
or were experiencing some kind of deep heartache in relation to the next day being Mother’s Day. And I stood in front of those women and the Holy Spirit was so prevalent and tangible in that room. And as I looked out over the women, I just felt like God’s redemptive pleasure pouring out of me as I encouraged those women. And it was this
full circle moment of thinking, this is why I endured that suffering. This is why, you know, I had to go through, walk through what I walked through because if I stood up in front of those women without that, there would be no empathy. There would be no understanding. There would be no sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and what He was speaking in and through me because I wouldn’t even have it.
Candace Nassar (28:21 )
Yep.
Rachel Wojo (28:44)
an understanding how to surrender to Him and how to listen to Him and how to know Him. those years and that journey, it was like a full circle moment of understanding between me and the Lord. Okay, this is one of the reasons why you’ve had me walk this journey, not just to help other people, but to be able to empathize with them and
Candace Nassar (28:55)
Sure.
Rachel Wojo (29:09)
You know, it’s the suffering of Jesus. we walk in suffering, is a special connection of thread that we can’t even fully comprehend or articulate, but it truly is remarkable and undeniable and gives us almost a one-up edge on being able to minister to people well.
Candace Nassar (29:36)
That’s what it is. Yeah, I completely agree. Thank you so much for sharing that. what do you do when God says no?
Rachel Wojo (29:38)
Yeah.
Rachel Wojo (29:45)
Mmm. Yeah. So I remember being so angry one day when my daughter was sick because it was this gorgeous day outside. And one of the ways that I had always been able to cope with her disease was when we just simply buckled up in the stroller and went for a walk outside, you know.
Rachel Wojo (30:12 )
It just really brought me so much joy to see the sky and the clouds and the sunshine and for her to be able to feel the sun on her face. I remember that one particular day, I was so angry at God and I was sitting there and years into my Christian life, you know, this is in the latter years of her dying. So it hasn’t been all that long ago, you know.
We’re talking maybe seven or eight years ago where I’m sitting by your bedside and I say to the Lord, I just wish that we could be outside today. And so very clearly I heard his spirit speak to my heart and say, You can be grumpy that you’re not outside or you can be grateful for the sunshine that’s coming through the window.
And it was like this moment of ah-ha perspective change. Like I get to choose. I get to choose whether to be have gratitude or whether to be grumpy. And I don’t want to choose grumpy. So I’m going to choose gratitude. And it’s a work in progress. I wish I could tell you that I have this, you know, Pollyanna outlook.
But I don’t. I am naturally melancholy. And so it has been a day by day choice of saying, okay, Lord, whatever it is for today, I want to be grateful. I want to look at the things that you have provided. Look at the ways that you have blessed us and know that you are working and alive and active and I can, I can depend on you. So that perspective shift was huge for me because then
When I got to the end of Taylor’s life, and I just remember when her suffering was over and I was sitting with her in the room by myself, I said to the Lord, God, you are so good because you’re the only one big enough to hold her in heaven and hold me on earth at the same time. And so your arms are wide enough.
Candace Nassar (32:19)
Mm.
Rachel Wojo (32:23)
for to span the distance between heaven and earth. Thank you God that that is the case. Help me to rest in that. And if we don’t have that depth, you know, I really don’t understand how people cope with death and sorrow and suffering if they don’t know the Lord, if they don’t know Jesus, because that relationship was the bond that I knew I could rely on.
when my daughter was no longer there. She kept me tethered to Jesus, if I’m being honest, because I didn’t feel qualified to care for her. And so that lack of qualification and the desire to fulfill my responsibilities and privileges to care for her was so deep in my heart that when she was no longer there, I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to do with myself anymore.
Candace Nassar (33:00)
Hmm.
Rachel Wojo (33:21)
You you become so attached to an identity that you forget who God made you to be sometimes. And I think every mom out there can relate to that.
Candace Nassar (33:32)
Beautiful. Thank you for your honesty. Just been a great conversation. And as we wrap up, what encouragement would you give a mom who is in the daily desperate prayer right now over one of her children?
Rachel Wojo (33:35)
Hmm.
Rachel Wojo (33:49)
Yeah, just keep lifting it to the Lord. Keep giving it to Him over and over throughout your day. Live a life of walking in His presence and talking with Him. Make simple acts of daily routines to be a part of your prayer walk. One of the very practical, simple ways that I do this, how many times a day do we wash our hands?
A bazillion, right? As a mom, we’re washing our hands a bazillion times. I make hand washing one of those times where instead of it just being a rote routine thing that I’m doing because that’s what I’m supposed to be doing, I make it a bit of a sacred act and just say, Lord, as I’m washing my hands, would you wash my heart? And who do I need to lift up to you right now? What burden is there? Or if you
know who that is, like your specific child, as I’m washing my hands. Lord, as this soap washes over my hands, I pray that your Spirit would wash over my child. Wherever they are right now, whatever they’re doing, may you intervene in their life. And just continually doing that, I believe, is so very important. Writing it down is important.
Candace Nassar (35:08)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (35:10)
as well because when we keep a record of those prayers it not only changes our lives but it leaves a legacy. Prayer journals are very important both for our own hearts and for the hearts of those who, who may need to read that in the future. So encouragement there just to to keep giving it to the Lord and start keeping a journal of your prayers even if no one ever reads it.
you can go back and see the growth that you’ve had. One of my favorite stories is when I was a young mom and one of my prayer journals says, would you please help this kid get potty trained? He’s driving me crazy. It was an honest prayer. I really did. I was like, this kid is going to grow up and have issues. We’ve got to get this resolved.
Candace Nassar (35:41)
Mm-hmm.
Rachel Wojo (36:02)
Well, I’m proud to tell you that he’s 24, married, and he is potty trained. The Lord answered that prayer. just seeing my own journey of faith in those journals has been such a blessing. And so I would encourage anyone today to just start something small. Scribbling a couple sentences down a day over your child is going to go a long ways in the long…
Candace Nassar (36:04)
Hey
Candace Nassar (39:39.461)
You’ve given us tips and prayer ideas and just talking about the heart of prayer and how we can reframe that and just change our perspective. There’s just been so much value in everything you’ve said. So I can’t thank you enough. I know our moms are appreciating what you’ve said and what you’ve shared. So tell us how we can find out about desperate prayers and we’re they can find you.
Rachel Wojo (36:53)
yes. Yeah, DesperatePrayers.com is the best way to find the book. And it’s available on all the channels wherever you buy books. But that guide I mentioned earlier, When You Can’t Pray Prayer Guide is also available for free at DesperatePrayers.com. You can find me at RachelWojo.com or any of the major social media channels. I’ll be honest, I…
I’m not crazy about social media, but I’m out there a little bit. So if you’d like to follow on there, that’s great. But I would prefer for you to get the help that you need and a strong resource. So head over to desperateprayers.com and get that guide.
Candace Nassar (37:33)
great and we’ll put all that in our show notes too. thank you so much Rachel for being here. Really appreciate it.
Rachel Wojo (37:39)
My privilege for sure. Thank you for having me and again thank you for the work that you are doing to minister to moms. It’s important.
Candace Nassar (37:47)
Praise God, yes.
