I don’t know if this post is going to turn out the way it is turning out in my mind. But we’ll give it a shot.

After Mrs. Couch’s funeral last week, I decided that I want to be a different person.

There was a common theme in the words that people said at her funeral.

Mrs. Couch really prayed for people.

Let me tell you my thoughts on prayer. It has changed my life. I am convinced that the two main reasons I heart Nashville are because of God’s lovingkindness and the prayers of the people that love me. I also know, like KNOW, that I wouldn’t have finished my book in January without your prayers.

I have seen prayer change my life. I have seen prayer change other people’s lives. I have seen how prayer draws me closer to the heart of God. I’m a big believer in the power of prayer.

I’m also a big slacker. And a big over-sleeper. Which means I’m not a big pray-er.

But I’m going to be different.

I’ve really been pondering things since Wednesday. I’ve replayed conversations in my mind between myself and Mrs. Couch and honestly, many of them focused on prayer. There are some things that we both consistently prayed for, and those things were often what we spoke of.

And yet I look at my life and realize that I talk about prayer more than I pray.

[Dear reader who thinks AnnieBlogs is a perfect Christian, sorry.]

I’ve been listening to a series of the book of Proverbs by Mark Driscoll. And I have finished the series with this set of thoughts:

1. I don’t know everything like I think I do.
2. Other people do know everything about some things.
3. I should ask people to tell me everything about their something.
4. Because maybe part of wisdom is knowing that other people have wisdom that I need.

So I drove back to Nashville on Thursday and began to ask people how they pray. And what they pray for. And how in the name of everything sleepy-time they convince themselves to get up early to pray.

Because you know, there are people I want to pray for everyday. But I forget. And there are things that are deeply important to me, that I whine and complain about, but that I don’t pray about on a daily basis.

So after a full-on interrogation of wise folks around me, I have a plan. A praying plan.

Thanks to what I learned last week about Mrs. Couch and the life that she led, I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.

My prayer times, they are a changin’.

Tomorrow, I’m gonna show you my two part plan. I’ve titled it–

Seeing is Believing: The Attempt Of One Christian To Actually Remember To Pray Daily For The People And Things That Are Important To Her.

I think the subtitle is a tad long, but very informative.